The B-I-B-L-E, Yes that's the book for me!!

 

Quick pop quiz on this Monday morning ~ I just heard you groan all the way here.  It will be okay.  In fact, you’ve already received an “A” just for continuing to read the meditation.  Nice way to start off the week, isn’t it?

 

The quiz has one question…what word or words do you associate with “Scripture”?  Or put another way, how do you describe scripture to others?

 

Wait, you think, that is TWO questions.  I can’t get anything past you this morning, can I? 

 

Seriously, put in the chat or come chat to me about how you approach Scripture. 

 

Some people find Scripture fascinating or confusing or frustrating or all the above.  Some believe Scripture is ancient or even irrelevant, a myth or fairy tale of another age.  Some hold Scripture at arm’s length, like a dangerous chemical that you don’t want to get on your clothes.  Some of our brothers and sisters have been hurt and harmed, wounded by Scripture.

 

Scholar Walter Bruggemann once said that as pastors we need to be careful when preaching so that the Bible and our sermons don’t join forces and overwhelm the people.  Scholar David Lose talks about how we all have impostures syndrome with Scripture.  We think, “Everyone else here clearly understands Scripture way more than I do.”  Scholar Barbara Brown Taylor write, “My relationships with the Bible is not a romance but a marriage, and one I am willing to work on in all the usual ways; by living with the text day in and day out, by listening to it and talking back to it, by making sure I know what is behind the words it speaks to me and being certain I have heard it properly, by refusing to distance myself from the parts of it I don’t like or understand, by letting my love for it show up in the everyday acts of my life.”

 

A love affair with scripture, wedded to the Word, looking to ancient wisdom that has guided and grounded people of faith for centuries, feasting on the Bible to feed and fuel our lives, and encountering the Bible as a testimony to the truth of God’s persist presence. 

 

I love Scripture and am a self-proclaimed, “Bible Nerd.”  I am endlessly curious about how these words stir…sometimes sting…my soul ~ awakening me to life that is beyond what I can consume on social media, binge watch on tv, or hear the talking heads debate ad nauseum on cable channels.  I believe we need a wisdom bigger and bolder than what we are hearing today around us.  

 

Beginning next Sunday, and in the months to come, we are going to go on an adventure through Scripture.  To be sure, like any good adventure, it won’t be all pony rides and chocolate rivers.  Part of any good journey is the risk, leaving the familiar.  Anytime we leave on vacation we know there may be delays and detours and disappointments when the ideal of the trip we planned doesn’t match reality of the trip we take.  We know about planes canceled, sitting in traffic jams, and the restaurant that had rave reviews online but was just, “Meh”.  And yet, along the journey there are breath-taking moments, serendipitous surprises, and experiences that make for great stories.  If you have ever wondered, “What does the Bible really say?”  If you have ever thought, “One day I will read the Bible cover-to-cover”.  If there is curiosity and the slightest part of your soul thinking, “Maybe, just maybe…”  Now is the chance.  Let’s go into the great unknown of sacred story where we will find hope, healing, and a Holy grace that is needed in these days.

 

Prayer: God of words that open our sacred imaginations.  As we open Scripture, open us to the possibility and promise, grant us permission to be confused, question, share insights, and talk with others.  May we find both ourselves, others, and Your bigger, bolder story of life from “In the Beginning” of Genesis 1, to the final “Amen” in Revelation 22.  In the name of the One who is the Word made flesh, Jesus the Christ. Amen.