Purses, Prisons, Picky Reading and Pastoral Care
by Emily Martin

I have a wee (to use Adam’s favorite adjective) zip-up Bible that I keep in my purse, so I have it is when I make home or hospital visits. I got in the habit of using my Bible in pastoral visits while working at a women’s prison last summer. Sometimes, especially in the infirmary, I would visit with women who either couldn’t read well or didn’t have a Bible with them, so I got in the habit, before I would pray, of asking them if they had any favorite scripture passages they’d like for me to read.

Psalm 23 and 91 were favorites, and I often liked to read from Psalm 139 or Romans 8 or John 14 or Isaiah. One woman I visited repeatedly asked me to read from Revelation 20-22. The first couple of times, I practiced selectively reading the comforting parts, skipping over all the parts about the lake of fire and eternal suffering. Later though, my supervisor challenged me on my selective reading, so I tried reading the verse about how all murderers, fornicators, gossip, etc. that would end up in the lake of fire, and she stopped me mid-sentence. “That’s it, that’s what they’ve been saying to me. That I’m a murderer and I’m going to Hell. Am I going to Hell or will God forgive me?” This “undesireable” scripture passage became the vehicle for confession and a chance to share the good news of God’s forgiving love. It became a chance to share some other scripture passages about God’s forgiveness and desire to save anyone who repents and believes.

I’ve tried to keep up this practice of scripture reading, especially when visiting people in the hospital. Sometimes it doesn’t feel right, so I just pray with them. But I like having a bit of scripture read out loud before I pray. I feel that it guides my prayers in a way that is helpful for me and for the other person.

Mostly, my wee bible gets used when I’m preparing for Bible studies with the homeless (weekly) or the elderly (monthly) or Sunday school or when I’m preparing sermons or the liturgy each week. Occasionally, I’ll pull it out when a random church member asks me where such and such verse is. I have a little insert from the Scottish Bible Society that I picked up in Glasgow which lists a lot of commonly sought after verses, stories, prayers, etc.–that comes in handy too. The only catch is that the print in my wee bible is so small that I’m about the only one that can read it, and then only if the light is decent. The good thing is that the zippered cover keeps it from being demolished in the black hole/chaos of my purse.

Emily Martin is a senior in the MDiv program at Columbia Theological Seminary. She is currently completing a yearlong internship at Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama.  She’s currently busy planning Urban Mission Camps, week-long urban mission experiences for youth groups and invites you to their website here.