W is for Wonder.

Sometimes when I’m at the Saturday morning Bible study, one of the participants will say to me, “I wonder what you’ll be able to preach on out of all this!” Not, (I hope!) because they doubt my preaching, but because the Bible raises questions. It would be handy if it simply answered questions, but oh this holy book of ours makes me wonder. 

I wonder what poetry inspired the psalmists. I wonder if Paul had any ideas his letters would still be circulated centuries after he wrote them. I wonder how 1 & 2 Samuel ended up presenting King David so differently from 1 Chronicles. I wonder what we miss in meaning or purpose, reading in a different language and culture than the first believers. 

I wonder how it is that God still speaks to us, even despite all the barriers. I wonder at the persistence of the Holy Spirit, bringing meaning and grace to our lives from ancient texts.

 

W is for Word.

Word of God, that is. A phrase that’s much easier to say than to agree on what it means. For some Christians, the “Word of God” means every single thing written down in the Bible, often read without any particular concern for understanding context or language. For Lutherans, we follow the example of Martin Luther, who called the Bible a “cradle” for Jesus Christ, who is himself the Word of God. When we read the Bible, we go to it primarily looking for Jesus, and his grace and love.

Calling the Bible a “cradle” for Christ doesn’t negate its importance. Anybody who’s traveled with an infant knows the value of having a pack-and-play ready and waiting at their destination so baby has a safe place to sleep. I even keep a pack-and-play in my guest room, though my kids have long outgrown it, just in case.

The first time I set up a pack-and-play, I had no idea what I was doing. It took a long time and a lot of instruction to be sure I had done it right. (It took even longer to put it away!) So it can be when we approach the Bible– it may be unfamiliar, confusing, even alarming. But if you come back, again and again, determined as a first-time parent setting up a crib, the very act of reading the Bible will become familiar and comfortable. The questions will still come (see “W is for Wonder,”) but throughout those words you’ll find The Word, Jesus Christ.

 

W is for Worship.

The other place that Martin Luther understood us to encounter the Word of God was through preaching, which he called “the spoken word.” When you hear a sermon in worship, it should have words of judgment (which Luther called “law”) and words of promise (which Luther called “gospel.”) Any sermon that’s simply self-improvement advice or poetic meanderings isn’t the Word- but when Jesus Christ is proclaimed, crucified and risen for you, there is the Word. Our Worship services are oriented around this expectation that through written words (Bible) and spoken words (sermon), we will meet Jesus.

For that matter, the whole service is drawn from words found in the Bible. You can look in the hymnal on page 1154 to see just how much of the words for worship are drawn from Scripture. When we worship, when we share these words, we are gathered together by the Holy Spirit and forgiven, transformed for a life of discipleship.

 

W is for We.

Speaking of being gathered together, W is also for We. Nobody can be a Christian alone– and I don’t think anybody can understand the Bible alone either. Now, before you throw your hands up and give up on reading the Bible altogether– let me explain! We need a “we” to read and understand the Bible. We need other people in our community who help us ask questions and offer wisdom in return. We need scholars who have devoted their lives to studying language, history, and context. We need the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds. We need the people who hold us accountable and encourage us to keep going back to the Bible.


W is for Will you join me?

This summer, we join together in wondering, in worshiping, in being met by the Word of God, Jesus Christ. We are heading through an eight-week series on Sundays, accompanied by the book A is for Alabaster by Anna Carter Florence. I picked this book because I wanted to give us all a way into reading the Bible that wouldn’t intimidate or overwhelm, but rather open our eyes to this holy text in new ways. Whether you read the whole thing or just listen in on Sundays, the invitation is the same: will you join me?