2 February 2006

We start again with more from Thomas Merton.

The Bible claims to contain a message which will not merely instruct you, not merely inform you about the distant past, not merely teach you certain ethical principles, or map out a satisfying hypothesis to explain your place in the universe and give your life meaning - much more than that, the Bible claims to be: The Word of God.
But what is this "word or God"? Is it simply a word of supreme and incontestable authority? Does it impose on (man) an outrageous doctrine which has no real meaning for his life, but which has to be accepted under the penalty of going to hell? Once again, this utter distortion of the Bible is the result of fragmentation, division, and partiality.

Many books can do what Merton notes in his first comments about the message of the Bible. It is that claim...it is the Word of God...that gives it a bit more pepper and spice. For under that comment, people like to take it wherever they would like some word like that to go...for them. Rather than have it be the Word that speaks of Gods never ending and always present love for us and how that Word is the power to shape and move us into relationship that reflect that love, the Bible is used more frequently as a bully book to let people think that they have some hidden knowledge or power that enables them to play god with the lives of others. When the Bible is used as a book that merely helps a person avoid going to hell, then I would suggest that the teacher of such a penalty is like listening to hell alive and well in the fury of the teacher and then the life journey one enters because of such teaching becomes hell. Of all the images that come to us from the Bible, it always amazes me that we can do such an amazing job at turning a word of grace - the Word of God - into a word of terror and fear that we then try to sell as love.

Connection: The yoke is light. The stories that bring us the Word of God - the life available to us by our God who just cannot stop loving us - have a way of being a power for just such a life among us. If you do not have a sense of that gracious loving power, listen again...it is there...don't let anyone distort it into something else.

Lord, you are our sanctuary, you hold us and nurture us and keep us wrapped up in your love that defines who we are and is the power to transform us into the beloved people you say we are in your eyes. We give you thanks and await the ongoing fullness of your presence. Amen.