Dislocated Exegesis

Kathy Randall: Lela, Maseno, Kenya
In Chuck Campbell's preaching class, one of our assignments was
dislocated exegesis. Basically it required reading a specific
scripture passage for an hour in a place that you normally wouldn't
read scripture. Given examples were in a bank or hotel lobby, at a
hospital, on a bus, or somewhere that you felt out of place. I read my
passage on the C-1, the main undergrad bus at Duke. I ended up having
to ride three buses, because they kept shutting down the route, and I
thought that it was interesting to read about an outcast, and have to
give up my seat so often.
I had no idea how forceful an actual experience of true dislocation could be.
On Friday, I was sitting in the hospital again, this time supposedly
healthy, waiting for my lab results. Since I was waiting, I got out
something to read. My Bible, of course, it is the easiest to carry,
and I was preaching on Sunday. I began to read 2 Kings 5:1-17, the
healing of Naaman. As I was reading about Naaman, who had to leave his
home to be healed, I realized that I was also away from my own home,
waiting to be seen, as Naaman waited to be healed.
As I preached the passage on Sunday, the girls at the primary school
showed how spirit filled worship can be, and showed me how powerful a
community that lives and worships and praises together can be. I
praise God for those girls, I praise God for the words I received in
preaching, and I praise God for allowing me to see that the lessons I
have been learning are truly essential to all of my work, in every
place I go.
Let me not forget that.