The scripture reading at NorthHaven is always followed by the liturgical response: "This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God." The Bible, though, has many stories and teachings that can make us uncomfortable, if not horrified. What should we do with the parts we don't like? Sometimes we make the text more palatable by making it say something it really doesn't, but most of the time we do what Jehoiakim did in Jeremiah 36 — not by literally cutting the text out, but by effectively pretending it just isn't there. Neither of these options are good. We need an approach that faithfully engages the text as it is, one that enables us to find something valuable even in the difficult passages.