Sorting Through the Papers:
Understanding Different Types of Literature Found in the Bible
by Kay Huggins

My mom died last fall. At the rich age of 96 and with the complications of dementia, congestive heart failure and a recent fall, her death did not arrive as a big shock, but as a graceful conclusion to a life well lived. Nevertheless, there were smaller shocks. One came as I compared my to-do list with the number of hours between mom’s death and my flight to Northern California. I needed to sort through mom’s hope chest for documents that would help tell her story. Even though I had organized pictures and chosen scripture, hymns and themes for a memorial service, I had consistently avoided that hope chest. Not surprisingly, when the hours were few, I was on my knees in search of diplomas, newspaper clippings, letters and other memorabilia.

I found what I needed, but I was introduced to a much larger question: how do we value the papers entrusted to us? For all Christians who love and study scripture, this is
a common question. In our spiritual hope chest, we have a collection of papers bound together as Holy Scripture. We are responsible for valuing, knowing and sharing these papers. Still, it is not uncommon to find ourselves on our knees, sometimes with little time and even less insight, searching through the Bible.

Kay Huggins wrote the 2002–2003 Horizons Bible study, No Longer Strangers: A Study of the Letter to the Ephesians. She teaches in the Masters of Theological Studies program at the Ecumenical Institute for Ministry in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and recently accepted a part-time call as the interim pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church. 2007 marks the 30th anniversary of her ordination as minister of Word and Sacrament.

Photo by Leon Zernitsky /Stock Illustration Source

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