A Living, Vibrant World

In May my parish Priest asked if I’d be willing to lead an adult Bible study. He had led one in the weeks before Lent. Some people seemed to enjoy that and asked if it could be revived. So, he came to me. (Scary, I know!)

I agreed to take on the project. Not so much as a ‘leader’ or ‘teacher.’ But, rather as a facilitator. I would be someone who could add context and color to the study. There was no way that I would presume to tell people what the ‘Bible says,’ or ‘this is what God said.’ That’s not study. That’s at best preaching. And, at worst, bullshit.

Anyway, as I prepared myself for this role, I spent a lot of time quietly in God’s presence. That’s a good place to be, by the way. I was considering where this study would take those of us who joined together for it.

And, I was not disappointed. God did reveal a snippet of Grace that illuminated a path that could be traveled.

For years, (and years), I had been told by those who supposed that they knew what they were talking about, that there were “nuggets” of truth hidden in the pages of Scripture. We needed to dig deeply into the text in order to find and unearth these precious bits of God’s will for our lives. It was hard work being a miner. And, the payoff, while precious, was always just a ‘nugget.’

But, in the quietness of God’s presence I saw something different.

Far from being a dark, dirty mine from which we needed to crawl into in order to find a bit of blessing, I saw the Scripture as a vast, living, and vibrant world. It was a world where the sun shone brightly on fields of ripe grain. There were trees laden with fruit just waiting to be picked and eaten. Birds were flying in the sky. There were mountains and oceans. It was a world where we could pick the grain for food, or distill it for our happiness and enjoyment.

This IS the world of Scripture. This IS where the Spirit of God dwells. This is the world that I wanted to open to those who came to listen.

So far, the study has gone well. I think. At least the same people keep coming back every week. ;o)

I hope that together we can develop a passion to wander in this Living World of the Bible. A passion that will make us better readers of it, for sure. But, also will allow us to pick some fruit and sit under a tree in God’s World.