Friday 31 October 2008

The week and the month closes with a good word about Scripture - by Stanley Hauerwas.

...Scripture stands over the community exerting a critical function, but that it does so is an aspect of the community's self-understanding. Scripture is the means the church uses to constantly test its memory. That is why it can never be content with using just one part of the Scripture, but must struggle day in and day out with the full text. For the story the church must tell as well as embody is a many-sided tale which constantly calls us from complacency and conventions. Scripture has authority in the church, not because no one knows the truth, but because the truth is a conversation for which Scripture sets the agenda and boundaries. Those with authority are those who would serve by helping the church better hear and correspond to the stories of God as we find them in Scripture.

This way of looking at Scripture can drive a literalist to the breaking point. We can never be "content with using just one part of the Scripture." When we do that, we pick our own "sacred" pieces of Scripture that are considered "sacred" because we think they agree with where we are and what we believe. We must be a people who look at the whole book - the grand themes that penetrate time and link us with those who have gone before us holding onto these stories and those who will follow and turn to the same stories. We believe that the Spirit of the Church is the power that brings together all of the followers of Jesus so that we can discern what will be the path we follow in every place and time. The work of the Spirit includes the conversations we enter as we attempt to move into this day as a people who continue to look for the ways the Good News can be put to life among us. Scripture is our starting point and our guide in the midst of our conversations and wrestling with the day.

Connection: When someone says, "the bible says..." Listen to them, but also feel free to turn to the wider themes of Scripture that often overturn some of the interpretations of a passage here and a passage there. So...homework for all of us is to grasp those themes as gifts to our life.

Living Word, you guide us by the stories given to us by the faithful who have gone before us and the opportunity to listen to one another as we share those stories. In the midst of our conversation and prayer, lead us into new ways of seeing the fullness of your Reign. Amen.