One Christmas I was given a Jamie Oliver cookbook, it was called Jamie’s Ministry of Food and it went through all the basics from poaching eggs to cooking a decent Chilli con carne. That book basically taught me to cook. It freed me up to start adding my own meals to what we were eating and start experimenting with the flavours I loved and others that I didn’t like as much. I essentially went from a consumer to contributor in the arena of cooking.

When did you first learn to cook?

Maybe you can remember your first cookbook or that moment you started uni and looked at the packet of pasta and the kettle and hoped for the best. However it happened learning to cook is a step we all take as we grow independent and more mature. It’s the same when we grow as Christians, we learn to take on more responsibility, rather than waiting to be fed we begin to feed ourselves when we need nourishing.

“Take the Book, then eat it”

John experienced this in Revelation 10, he comes across an angel clothed in cloud with a rainbow over his head, as you do, and begins to write down the thunderous sermon the angel is preaching. Then God tells John to put down his pen and paper and go to angel and ask for the book that the angel has been holding all along. When John goes up and asks for it he receives a strange response. The Angel tells John to eat the book. To Eat it. Chew it. Digest it. John does just that and tucks into the feast set before him. [1]

This is the step God calls us all to take, to go from being passive consumers of scripture to actively engaging with the living word of God, wrestling with it, asking questions of it, meditating on it, bringing it into conversation with our friends. It can seem a daunting prospect at first but just like with cooking, the more we do it the easier it becomes (unless you’re still a hopeless cook after three years!).

So practically what does this look like, all cooking analogies and angels aside? Here’s a few suggestions:

• Get involved with the 40 Day Bible Challenge we’ll be doing over lent, each day of the 40 we’ll be following the passages covered in the Foundations Daily Podcasts and be posting a blog to explore the Bible passage.
• Commit to scrolling through the Bible app rather than Facebook when you get a spare minute in the day.
• Listen to Foundations Podcasts every week, Monday to Friday to get a daily dose of the Bible with your Weetabix and orange juice.
• Gather together with your cell and cluster or arrange a Skype with friends who live far away to discuss your biggest questions that week about what you’ve read in the Bible or heard in a preach.

At the Weekend Away we’ll be exploring this more, what does it look like to read and enjoy the Bible, what caused the Psalmist to write that the Bible is “sweeter than honey”? Was he serious? How can a constant habit of reading and wrestling with the Bible help us in day to day life?

Still haven’t signed up to the Weekend Away? There’s still time, just fill out this form.

[1] – Peterson, Eugene. (2006). Eat This Book. London: Hodder & Stoughton, pp. 15-22.