I have been recently been busy with plans for the lenten season and for my school work, but in the midst of this work I was reflecting on Bible Study.
The Stone Campbell Movement (which is the Origins of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)) was very much into studying scripture for yourselves. In fact, the focus on study is one of the reasons that our denomination is connected with so many colleges, universities, and seminaries. But at the heart of this was making sure people were studying their Bibles. It is said that Barton Stone (one of the founders of the movement) had Bible study every night at the dinner table. Studying scripture has been a focus since the beggining. That is why we do not have set way of understanding scripture, but instead invite people to engage in dialogue with each other and with scholars so that in this we can find guidance from the Holy One.
But this has brought up something for me, what do we consider studying the Bible? I would argue that the common 'study' of scripture is looking at a few verses and then analysing our emotional resposnes to the passages. But have you ever used a study Bible that offers notes on passages or references to other passages? Have you ever picked up an academic commentary to dive deeper into historical contexts and meanings? Have you ever pickeup up the difference between parable, poetry, proverb, and myth? (and please know that I am using myth in the academic sense, as in traditional stories told down generations). The Bible is a library of various literary sources and that serve various functions, especially to the people who first used them. It is important to understand contexts and reasons as to why certain images are used or what was happening to people at the time, or why certain englsih versons of scripture translate words differently from each other. It is through engaging various sources that we gain deeper understanding and gain back our Biblical Literacy.
And Biblical illiteracy is a major problem in our world. We have people throwing out varous scriptures completly out of context as justificiation for things, we have people saying things are in the Bible that are not actually in the Bible (the proverb of teach a man to fish is not in the Bible, it is actually said to originate with Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu). So I invite you not to just read your Bible (which is still important, especially in gauging our reactions to scripture) but I invite you to study your Bible. Get a good study Bible, with space for notes in the margin, get a commentary or two (I prefer the New Interpreters Bible) and dig in. FCC Missoula has several resources that you can borrow from our library, and I am always open to letting people borrow books from my collection as well. So lets open up scripture and dig in.
I wish you deep faith and peace, may your faith flourish as you study scripture and find God at work in the world today.
Love,
Pastor Mat.
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