What is the Bible For?
Rev. Alison
Longstaff
Revised for Jan 26,
2014
Bath Church of
the New Jerusalem
Psalm 30; John 1: 1-5; True Christianity 235
I’m guessing that not a few of us have wished in exasperation that the
Bible wasn't quite so odd and archaic.
It can be very hard to explain to the unchurched what (if any) value it has,
let alone what value there might be in spending precious time reading it. Especially in this scientific day and age,
when the mystical side of life is routinely dismissed and devalued, it can be
hard to explain what value lies in the Bible at all.
What is the Bible for? We can say
it is God’s Word. We can say it is God’s travel guide for this
paradoxical life, but do we really know how and in what way the Bible serves
its purpose, more than providing a basis for weekly morality lessons? In Swedenborgian circles, we believe it has
an internal meaning, but does that really change how much time the average
person spends reading it? What, exactly,
is the Bible for?
The Bible, the Word of God, the Sacred Scriptures---these are some of
the names for this ancient collection of stories which have been cobbled
together and edited and re-edited over the centuries. Even Christians can’t agree what books really
belong in the Bible nor into what order they should be sorted. All Christians will agree that this thing
that we call the Bible is sacred.
However, how we hold it as sacred
is another problem altogether. Increasingly,
Christians today seem to be going one of two ways with this holy collection of books---either
we view the written words as entirely infallibly literally true, or we
supposedly “pick and choose”: ignoring the boring, distasteful, and puzzling
parts while digging deep into the rich old stories and parables.
toward the second option.
Truth be told, I believe we have found a third way, but more on that another day. Regardless, whole chunks of the Bible are almost never read by anyone anymore, except by the most devout readers or advanced Biblical scholars. Many churches follow a lectionary, thinking that through it, they cover the whole Bible over a span of three years. They do not. Whole sections are never read, and therefore, never heard.
Looking at some of these ignored sections, it is small wonder!
But the thing is, this is great stuff!
How do I know? Well ...
experience.
Okay. Think of someone you know
and love well, someone whose outward appearance isn’t up to Hollywood’s
standards, but whose inner character delights you. Let’s call this person “Chris” since that
could be male or female. When you speak of Chris, you might say, “Oh, he’s awesome!” or “I love her. She’s so great!” Because of this, a friend meeting Chris for
the first time might expect to meet someone with greatness tattooed on his or
her forehead. Instead they might be
surprised to find Chris ordinary or even eccentric in appearance and then
wonder what you were so excited about.
Or perhaps you yourself, after hearing glowing reports about some great
person (we’ll call this person “Pat”) upon meeting might feel mystified by Pat’s
unremarkable or even odd outward appearance.
“This is Pat?” you might say inside yourself. “THE “Pat?”
Really?”
The truth is that all of us, until we know the insides of a person, tend to judge by the outsides. First impressions are rarely the same as last
impressions. But once we do know a
person’s insides, we tend to forget the outsides, instead seeing their whole
selves through the eyes of love.
So believe me, the same way that we can learn to love a human friend who
comes in unusual physical packaging, we can learn to love the Word. The Sacred Scripture, much of it written over
2000 years ago, does indeed come in strange packaging. But to love it, we must get past
appearances. We must get to know the
magical, life-giving soul within its unusual packaging. How do we do this? The same way we do with any new friend. We
spend time with it and we learn about it.
So, meet the Bible:
Leviticus 14:34-40 When ye be come
into the land of Canaan,
which I give to you for a possession,
and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; And he that owneth the house
shall come and tell the priest, saying, “It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague
in the house:”
Then the priest shall command
that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house
be not made unclean : and afterward
the priest shall go in to
see the house: And he
shall look on the plague,
and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look : and, behold, if the plague
be spread in the walls of
the house; Then the priest
shall command that they take
away the stones in which
the plague is, and they shall cast
them into an unclean place
without the city:
Yup. Laws about leprosy in a house. Try preaching a sermon on that! (Actually, Swedenborgians have all sorts of
resources that allow us to preach a fascinating sermon on that. Hint: it is about healthy and unhealthy structural
elements in a person’s belief system,
and about how to determine if the crumbling and weakening is evidence of surface
problems that can be renovated, or a sign that the whole house---attitude,
outlook, interpretation---is unstable and unfit and needs to come down. Cool, eh?)
But back to my point, it takes practice and education to learn to see
through the strangeness in the Bible. But
I promise you, it is well worth the time it may take!
How many have ever read the entire thing, cover to cover?
If you are doing or have done either of these, pat yourself on the back. You have done a good thing, according to
Swedenborg. If you haven’t, don’t worry yourself,
you are in good company. We all have
many things we are dealing with, and most of us have not realised just how much
good is done for our souls when we spend time with these texts, either through
listening to or reading them ourselves. And
not just for our own souls, you see, when anyone reads the Sacred Scriptures,
whether they know the internal sense or not, they contribute to the well-being
of all of heaven. I repeat, when anyone reads any part of
the Sacred Scriptures, whether they know the internal meaning or not, they
contribute to the well-being of all of
heaven.
