Saturday, April 22, 2023

 

Saturday, April 22, 2023


Psalm 118:1-18

Exodus 18:10-27

Luke 24:36-53


Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures.


There used to be a long-running series of novels for schoolchildren about some high school students who had been given alien technology that granted them the ability to temporarily morph into any animal into which they came into physical contact. Every now and again, the aliens who had given them this technology would visit them to check up on how they were doing. In one of these interactions, the alien spent some time marvelling on the elegant brilliance of the humble book. The book never runs out of power. It never runs into technical difficulties. And if you want to find a certain piece of information, all you have to do is to flick to that page.


The written word has always been powerful. We have ancient letters that talk about military movements: one king asking another to send reinforcing armies his way. Others contain endless lists of inventory: who owns what and how much money they owe. If you can read and write, your world is opened up to infinite possibility.


When you pick up your Bible, you are reading a set of very special words. Words that have been breathed by God. Words that men wrote that came not from their own imagination, but have been inspired by the Holy Spirit of God Himself.


This is a living text. That is to say, it is not some dusty, old non-fiction you have to trudge through just to push information into your brain. Neither is it fanciful fantasy, containing tales of black-and-white heroes and villains slaying ogres and casting love spells. When we read our Bibles, we step into the real world. Events that happened long ago burst with vibrancy and relevance just as if they happened yesterday. Ancient philosophies and worldviews show us how to live the good life, even when we have microwaves and the authors had to make do with a hole in the ground.


The Bible is the greatest gift God has given us, because in it we learn that the Holy Spirit is here, with us, today. And that the Holy Spirit is pointing us to Christ, the name above all names and the ultimate desire of our hearts. Our heavenly Father knows that we are hungry for information about Him, and so He gives it to us in a format both ingeniously accessible and powerful in its humility: the Bible.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, September 12, 2022

  Monday, September 12, 2022 Psalm 33 Habakkuk 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:1-14 In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. The lectionary has taken us from the beloved disciple to one of the most beloved of Paul's epistles: Ephesians. Paul must have loved this church very much: we get a sense of his fondness for them and their shared sense of purpose and worship just from the introduction. In what is likely just an introduction to a letter in the style of the ancient Roman world, Paul has managed to squeeze in the entire, wondrous story of God's work of redemption. Paul has framed it the way it ought to be framed: in a pastoral, encouraging tone. He has three main points here (remember, Paul proceeds logically to build up an argument, unlike John who circles around his main point). First: God intended to save us before the world was formed. Think back to the first l
Read more

“Short time or long – I pray to God not only you but all who are listening become like I am, except for these chains.”

  Monday, September 11, 2023 Psalms 28; 29 1 Kings 7:51-8:21 Acts 26:19-32 Observance: Deiniol, bishop (d. 384) “ Short time or long – I pray to God not only you but all who are listening become like I am, except for these chains.” The great many blessings of being under the protection of the blood of the Lamb fill our hearts with joy and peace. To have the Almighty Creator of the universe, the One who sits above the flood, filling the temple of our being with the cloud of His presence is what it truly means to be human. Every day is filled with adventure; every night turns to the rest of the victor. Certainly there are chains: sometimes they are physical chains, the suffering of being a Christian among people who do not love the Lord. Sometimes they are spiritual; the attacks of the powers of the air who try to distract us from the One we love. But they always fall away. Our Rock of Ages always frees us; always brings us out of the pit of despair. A won
Read more

Monday, September 19

  Monday, September 19 Psalm 45 Nahum 1:15-2:9 Ephesians 4:17-28 ...be renewed in the spirit of your minds... It is far too easy to read some of these Pauline lists of virtues and vices and feel like we have gone back to the dark days before the Reformation. The idea that if we behave ourselves then we can call ourselves “good people” is pagan, not Christian. Paul feels very strongly about how Christians behave, he “affirms and insists” upon it. But it is because of what has already happened that we should mind our step, not because of where we are going. Christ's resurrection is many things, but one aspect relevant for Paul's teaching this morning is that it demonstrates to us the radical new reality in which we now live. We too have passed (spiritually) from death to life; therefore, we experience a “renewal of our minds”. Instead of treading water until we die, we live lives. Everything now makes sense: God has spoken, so we have logic. God made us in His im
Read more