Read the Book
“Read the Book” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! The day of Pentecost has passed, but we are just at the beginning of the season of considering what the Spirit is moving in our midst to get us to do on behalf of the mission of God. I want to start by sharing a story. This was a conversation which happened in my book club. Anyone else part of a book club? I know Karen Grant has been in a book club for over 25 years — an impressive run. The book club I’m a part of began around 2010; I joined in 2012 — I think. I’m not exactly sure. We read a variety of stuff, mostly fiction, but it usually good discussion and always good food, and I know I’ve been introduced to things I wouldn’t have chosen to read otherwise. About six months ago at our monthly gathering we were talking about a book, and one member weighed in with some comments which were a little off from the rest of the conversation. Finally someone asked her, Did you read the book? She hesitated a bit, and then confessed that she had started it and had run out of time and read some reviews instead so she could participate in the conversation.
Now I don’t know about Karen’s group, but in my group the expectation for book club is that you’re going to read the book. It’s fine if you don’t love it, it’s fine if you have questions, it’s even fine if it was a busy month and you didn’t get it finished — or started, but if that happens all the time, maybe a book club isn’t for you. We want everyone to participate in the conversation, but that’s difficult if you haven’t read the book. We laughed about this conversation at the time, and still tease our friend about it, but I thought of this story when I was preparing to preach about the Bible and the Church of the Brethren’s understanding of the Bible’s power and authority. Especially as we are inviting you to participate in a Bible study in the coming months, I think it’s reasonable to give you some idea of what you can expect.
The first thing I would say is Read the Book. I’m not talking primarily about the study guide written by Mary Sue H. Rosenberger; it’s fine stuff and it will provide a helpful framework and guideline for us, but we aren’t studying Rosenberger, we’re studying the Bible, and Bible study means reading the Bible. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised (or maybe not) by how many people refer to the Bible or claim an opinion is based in the Bible, or hold it up or lay their right hand on it and claim that it is the truth and that they are telling the truth, and they have never read the book.
When I say, “the book” I am referring to the collection which Protestants call The Bible, which includes the Old and the New Testament. Catholics and some other folks would include additional books which are published in some editions of the Bible, but not in all of them. I chose this text from Matthew for this morning because it is the words of Jesus in a long teaching which is known as The Sermon on the Mount, where he is talking about the Jewish holy texts and saying he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. This is a huge claim. It is demanding enough for a human to follow the law; it is the work of God to fulfill it. The Old Testament — a collection of the law, the prophets, and the writings (stuff like psalms and proverbs) — was Jesus’ scripture, and he put himself into the context of respect and honor for that tradition, but taking it beyond understanding the law to following the law and living a righteous life. Greatness in the kingdom of heaven is not about scholarship, it is about discipleship.
If we fast-forward from the Sermon on the Mount to 1708, we come to the first members of the Church of the Brethren. They weren’t sure they wanted to be a “church” at all, and chose a name which was not a person, their founder or role model, it was a name which indicated their relationship to each others: a familial relationship. The called each other Sister and Brother, and some Brethren still use that form of address. Their group began as a Bible study; men and women reading the book, trying to decide in community what it meant for how they should live. They weren’t priests or scholars; Alexander Mack was a miller (not the name, the profession of milling grain), but they were earnest and committed to discovering what the Bible would tell them about how they should live. Because this has been the pattern for Bible study which has been used for over 300 years and which we still use today and will be using here at Creekside this summer, it may be tempting to assume that it is pretty run-of-the-mill (see what I did there?). This was certainly not the case for the 1st Brethren. Personal Bible reading was suspect — why not just let the priest tell you what to think? He knows the church’s position — gathering for Bible study was against the law, and the action it led to, 5 men and three women re-baptizing themselves as adults, was punishable by death.
Laws about practicing religion have changed, at least for those of us in the United States, but the book from which we claim our identity as Christians, Anabaptists, Pietists, Church of the Brethren, disciples of Jesus — has not. Nor have some of the core values which guided our spiritual ancestors. They believed it was important to read the book. They believed in the personal inspiration and illumination of the Holy Spirit, but that the Bible was best understood in the company of other believers who are trying to following Jesus; Bible study is a conversation, not a monologue. They believed that ordinary people without theological training could understand the Bible, and they were a bit suspicious of too much “book learning.” If you have to call in a bunch of experts to make the Bible say something besides what is an obvious reading, something is out of whack.
Over the past 300 years, some other understanding about reading the Bible have developed, including respect for and understanding of history and tradition, and a respect for and understanding of the context in which the Bible was written — what was the role of women in 1st century society? versus the context of when and where it is being read; how is the role of women different in 21stC America, and how is that role different from a woman in 21st C Nigeria? You can begin to imagine how many layers of understanding this creates. It does not mean that anything goes and that we can each create our own truth, but it does recognize that people come from and live in and follow Jesus in different contexts, and any single group should have some humility about asserting that they have discovered the truth for all people for all time. This is why reading the book together — even across cultural boundaries — is so important.
One more principle which characterises an Anabaptist and Brethren reading of the Bible is the conviction that Jesus is the center of our faith and the ultimate example of how we should live. This conviction is the lens through which we read both the Old and the New Testament. The words of Jesus have particular power and authority. A good place to begin reading or re-reading the Bible is the gospels, because that is where almost all of the recorded words of Jesus are. Any new inspiration which contradicts the teaching of Jesus should be suspect — this discernment is helped by actually knowing the teachings of Jesus. If Jesus taught us to love our enemies (you can find this teaching later on in Matthew 5, verse 44) and the Bible is being used to justify killing our enemies, there is a tension there which needs to be resolved: why should we be doing something different than an obvious reading of Jesus’ teaching? We give more weight to the words of Jesus than to other verses elsewhere, especially if there seems to be a conflict.
And finally, it is good to bring some sensible skepticism to the table — not about the centrality of Jesus, but about claims which people make in Jesus’ name. There is no pure reading of the Bible in which we separate ourselves from our context and our convictions and just read the Bible for what it says. We can certainly make the effort to set aside some of our own baggage so we can listen to what the Bible has to say. But if someone is telling you this is what Jesus said about abortion, or this is what Jesus taught about gun control there is some interpretation going on there, because Jesus addresses neither of those things directly. Those convictions may be grounded in careful study, but it could also be someone invoking Jesus to give credibility to their own opinions, even if they have never read the book. My personal reading choices lean toward British mysteries, and plot-drive fiction; reading the Bible is not the same as tearing through a novel. Reading the book is humbling and empowering — often at the same time. It can be rewarding and also tedious, inspiring and also discouraging. I rarely read a passage and think Wow! I have this all figured out. Thank goodness I’m doing such a great job at that righteousness stuff. One of the reasons we need to go back to the Bible is that it challenges us to live more godly lives, and it reassures us of God’s faithfulness in every part of our lives. May God bless our reading and our study together. Amen.