I’ve told this story before, but it comes to mind every year when we read the collect, Proper 28, for today: “Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (BCP, p.236)

Years ago I started a Bible study group at Trinity Church in Apalachicola. Because the gospel of Mark is considered to be the earliest one we have, I thought that would be a good place for us to start. In that original group, there were 3 men: the host, my husband, and our priest, and the rest were women: a retired school teacher, a retired librarian, a retired business woman who was our hostess, a young mother pregnant with her second child, our priest’s wife, and a Greek Orthodox woman who had never read the Bible in her entire life. That group taught me a lot. I opened each session with the collect above, following the example of my priest in Virginia. As is often the case in such groups, there was one woman who always had a question that would lead me off from where I thought I was going with the lesson thereby enriching the discussion in innumerable ways. Because she had been a pilot in WWII, she often had questions about how the scripture we were discussing related to Hitler. (That will keep you on your toes.) One day she said something that alerted me to the fact that I had apparently been reading the collect too fast, not pausing sufficiently at the commas. She thought I was saying “read Mark” since that was the book we were studying. What a gift she was -- opening my eyes to see how easily I could be misunderstood, keeping me humble.

I led the group for 11 years before passing it on to others’ leadership. Two of the original group were still with me at that time. The Greek Orthodox woman often testified to what a difference the class had made in her life. Clearly she had come “to hear (the Scriptures), read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them” and allow them to work in her life as she journeyed with her Lord. Both women have long passed through “the blessed hope of everlasting life.” Thanks be to God.