Yesterday morning I offered my Bible sermon. It wasnt the first time I had preached the sermon, although this was a reworked, almost brand new sermon. Every year I change it. Like next year I'll include the NYTimes Crossword theory. The great part is that every year new stuff about the Bible comes out, in some ways it rewrites itself. Hope you like it.
Judson Sermon 20130602 "The Good Book" from Jacqueline Thureson on Vimeo.
The Good Book
text: “I will write them on their hearts”
(Jer. 31:33)
Recognition of Graduates and Sunday
School Teachers
2.June.2013
Judson Memorial
Baptist Church
Minneapolis, MN
The Rev’d G. Travis Norvell
Two things you can always be sure
of: death and taxes. And I would like to
add a third: that Americans will always buy bibles. We are not content with the Good Book we keep
on snatching them up. I own at least 33,
of which at least 8 are of the same version, the NRSV. You can find bibles in all shapes and sizes:
large print, thin line, red letter, green letter, water proof, fire proof,
camouflage, denim, duct tape, neon green, leather bound, cloth bound, hard
back, paperback, name the language and it has a translation of the bible, name
languages that aren’t really real and they too have versions of the bible: a
Star Wars phrasing of the Bible (Good News for the Warrior Class), and of
course a Klingon translation, the Hippie translation, and the Pigdin
translation. There are bibles written in
different formats: the 100 minute bible (developed by an Anglican priest, a
flattened version of the bible which can be read in 100 minutes), the
screenplay bible (lights, camera, action) and so on and so on.
We hold
the bible in high esteem in almost talismanic quality with magical powers: we
ask our presidents and public officials to place their hand on it during the
taking of oaths (which ironically the bible says don’t do), towns spend
millions of dollars in court fees to publicly display the ten commandments on
stones (which too is a bit ironic since the ten commandments forbids graven
images), and we give them to others to mark the milestones of life (my kids
love their King James Version white New Testaments, it blows my mind. And even though I have 30+ bibles I covet the
one my grandmother gave my sister when she graduated from high school: KJV,
blue colored leather with her name engraved on it – do not covet your
neighbor’s possessions, another one of those pesky ten commandments). In April of 1862 in the battle of Shiloh
Confederate solider Sam Houston Jr. was fired upon by Union troops but survived
because a copy of the bible, a bullet with a bee line for his heart was stopped
by the 70th Psalm which
reads:
Be pleased,
O God, to deliver me.
O Lord,
make haste to help me!
Let those be
put to shame and confusion
who seek my
life.
And the paradox remains: we are awash in
bibles yet, as a nation, we routinely flunk bible quizzes. Name the ten commandments, the four gospels,
the five books of Moses or the Torah, provide three of the prophets in the Old
Testament, where was Jesus born. 16% of
Americans think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.
Suffice to say the book you have in your lap, in
your pew, or on your shelf did not fall from the sky. It has a thick, troublesome, and beautiful
history thousands of years old, separated by cultures, languages, customs,
seas, and worldviews.
Cigarettes, alcohol, chewing tobacco and soft drinks in
NYC all have surgeon general warnings on them.
But the bible does not, and if anything needs a warning label it is the
bible. So before offering my five
reasons why you should read the Good Book allow me to offer five cautionary
words.
1. The Bible is really old, from foreign cultures. We are separated by vast expanses of time and
geography. Nevertheless we can identify with the characters of the Bible quite
easily. Therefore, we think we can just pick the book up and automatically
viola, complete understanding. The Bible always has been, is, and will always
be a communal book meant to be read and understood in community. The world has
already experienced enough nut cases claiming a direct revelation from God, let
us spare the world another. Read and discuss the Bible together, preferably
with a person or two with whom you vehemently disagree with on almost every
issue.
2. You will never master the Bible, it is bigger than our
thoughts, more expansive than our imaginations and greater than the sum of all
our learning. This book was cut and pasted, whittled down and added to,
elaborated and edited. Despite all of our advancement and progress there are
parts of the Bible that are lost to our understanding. We keep those parts but
at the end of the day we throw up our hands and say I do not know, and that is
okay. The Bible’s contents have stood the test of time again and again as a
wellspring for saints and sinners.
