Opening The Book

Opening The Book

(Pastor Craige LeBreton)

In one of the works…published after his death…Ernest Hemmingway…

Tells his readers… of his inward experience…during a time…

when he had just completed one book…and was trying very hard…

to get started on another…

He said… that these were…very dark days for him…

He said… that he would try to get started…but then…

He would suddenly be stricken…stricken with a feeling…

a feeling of emptiness…He would have a horrible feeling…that he was…

creatively dried up…and that he would never…

have anything to say again…

Hemmingway went on to say…that when this would happen…

He would take hold…and force himself to begin…again…

He kept repeating…that if he could only write… “Just one true sentence,”…

Then…He could go on…The sentence wouldn’t have to be…

anything complicated…or involved…it would only need to contain truth…

any truth…as long as it was…one…true…sentence…

If he could achieve this…he would be able to go on from there…

And begin to write once more…

This was a way… for Hemmingway to… “Open a book”…

This experience of Ernest Hemming way…says something…

Something…very important to me…there are days…in my life…

When I feel drained…sometimes it is physical…and sometimes…

It is emotional…sometimes…I am just drained of everything…

I am also sure…that there are times…. when everyone of us…

Is stricken with this feeling…this feeling of emptiness…of being dried up…emotionally…physically…and sometimes…creatively…

It is like having…a giant vacuum inside of you…

that has sucked everything up…and out of your being…

When those times come…we also feel…as though…

nothing is left for us to say…these are the times…when I know…

that only one thing…only one thing…can help me…

If I can find one bit of truth…

If I can find one true sentence…or even a single word…

and take hold of it…

My needs will be filled…the vacuum will be gone…

the emptiness will be gone…and I will be complete again…

I have only to reach out… and grab my book…my book of truth…

The greatest book ever written…my own personal book…My Bible…

Today…and every Sunday…I share my book with you…

and if you happen to have a copy of this same book…

I encourage you to open it now…to today’s text…

We will start in the book of Nehemiah Chapter 8:1-8

1 ¶ And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.

3 And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

When we look back in history…we come to discover that this privilege…

This privilege of …opening…and reading the Bible…

has not always been there…

In the bible time of Nehemiah…the Israelites were a people…

a people…who had lost… much of their heritage…

they had been in captivity in Babylon…for a long…dark…time…

Now they had been allowed to return…to their beloved homeland…

the homeland of Israel…God’s promised land…and they would be allowed to start over again…

But the faith of their fathers…was hidden…and nearly forgotten…

by this new generation of Israelites…

and so they were gathered together to listen…once more…to the message…

God’s message…that sustained their faith…

The Priest Ezra…began to read…He opened the sacred scrolls…

the scrolls…that contained the scriptures…that would help the people…

find their way…back to their faith…