There is something exceptionally comforting about places that are familiar from childhood. A memory is definitely more than something that we take from a place. It is also a tangible presence that we leave in a place as well. I think this is especially true in a place you visit in love or with joy. When we re-visit ancient places, we can feel the fullness of the memories, that have been deposited over decades, even centuries. That's not all! When we return to our childhood haunts, the memory that we created there runs to meet us in the familiarity of a cobbled street or the imposing energy of an ancient forest. We find in that familiarity, even decades later, a link to who we were. I also believe we find a real connection to who we are in the present.
The same is true of the scriptures. I have been reading through the Psalms consecutively over the past few months. reading them, chewing on them, praying them. I've dipped into them time and time again over the past few years, but I've been going through them one by one for the first time in a few years. It is amazing to me how familiar they feel. As familiar as a street in my home town, or the voice of a longtime friend. They also arrest me every day as I recognize thoughts and revelations that other readers have shared, As I have matured in my faith, and grown in my knowledge of Christian teachings, hymns and poems. I recall them as I read the scriptures as if their memory has been left for me by my fellow sojourner's pen. Through their writing they have left something for me to find.
As I look at familiar Psalms like Psalm 2 I recall the prayers of faith who have acknowledged Jesus as the anointed one, set on a hill. Saints like William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoffer, C S Lewis and Corrie Ten-Boom. It's there in their speeches and writing. They have visited Psalm 2 with me and prayed that prayer of faith. It's all there in their speeches and writing and it's all there in the familiarity of the Psalms.
A Psalm is not so much words in a page as an ancient place that we visit for reflection. A place, ourselves, and others have visited before. Familiar, and new, as our experiences have brought us to a familiar phrase or verse with new eyes. The way the familiarity of the ancient chapel was completely new with my adult eyes.
If I must give an application of some sort, let your familiarity of certain scriptures give you a peace that passes understanding and let that peace inform your reading. When you look at a familiar scripture for the first time in a while remember what you left there and let it shine on where you are now.
Peace
Serena