3. The Bible is not perfect. It is in many ways still a
work in progress as we evolving human beings are still a work in progress. The
portrait of God, as a whole, portrayed in the Bible is not neat and tidy but is
messy and unfinished. The Bible is a product where the best and worst of human
beings and of God are on display, for all the world to see. Always remember the
Bible is a fully human product, soiled with prejudices, biases and troubling
thoughts of the authors who penned its words.
4. Finally, the Bible is not the end. The Bible is a
helpful guide, the one guide that judges all guides and helps along the way for
human beings. But it is not the teleological point for human destiny, God is.
The Bible is an ambassador that points to God but it is not God. Do not treat
the Bible as an idol to be worshiped, the Bible simply points to the One, The
Living God, to be worshiped. Owning a bible, swearing on one, putting in a
prominent place will bring no special powers (but keeping one close to your
chest may be worth it). The bible is
only useful it is used, if it is read, marked, learned, heard, and inwardly
digested.
And the
kicker principles. Prove me wrong.
5. No Christian allows the Bible
to teach as the authoritative word of God what is known or believed (for
whatever reasons) to be either untrue or immoral. & Every Christian finds what the Bible teaches
as the authoritative word of God to be identical or congruent with what is
known or believed (for whatever reasons0 to be true and right. Thanks to Ken Cauthen (one of my theology
professor at Colgate
Rochester Crozer
Divinity School,
if you want the entire essay it can be found in his book, Towards a New
Modernism.
So why read this ancient, difficult, heavy, and troublesome book?
1. The Tautology Argument. Read the Bible because the
Bible says so! Happy are those (whose)…delight is in the torah of God, and on
God’s law they meditate day and night. (Psalm 1:1 & 2)
2. The Trust argument. Read the Bible because your
parents, grandparents and your ancestors before you read it. By reading it we are trusting our ancestors
and strengthening our bonds of trust.
This book took a thousand years to compile, in the fourth century ce they
were still debating what books to include in the canon. Trust that they weren’t cavalier about what’s
in here.
3. The National Public Radio (NPR) argument. You cannot be
an informed American or Global citizen without a basic knowledge of the
stories, themes, and contents of the Bible. Read it because it is one of the
important links in the chain that is Western culture and society. You cannot
properly understand Shakespeare or the Constitution of the United States of America or Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s I Have a Dream Speech or Prince’s song Controversy or Bob Dylan’s song
Highway 61 or the News from Lake
Woebegone without a
rudimentary knowledge of the Bible.
4. The Mirror
argument. This book pulls no punches
about who we are as human beings: beautiful and ugly, nice and mean, crazed
sexual beings and calm celibate folks, war mongers and peace warriors,
vegetarians and carnivores, sober and drunk, separated and reconciled. Like the old commercial line, it’s in
there. There’s nothing new under the sun,
our problems are human caused and can be human solved.
5. Finally, the Travis Norvell argument. Read the Bible
because through song and story, history and imagination, and poetry and prose
the great book of books tells a very particular story of what it means to be a
human being, who God is, and how we are to live in a covenantal relationship
with the God who created us, the earth that sustains us, and the people whom we
call brothers and sisters.
The Bible stands as a vessel vacillating between humanity
and God as an aide in our relationship. The Bible informs (builds up),
critiques (tears down) and reconstructs our thoughts, experiences, and dreams
about the relationship.
In conclusion, Brothers and Sisters, take this book and
read it, treasure its contents, find a translation whose rhythms and cadences
speak to you, and you will find the stories, songs, poetry and prose a resting
place for your troubled minds and great source of strength and comfort for your
homesick souls. These words will knock you off your pedestal by reminding who
you are and your place in this world. These words will also pick you up and
nestle you close to the bosom of God. View this book as a life long wrestling
partner. View this book as living words which allow you to nurse from the
breast of God as the Bible nourishes your starving body.
The Bible is not God, but reading it, studying it, chewing
it and digesting it sure does put you in a place and peace of mind for God to
knock on your door and spend time with you.
Take these words and move them from a mantelpiece to part
of who you are and how you see the world.
When you open this book pray these words as offered by Thomas Cranmer when the Book of Common Prayer was first composed:
Blessed God, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be
written for our
learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that,
by patience and
comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace
and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life, which
thou hast revealed
to us in Jesus the Christ. Amen.
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