Head, heart, hands - bible Sunday

from Helen

I love books, now I don’t mean a little I mean a lot. In most situations if you want to find me relaxing I am reading a book. I love thinking about different characters and I hate being told the end of a book. I love buying a new book and I hate being rushed when I am trying to pick a new book. Basically me and books are lifelong friends. I also enjoy reading the blurb of a book in hard copy or a description of a book in electronic copy. 

One blurb in particular which I think sounds exciting reads,

“ These pages contain stories on an epic scale – thrillers, adventures, family sagas, and more – taut with emotion and spanning the whole of history. Yet a single current – one of love, sadness, betrayal, and forgiveness – flows through. It points to a Father who offered his only Son so that we can go free.

A cast of thousands crowds the pages – people living in different times, different places. But the casting isn’t closed. In the continuing drama, each of us is invited to play a part.”

This blurb is actually from the back of one Bible translation. Today is Bible Sunday. It is the day when we give thanks for the Bible, when we think about its importance to us and to the world.

The Bible is a conversation that we are invited to be part of. The Bible isn’t just to look good on our shelves, although I do have a pink and sparkly Bible which looks very good, but the Bible is to be loved and engaged with.

There have in the past been some bad typing errors in Bible translations that never made it onto the shelf, for example…

In 1832 an edition had Rebekah leaving her tent to meet Isaac with a group of - - camels and not damsels.

An1810 version read, "If any man come to me, and hate not . . . his own wife (instead of :life"), he cannot be my disciple." 

The first English-language Bible to be printed in Ireland, in 1716, encouraged its readers to "sin on more" rather than "sin no more."

An American printer had the "Parable of the Vinegar" and not the "Parable of the Vineyard."

In the gospel reading (Luke 4:16-24) this morning we heard of how Jesus engaged with scripture as He made a shocking comment. He did the correct thing, He went to the synagogue and He read. But then …. He said that the reading was fulfilled by Him. This is incredible. This is what we know and believe to be true. Jesus was the one who both couldand did change things.

The people hearing Jesus were amazed at what He said. This is how reading the Bible should make us feel. Astounded at the things that God has done and continues to do. Amazed that He wants us to be part of this, and challenged into action.

In the reading from Isaiah (45:22-25) we heard that when God spoke a word it was not going to return to Him, meaning that we need to act on it. 

The Bible is a conversation, it is living, it can’t be left on the shelf. As followers of God, we need to read His word. Because when we read the Bible we use our heads to grapple with what it says to us, we use our hearts to respond to the love of God we read of in it and we use our hands to go out and let what we have learnt make a difference in our lives asking for God’s power to help us to do this.

The Bible is important because it is both about God and is also from God. In the Bible we learn that God is interested in humanity as we read of countless examples of God showing an interest in human beings. The Bible shows us that not only is God interested in humanity, not only does He care for humanity, He also wants a relationship with us. This is seen throughout the Bible in the ways that God has discussions with people. 

The Bible isn’t just about God though, it is also from God. The Bible is God’s revelation/description of Himself. It is the Word of God. It is a record of the way in whichGod makes contact with us.

The Bible is to impact our lives and as it says in the collect this morning God has given us the Scriptures for our learning, for us to learn about Him.

The Bible is useful in providing a guide for us of how to live as Christians. It teaches us how to live with God and one another. It teaches us about love and compassion. The Bible also offers us encouragement for our walk of faith. 

The importance of the Bible is immense, but we do sometimes take it for granted, and we forget to give thanks for it. There are many countries, particularly in Eastern Europe where getting a bible is still difficult even after the fall of communism. One man who has worked at getting Bibles to these areas is Ronald MacMilian, he said,

“I can remember the first time I gave a Bible to an old pastor in Czechoslovakia who had led his church for about thirty years and all he had were some hand written notes from his mother who had copied a bit of the Bible out from part of the second letter to Timothy. He had led the church all that time on just those passages. When I gave him this Bible, he turned to me and said, ‘This is a dangerous book. What trouble has it brought you?’” 

The Bible is dangerous in countries where Bibles need to be smuggled in because they are not allowed, but the Bible is not just dangerous for these people it should be dangerous for us as well, because the Bible has the power to change us as we seek to live more like God, if we are prepared to let God speak to us through it. 

Gandhi said something about the Bible which should challenge us and the way we respond to the Bible, he said, “‘‘You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisations to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it’s nothing more than a piece of literature!’ 

How do we treat our Bibles ? Do we allow them to change us ? 

May we give thanks for the Bible on this day and every day and may we be ready to respond with our heads as we grapple with what we are reading, with our hearts as we respond to God’s love and with our hands as we go out and make a difference by being more like God.AMEN.