Tuesday 4 December 2007

Today we continue with how the African American slaves insisted on a living Word - from "The Last Word on Biblical Authority" by Brian Blount.



And then there was the group of slaves in Georgia, in 1833, who listened to a white preacher go on and on about Paul's text on Philemon: "...According to the report...half of the Negro group walked out with the point of the sermon became clear, and the rest stayed mostly for the purpose of telling that they were sure there was no such passage in the Bible."

Of course, it is in the Bible. It's your bible and my Bible, and it was in the slaves' Bible. but they contested it! They walked out on it! Why? Because theirs was the living Bible.



For those who long for the word of life that is a promise for new life, you cannot sell them or offer them a dead word. After awhile, they will leave...and so should any of us. It is quite common for me to talk on the phone to someone who cannot go back to church...or cannot go to churches where the preacher is so stuck in a context 'from of old,' that they will not and cannot begin to see and hear the word as a living and breathing reality from which communities are brought to this new life in Christ. When a community that gathers around the word is unwilling to listen again to the word that offers life to all, and they insist on reading for their own benefit and against others, it is time to walk out. Blessed are they who have been able to stay and have, because of their persistent faithfulness, transformed a congregation and helped them see the joyous life of a word alive for all.



Connection: We put our GLBT brothers and sisters through this kind of single-minded reading of the Bible. So few passages become such a focus to the life of a community that the doors are more likely to be shut than open. Imagine what would happen if we took the rich to task for our wealth as being quite contrary to following Jesus. Hmmm?



Your Word, O Life Giving Lord, continues to interrupt our world and pull us into new places so that as we engage our world we will be a part of a living word that really has the power to create new life. To you we give our thanks and praise and ask for your ongoing presence among us. Amen.