I
have been allowed to perceive that when I read the Word in its earthly meaning,
communication is established with the heavens, at one time with one community,
at another time with another. The words which I understand in their earthly meaning
are understood by the spiritual angels in their spiritual meaning and by the
celestial (highest) angels in their celestial meaning, and this immediately. I
have observed and felt this communication thousands of times. These direct experiences have shown me that
the Word in its earthly meaning provides a marvelous way of being closer to the
Lord and connected with the angels in heaven. True Christianity §235
It’s as simple as that. Simply
reading the Word connects our spirits with heaven and invites the Lord to come
closer. Memorizing parts or verses can
actually give us spiritual touchstones or amulets of comfort which we can pull
out of our memories and recite to ourselves in the midst of hard times. And if we are so lucky as to have time to
really learn some of the correspondences in the Word in detail, we can begin to
unearth revelations upon revelations of meaning. It’s really cool! Light shines even onto the dark and mystical
stories
of the Apocalypse, transforming those threatening tales into a love story of tremendous beauty. Yes, even in the Book of Revelation. For behind those dire prophecies we find the story of the Lord as the Lover and Bridegroom, and each one of us as the beloved or bride. God woos us, and we respond. God, like a prince or knight in an ancient fairy tale comes to rescue us, from monsters, beasts, and seven-headed dragons. The Book of Revelation is the way it is because the process of getting to our happy ending---which is heaven, which is a state of true happiness based on true personal integrity and loving-kindness---can feel pretty dire and hopeless sometimes. This is shown in the book of Revelation by all the frightening drama and prophecies of doom. But it is the story of how human life already tends to go, not how it will go at some time in the future. We are already living through these dramatic events in our personal lives. This is God’s word of comfort saying, “I see that it will sometimes feel like the sky is falling, but you will be okay. I know that it will sometimes look like your every hope for the future is going to be devoured by dark circumstances beyond your control, but fear not! There is no reality or power outside of my love; and all of the drama will be transformed into peace, welcome, safety, and home. Just hang in there. Trust
me.”
of the Apocalypse, transforming those threatening tales into a love story of tremendous beauty. Yes, even in the Book of Revelation. For behind those dire prophecies we find the story of the Lord as the Lover and Bridegroom, and each one of us as the beloved or bride. God woos us, and we respond. God, like a prince or knight in an ancient fairy tale comes to rescue us, from monsters, beasts, and seven-headed dragons. The Book of Revelation is the way it is because the process of getting to our happy ending---which is heaven, which is a state of true happiness based on true personal integrity and loving-kindness---can feel pretty dire and hopeless sometimes. This is shown in the book of Revelation by all the frightening drama and prophecies of doom. But it is the story of how human life already tends to go, not how it will go at some time in the future. We are already living through these dramatic events in our personal lives. This is God’s word of comfort saying, “I see that it will sometimes feel like the sky is falling, but you will be okay. I know that it will sometimes look like your every hope for the future is going to be devoured by dark circumstances beyond your control, but fear not! There is no reality or power outside of my love; and all of the drama will be transformed into peace, welcome, safety, and home. Just hang in there. Trust
me.”
There is so much more to say! I am on page five so I need to wrap this
up. So I will close today’s message by
saying again: whether we understand
correspondences or not, simply reading the Sacred Scriptures for ourselves or listening
to someone else read them feeds our souls. It provides a connection with
God, and nourishes the angels in heaven.
Even if we are reading a long list of who begat who, or a list of
building materials in cubits, or what to do with a stray ox on the Sabbath,
every word---every verb, every noun---contains deep spiritual gems that nourish
the angels and connect us all with God.
We don’t have to know what vitamins and minerals are in each bite of
food for it to be able to nourish our bodies, and Swedenborg is telling us that
we don’t have to understand the spiritual sense of the Word for it to be
feeding our spirits.
If
you aren’t in the habit, consider starting a small practice of tossing a crumb
or two to the angels each day. Each
verse is associated with a different society in heaven, so even if you spend
time with only one verse, the connection is happening and joy is being
communicated.
In some magical way, the Bible is the very presence of God with us. It is a lifeline of communication with all
the spirits of heaven. Yet it is cloaked
in a mystical, magical packaging of ancient stories, so humble and plain as to
appear to the uneducated eye as uninteresting as a common stable. The stories can be appealing, like the sweet
smell of hay, as warm as the collective heat of stable animals, or as off-putting
and distasteful as the by-products of those animals. All the while it is the Word of God and God
with us. How paradoxical.
I promise you, if you
take the time to really get to know this remarkable book, you will find your
life transforming and healing in subtle, remarkable ways.
So, what is the Bible for? Why don’t you tell me in a few months? I’d like to hear how it goes.
Amen.
Originally
preached July 4th, 2010 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Kitchener, Ontario
Adapted from a paper for Inese
Radzins, STHS-3780.SP09, TCR. Written May 21, 2009
The Readings
Psalm 30
1
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes
rejoice over me. 2
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me
to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 4
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy
name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment; his
favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with
the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved." 7 By your
favor, O Lord, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face;
I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I cried, and to
the Lord I made supplication: 9 "What profit
is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will
it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and
be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!" 11
You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and
clothed me with joy, 12 so that my soul may praise
you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
John
1:1-5 1 In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God. 3 All things were made through
Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
True Christianity §235
I have been allowed to perceive that
when I read the Word in its earthly meaning, communication with the heavens is
established, at one time with one community there, at another time with
another. The words which I understand in their earthly sense are understood by
the spiritual angels in their spiritual sense, and by the celestial angels in
their celestial sense, and this too upon the instant. Since I have perceived
this communication some thousands of times, I have no doubt left concerning it.
These direct experiences have enabled me to know that the Word in its earthly
meaning provides a Divine means of being connected with the Lord and associated
with the angels in heaven.
What a courageous and honest message! It was even better if you were sitting in the sanctuary this morning to hear it.
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank you, good sir!
ReplyDelete