Today's readings: Ps 47, 14712-20; Jer 31:1-14; Col 2:8-23; Luke 6:39-49
The United Church of Christ (UCC) offers a promotional campaign featuring the slogan: “God is still speaking.” This campaign is controversial, because many Christians who identify themselves as “Bible-believing” are not comfortable with the idea that the Bible is not the complete and solitary source of God’s truth. But what if God is not saying new things, but old things in new ways?
For many people, the King James Bible – deliberately written in language archaic even for its time – has associated Biblical language with “smite,” “begat” and “yea, verily.” Biblical imagery is replete with ancient animal husbandry practices, arcane measurements (“What’s a cubit?” Bill Cosby asks in his famous Noah routine) and cultures which simply no longer exist. But Biblical texts were written to be understood. The Hebrew texts were transmitted orally, which meant the language needed to be memorable and accessible. And what good could a prophet do if his listeners couldn’t identify with his language? Biblical authors did not let language get in the way of understanding, and neither should we.
When Jeremiah tells the Israelites they will once again plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria (v. 5), he is telling people God restores them to wholeness. A contemporary example might be the end of apartheid and reparations in South Africa. When Paul wrote of the “uncircumcision of the flesh” (v. 13) he didn’t need to explain the meaning to his audience. Today we typically use more gender-inclusive imagery about the faithful. When Jesus told his listeners “People don’t pick figs from thorn bushes” (v. 44) he was speaking to people who actually picked figs. If he spoke to U.S. citizens today, maybe he would speak of raspberries and poison ivy.
The point is, God wants to be heard, in whatever ways we might be open to hearing. If we are really to see Christ in others, our vision can’t be limited to a book. If we want to speak Christ to others, we can’t do it with words we wouldn’t use ourselves. We don’t want to study or create poor translations that betray the spirit of the Gospel just to be modern or politically correct, but we don’t want to reflexively reject the modern either. The living God speaks to us through living languages – and living people.
Comfort: Anyone can hear God.
Challenge: Read a scripture translation you haven’t read before.
Prayer: God of freedom, thanks for the many ways you can be heard.
Evening readings: Ps 68, 113
Discussion question: How do you feel God speaks to you? (Please comment)
I think that God speaks to me personally in many different ways. Maybe through a book that I just happen to have found that has a deep spiritual message that seems to apply to my life at that moment. Sometimes a message on a billboard that applies to my current situation. Maybe an encouraging word from a friend that lets me know that God is always present in my life, even on my darkest days. I think the messages from God are all around us all the time. We just need to open our hearts and minds and we will become very aware of all the ways that God speaks to us every day.
ReplyDeleteGod speaks as the wind through the leaves of the trees, and in so many other ways. For us to say it all stopped with the last page of Revelation is hubris, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible contains various groups' responses to God in their own cosmology, space and time. It does seem good to me to attempt to understand what the authors are saying in each book and story, seeing how it might apply today.
But having said that, we need to realize every translation is an interpretation, and is biased. Just a slight tweak to a word in the original Greek or Hebrew can change its meaning, and be used to oppressed.
Most importantly, God has to still be speaking because God chose to incarnate as human, in Jesus Christ. God knows the human experience intimately and calls us to our most authentic selves. When we can get rid of the masks, and allow our true faces to shine, God is still speaking. When we spend time in deep silence, we can sense the stirrings of God within. We just need to listen, and allow the voice to speak, no matter how uncomfortable it might be at times.
If God has stopped speaking, God is dead, in my experience. My God, however, lives and reigns within my heart!