I Love the Bible
Rachel and I are at our beloved Camp Idlewild this weekend, enjoying (hopefully) the Spring Campout for Cub Scouts Pack 259 of Chesapeake, Va. That means you’re lucky enough to hear Chris Langley, our youth minister. One thing that I really respect Chris for is his passion for ministry, that always comes through in his preaching.
That means I’m not tied to a topic for this article. So I thought I’d do what I did last time and give you a sample from one of my favorite blogs. The following excerpt is from a blog entry entitled “I Love the Bible” from blogger and author and speaker Rachel Held Evans (all the bold type is original to the article):
It is said that after Jacob wrestled with God, he walked with a limp. So it has been with the Bible and me. I have wrestled with the Bible, and it has left me with a limp.
But I am glad. I am glad because this limp has slowed me down a bit. It has humbled me. It has forced me to stop running so fast and sure down the path of certainty that I forget to listen, to pay attention, to ask questions, to build altars, to wait.
I have wrestled, and I love the Bible more now than I have ever loved it before. I love it more than when I demanded that it answer all of my questions, more than when I forced it to fit my cultural categories, more than when I tried so desperately to make it all resolve, more than when I pretended like it never bothered me…
I have wrestled with the Bible, and, try as I may. I cannot make it in my own image. I cannot cram it into an adjective, or force it into a blueprint, or fashion it into a weapon to be used against my political and theological enemies. It simply will not be tamed…
We argued theology. God told stories….
And when those stories weren’t enough, when the words themselves would not suffice, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, laughed among us, wept among us, ate among us, told more stories among us, suffered among us, died among us, and rose among us. The Word entered our story and invited us into His…
I love the Bible, but I love it best when I love it for what it is, not what I want it to be…when I live in the tension and walk with the limp…
I’ll be thinking of you as you worship together on Sunday. See you next week.