Children's Time:

Who can tell me what this is? (Children answer that it's a Bible)

Wrong, it's a paperweight. Why did you think it was a Bible? [Because it says Holy Bible]

A lot of people are fooled by that. In fact I heard that the average American home has more than five Bibles. But you know, it doesn't matter how MANY Bibles you have, it's what you DO with them.

If your Bible only sits on a table, it's a paperweight

If your Bible never gets taken out of the bookcase, it's a shelf ornament

If I clonk you over the head with it, it's a weapon

But it's not truly God's word until….what? [you read it]. That's right.

I open the Bible and begin to read and suddenly, it's the Bible--the word of God transmitted across thousands of years. That's cool. That's powerful.

You know that Bible sitting on the table? That's like a big rock, sitting at the top of a hill. Scientists tell us that that rock has a huge amount of something called 'potential energy'. But just start rolling that rock down the hill, and suddenly all that potential energy is transformed into something much more powerful called 'kinetic energy' and you better get of the way. That's what happens when you open the Bible and start to read from it. It's like giving that big rock a push, and all that lifechanging power is unleashed.

And so I invite you to go home this noon and amaze your parents and siblings by changing your holy Bible from a paperweight to the Word of God.

Sermon: A Timeless Message for Our Time

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? What is the sound of one hand clapping? If I own a Bible and never read it, is it still the Word of God?

OK, all the children tell me the answer to that last one…. If I own a Bible and never read it, is it still the Word of God? ….NO. If that's true, then the implication of this statement is that the Word of God is an event. The Word of God is an event where the reader interacts with the Biblical text. It requires both a reader and the Biblical text. Now I suspect that very few of you have ever had someone stand in the pulpit and tell you that the Word of God is an event. I could be wrong.

But like the proverbs about the tree and the one hand, the answer to the question is far less important than the contemplation of it. The purpose is to make you think. So, this sermon is going to be an exploration of the Word of God as Event, using Ephesians 4:1-16 as an illustration of how the idea works. And in deference to John Roth and others who like a three-point sermon, the sermon will be in three parts, treating each of the actors in the event--first, the Biblical text; second, the reader; and third….well, it's a surprise.

Let's start with the Biblical text, the first actor in our "Word of God" Event. Many Christians will tell you that the Bible is timeless, ageless, changeless--forever the same. I'm pretty much in agreement with that view. Versions and translations notwithstanding, the Biblical text was laid down in ancient Israel and in the time of Jesus and Paul and its essential meaning is unchanged. However, I do not believe that there is some single, pristine, and true meaning of any particular passage. The Bible is far richer in meaning than any of us dare imagine. So rich so, that generation after generation of Christians in a lifetime of reading cannot exhaust its treasure. The Bible is not a biology text. It is literature--holy, inspired literature--history, poetry, story, genealogy, allegory, proverb, parable and epistle, operating on multiple levels of meaning, transcending time and place to speak to us across the centuries in our time and place. We should expect that the God who inspired the original writers also intended to speak to us in our time.

To illustrate the richness of the text, I have a wonderful quote from the Italian poet Dante Alighieri written 600 years ago giving advice on the interpretation of his work, "Divine Comedy," using an example from scripture:

". . . For the first meaning is that which one derives from the things signified by the letter. The first is called "literal" and the second "allegorical," or "mystical." So that this method of exposition may be clearer, one may consider it in these lines: "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from people of strange language, Judah was his sanctuary and Israel his dominion (Psalm 114: 1-2). If we look only at the letter, this signifies that the children of Israel went out of Egypt in the time of Moses; if we look at the allegory, it signifies our redemption through Christ; if we look at the moral sense, it signifies the turning of the soul from the sorrow and misery of sin to a state of grace; if we look at the anagogical (or mystical) sense, it signifies the passage of the blessed soul from the slavery of this corruption to the freedom of eternal glory."

I bet he would preach sermon that would make your head spin, particularly since it would be in Italian. My point here is not trying to bewilder anyone with the complexity of the

interpretive task. On the contrary, I want to see people free to explore the richness of the Biblical text, using a whole range of approaches. There's always more there than you thought.

This richness in meaning of the Biblical text is shaped by its literary and historical context. The book of Ephesians was written in a specific time, the first century AD, and specific place, Rome, for a particular audience, the Gentile Christians in Asia Minor. It was crafted by a writer with his own literary style and word choices. It was written for a specific purpose. Ironically, although the historical and literary context underlies the Bible text, it's impact or non-impact is squarely on the reader. If the reader knows and understands the historical and literary context, it is a part of the thoughts and experiences he brings to the text. The Biblical text in the Word of God Event is all potential energy, potential meaning--waiting to be unlocked by the Reader.

