This Sunday marks the beginning of St. Paul's week of education as we continue to work toward naming ourselves as an Affirming Ministry with in the United Church of Canada.
The Scripture Readings for this week are:
- 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5
- Genesis 1:26-28, 31
- Luke 4:16-21
The Sermon title is Scripture: Weapon or Balm?
Early Thoughts: Scripture can be used to lift us up. Scripture can be used to break us down. Sometimes both happen in the same statement. Sometimes the breaking down is intentional, sometimes is comes from a failure to question older interpretations and understandings.
The above quote from the late Rachel Held Evans speaks to me. It reminds me that Scripture can be a tool for a whole list of purposes Which, to my mind, calls us to be very careful and intentional about who we read, interpret, and use it. If we are totally honest we have to name that the church has, too often, chosen to use Scripture as a weapon to lock people into boxes rather than a liberating healing balm.
One area where this has been, and still is, true is in where members of the LGBTQ+ community. For centuries Scripture has been used by people of faith to support a proclamation that only cisgendered heterosexual people are acceptable.
I believe this is a lie. I believe that the use of Scripture as a weapon to dehumanize any child of God is a twisting of the Gospel.
As there are with question of women's equality, or slavery, or racism, or the whole "one true faith" discussion, there are certainly specific passages used as 'clobber verses' to try and control people. I have specifically chosen not to engage with those verses in this sermon. I made this choice for two reasons. First is because to engage with those specific passages is, in my opinion, much better done in a discussion Bible Study type setting rather than a sermon. The other reason is that I think there is a foundational step to be taken first. We have to talk about how we understand Scripture and what we believe the foundational message God offers us through Scripture is.
One of the passages I have often heard used to try and support the claim that all words of the Bible have equal merit and weight and that they are all a direct message from God is the passage from Timothy that wee are hearing this week, in particular verse 3:16 "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,". There is some unpacking to be done here but I suggest it is not as straightforward as people want it to be. I even suggest that some modern readers take those words farther than even the writer of Timothy would have.
My understanding of Scripture is that those words are the story of people trying to understand who God is and how God would have them live. As such there are times when the words stretch us beyond ourselves. there are also time when the message from the Divine gets corrupted by the people who try to pass it on (sometimes I think of the game 'Telephone' many of us played as children). So our challenge is to reach into the text and find the message the carries Divine inspiration.
That brings me to the other two passages we are reading this week. The ancient hymn to creation in Genesis 1 reminds us that humanity (all humanity) is both created in God's image and is part of the creation which is called very good. In Luke we read of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry where he reads a passage of liberation from oppression. To me, these are two passages that speak to the foundational nature of Scripture. In Scripture God is sharing a message of freedom from oppression to the beloved children who are created in God's very image.
If that is the foundational message of Scripture as a whole then I bring in a concept I learned many years ago. We use Scripture to help us interpret Scripture. We measure any one passage of Scripture against the whole of Scripture. So when a passage is used as a weapon, when Scripture is used to attack or dehumanize or oppress a person or a group of people we measure against the foundational message of freedom and love.
There is a lot to talk about already. I wonder how the sermon will shape up for Sunday (and hopefully not be too long).
--Gord
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