Friday 24 August 2007

I thought this was a good way to end this week's look at genre in the Scriptures - from William Placher.



If we study the whole Bible, its central concerns come through clearly enough. We learn that we are all sinners, that God loves us anyway, and that knowiing our salvation rests on grace frees us to live in the service of God and neighbor without worrying about how we will be rewarded.



It is as though we can put to an end the finger-pointing and nit-picking that so often seems to be the reason people pick up the Bible. When we would allow power of the Word to run over us and let the story play out as it promised, we will find that we are left with a day full of grace to spread around. What a joyous way to look at the day. Recently I was reading a few books in which the whole role of religion was to keep people in line. Therefore, utmost in the minds and words and actions of people was an atmosphere of threat. Grace - though talked about - was only for those who deserved it. What a crock!! What a way to throw out the good news that is a part of so many of our world's religions. Alas, we know how people love rewards...and punishments. It is so easy to build a religious movement on such a system and what turns out to be such a brutality - physically, mentally, spiritually. It is so easy to forget the gift and jump right into what is our part in making the gift really for us. Duh...our part...is to receive the gift. The gift transforms...the gift surprises...the gift make us more than we ever thought we could be....the gift moves us into a life of love and hope and justice and peace. WE...we are invited to walk within the Reign of that gift.



Connection: More than likely, keeping the Good News to the very essential word of Grace...of Gift, may be what opens up this day to life we really could not imagine all on our own.



Open our hearts, O God, so that as you continue to call us your beloved, we listen and we find that our lives begin to notice new new roads to travel and more joys to experience in the midst of the ordinary stuff of the day. Amen.