The Hub, August 13, 2019
“So many books, so little time.” Perhaps few know that as well as a pastor! We love and depend upon books even in this digital age for sound theology and ideas for better ministry. Come into any pastor’s office, and you will likely see books on shelves and tables, if not the floor. Today, this clutter has likely spread through electronic versions on their tablet or phone as well. Our lives seem fed by books.
Yet what would happen if the pastor attended to all these other books but moved away from reading scripture daily? As with anyone else, Bible stories will be conflated into cultural understandings rather than scriptural ones. Faith might become challenged if not weaker, and a hunger for meaning, understanding and hope would grow. As with satiating one’s thirst, we need to go back to the well often. We need to hear what scripture really says to us, for as an early Puritan pointed out, “God is still speaking.”
Now certainly, other books have value, as do our many commitments, but through scripture, we encounter our Living God who loves us anew in a special way. Scripture is the norm for teaching and our discernment over all daily matters in our lives. The Spirit can literally touch and reshape our hearts. Martin Luther argued the Word of God has the power to bring about repentance, faith, and salvation. “What pasture is to the beast…the nest for the birds, the stream for fish, the Scriptures are for believing souls,” Luther wrote.
As our community’s children return to their academic studies, let us also return as families and individuals to scripture. Take advantage of the free daily meditation guides in our welcome area. (Perhaps even take the extra step of reading each scriptural citation in full and in their original context.) Challenge yourself to a Bible reading plan based on themes for life or for reading the Bible throughout the year. It is easier than you think. Intentionally dig into scripture when facing decisions or problems, start or end your day. Listen for the Spirit through other’s interpretations that might affirm, challenge or shape your own. (Bible study with a spouse, family, or group is immensely helpful.) Also, engage Sunday’s sermons more deeply by taking notes or talking about the sermon or readings of the day with others afterward. You can also discuss scripture with our Christian tradition and the universal Church as you, just like a good pastor, attend ongoing classes and Bible studies to help you better understand historical and other contexts as well as hear what people of the very diverse past and present have to say.
If you need some direction, please ask Pastor Anne or me. We will be excited to open up the Bible with you. For each time we do, we encounter God’s love anew. And you with your faith (and questions) have something to teach us as well.
Originally published in The Hub, a weekly email of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA.
© 2019 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.
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