Sunshine Cathedral

Deconstruct for Justice

Sunshine Cathedral

Day 1 of 5: Reexamining Old Stories

“Great indeed is the LORD who made [the sun], at whose orders it urges on its steeds.”
Sirach 43:5 (NABRE)

In ancient times, as we see in the above verse from Sirach, people believed the sun traveled through the sky. And how, one might wonder, did the sun manage to travel across the sky? It was, obviously, drawn by horses!

I don’t know if the more highly educated in those ancient societies took those myths literally (I suspect that some did not), but it is interesting to see how the human imagination has always been at work to help make sense of our world and our lives.

And, it is interesting to notice that we no longer hold to some of those old myths, not as explanations for how things work anyway. The fact that we don’t literalize all the old myths should actually give us permission to play with other old stories, to find new meaning in them, to recast them for a new day rather than arguing for a literalism that simply cannot stand up to 21st century scrutiny and experience. It is a joy to take the Bible seriously, rather than literally.

I give thanks that old stories that may not be factual can even still be, in some sense, true. I will look for new truths with each reading.

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Sunshine Cathedral

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Senior Minister

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