The Word
Do we know what we’re doing when we come to the Bible,
to Scripture,
to the Word?
Do we know what it is we have in our hands?
What is read and taught on a Sunday?
What we gather around in small groups?
What we read by ourselves in our quiet spaces?
Do we know?
Living and active.
That’s what your Word says.
Alive and awake.
Dynamic.
Energised.
Powerful and effective.
These are no mere words on a page.
They are something more.
Oh, to live if that were true.
The One who spoke creation into being.
Who announced order out of chaos,
who uttered beauty and rhythm and
colour and pattern into existence.
The One who commanded stars and planets to take their place,
who bellowed the waters into place
and declared “let it be so”
to the rain and the hail and the sunshine and the snow.
The One who declared a special purpose for those made in His image
and surveyed His creation and proclaimed “it is good”.
that One…
that One unveiled himself as The Word.
The Word made flesh.
The Word as person.
All that is true of God and about God wrapped in skin and bones and tissue and muscle.
That One…
…who spoke “Be still” to the waves,
And “Be clean” to the leper,
And “See” to the blind,
And “Hear” to the deaf,
And “Walk” to the lame.
Who spoke “Come out” to Lazarus”,
And “Come down” to Zacchaeus,
And “Be gone” to demons,
And speaks “follow me” to each one of us.
Who spoke words of thanks over 5 loaves and 2 fish
Before serving them to 5000.
The One who cried “Let not my will but your will be done”,
and, “Father, forgive them”,
and “Today, you will be with me in paradise”,
And “Peter, feed my sheep.”
The One who spoke power and uttered mercy
and extended forgiveness, and offered hope.
The One whose parched, pursed lips cried out in desperation.
Whose dying words were
“It
Is
Finished.”
What do we have in our hands when we hold a Bible?
What do we read when we open up Scripture?
We believe that in some way,
some mysterious way,
That One
The One who created with a Word,
The One who became incarnate as The Word,
That One
… inspired human authors…
Breathing His life into and upon them,
to write words about The Word,
to convey in words all that is true about The Word.
The One whose divine words gave birth to the human mind,
which then in turn conceives of words, grasps at words,
scours dictionaries to find new words in order to describe
the One who is the Word.
What do we come to when we open our Bible?
We come to words of life about The Word of Life
Words of love from the One who is Love.
Words of truth from the One who is The Truth.
Words of power from the One whose every word achieves what it sets out to do.
Words of re-creation from the God of Creation.
Words that nourish from the One who is the Bread of Life.
Words that satisfy from the One who is life-giving Water.
The One who spoke the universe into being, whispered words and phrases and themes and pictures into the hearts and minds of those He chose to record His story.
And they wrote.
Faithfully, eagerly, obediently, humbly.
When we grasp what we have,
even just a little bit,
I wonder if we should tremble and quake,
Shake as we open its pages,
Pant as we read expectantly,
Thirst as we long for more,
Gratefully receiving its words…His words…The Word.
I wonder if we should treasure and delight,
craving the light,
And the life that it brings.
I wonder, if in some way, shape or form,
The Word should wreck us.
Do we know what we have in our hands?