This brings us to the Reader, the second actor in the Word of God Event. Now things really get cooking. There are two very important things to remember about the Reader. First, each reader is a unique collection of thoughts, experiences and emotions. That means that each reader will interact with the Biblical text in a unique and special way. Second, I the reader, am different each time I approach the Biblical text. If I read the same passage twice, the first time shapes me and changes the way I read it the second time. If I read the passage several months apart, the intervening events and experiences will shape the latter reading. The reader's context is very important.

To illustrate the importance of context, I want to use a musical anecdote… [Great is thy Faithfulness]

Context was again very important as I approached the Ephesians 4 passage. A month ago, Anita asked if I would preach today on Ephesians 4:1-16. I quickly read the passage and immediately said yes, because I knew that this was the first Sunday after Richard's farewell and I saw things in this passage that speak powerfully to a congregation in a pastoral transition. The call to unity in verses 1-6, the call for each to use his and her God-given gifts for the building up of the body in verses 7-12 and the call to grow into Christian maturity in verses 13-16. Over the ensuing weeks I read the passage again and again. I also read my Bible Commentary for information on the literary and historical context of the passage for the entire book of Ephesians, and I read earlier and later passages in the book. Over the month I also began to consider the passage in light of the denominational merger and how these themes of unity and gifting and spiritual maturity reflect on that process.

The book of Ephesians hasn't changed in the last month, but I have, and hopefully by God's Spirit I am better prepared to render an interpretation of this passage because of it. Since I'm using Ephesians 4 more as an object lesson in scriptural interpretation, I've chosen to simply paraphrase the passage for Berkey Avenue in this time and place:

"The right response to the atoning work of Christ is to live holy and ethical lives. But this needs to be done with great humility. When your pastor leaves, this can be a time when strong personalities emerge, differences are intensified and factions and tensions develop. So this is the time to be humble and gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love, and working hard to maintain a sense of unity and peace. This is true not only at the congregational level, but also at the conference and denomination level as well. Despite denominational difference and theological and philosophical variations, the church of Christ is one church, with one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is a part of all of us. While it may not seem achievable, this kind of unity is worth working toward."

'Each person has a role to play, based on the special gifts Christ has given them. God led Richard and Anita to us, and over the years they have been teaching us and preparing us to carry on in their absence, and to play a role in the building up the church until we all reach Christian maturity and become Christ-like. If we stay focused on this, we can tune out the seductive, corrupting messages coming from our media, our culture, and sometimes even from within the church and in turn become more and more Christ-like. With Christ as its head and each member doing their part, the church at all levels can hold together and grow and thrive."

I believe there are a number of implications growing out of the "Word of God as Event" approach:

First, it encourages regular Bible reading. The Word of God Event is different every time. The Biblical text is full of meaning. We should expect it to speak to our context across time. And we should expect to grow and improve and be shaped by the text as we read it again and again. We can't say I read the Bible when I was a kid and so now I don't need to. This is 100% good and right.

Second, it allows for and perhaps even validates the concept of personal revelation. Personal context and experience are viewed as shaping Biblical interpretation in useful ways. We have reason to be wary of this implication. Anabaptist history teaches us some painful lessons about following personal revelation to the exclusion of the Biblical text.

Learning to accept and tolerate a greater diversity of theological opinion is generally a good thing, since it reflects how the church actually is. However, left unchecked, personal revelation could lead to error and greater conflict.

This leads us to part three of the sermon, the mystery section, which turns out to be community of faith. The community of faith becomes a vital player in the Word of God Event. The Bible is the same yesterday, today and forever, the reader is changing constantly, and thus the community of faith provides a stable and consistent fabric for testing revelation and interpretation. A church member pledges to give and receive counsel with other members of the church and the community of faith is bound to provide it. This, it seems to me, provides the necessary checks and balances to enjoy the benefits of this model without being blindsided by its weaknesses. It also strikes me that the overall approach, vocabulary excluded, is very anabaptist. It takes seriously the individual's ability to read and interpret scripture, it emphasizes the relevance of the Bible for daily living in our time and place, and it recognizes the role of the faith community in testing ideas and giving counsel.

And so, as in the beginning, I ask again, if I own a Bible but never read it, is it still the Word God? We may never know and we may never agree. But do me a favor…think about it and let me know.