Move Swiftly On

Our ordinand-in-training Debbie is studying with Sarum College in Salisbury and that means that I have to go there occasionally for training and information days. The first time I was there, the Old Testament tutor got the training-incumbents together to grapple with a knotty bit of text. She complained about the Church's tendency to skate over anything it finds hazardous and uncomfortable in the Scriptures. 'When you go back to your parish, check the lectionary and see whether the Rape of Dinah is included', she said, 'I bet it isn't.' We were, as it happened, going through the middle chapters of Genesis at Morning Prayer around that time, and lo and behold, she was right: Genesis 34, with the disagreeable story of Dinah and what happens to her and her relatives, is completely omitted. 

It happened again the other morning. I allocated the Lectionary readings at Morning Prayer and asked Marion the curate whether she would read 'Genesis chapter 19, up to verse 26 - but on no account are you to read verses 4 to 11 ...' We didn't recognise this until looking it up, but it's the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The bit we're not supposed to read out is where the men of Sodom visit Lot and threaten to rape the visiting angels. 'Don't do this dreadful thing, fellows!' says Lot out the window. 'Look, I have daughters here, aren't they good enough? Have them!'

Of course it's not especially edifying, but it is part of the Scripture, whatever you make of it. Sometimes the Anglican Lectionary spares us reading a lot of complicated names (not always - a few days ago we had to list all the kings in Genesis 17 who fell in the tar pits) - but surely we can cope with the unsavoury habits of the men of Sodom and poor Dinah's fate? Morning Prayer is usually said by clergy and a few faithful laity such as Readers, and I don't know any church that uses the morning readings for public services, as opposed to the Mass readings, which are much more selective and restricted. There's something bloodless and suspect about simply pretending all this stuff isn't there and hiding it.