OCTOBER 17, 2004
TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
FATHER BARRY WOODS

FIRST READING:
Jeremiah 31: 27-34
PSALM:
119: 97-104
SECOND READING:
2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5
GOSPEL:
Luke 18: 1-8

There is a lot of different stuff going on in the Propers this morning. We have the collect for the day, where we pray that God will keep us steadfast in our faith as we face the world. In the first lesson this morning, we have that glorious passage from Jeremiah, where he looks forward to a time of a new covenant, a deeply internal one, written on our hearts, and not on pages of parchment or tablets of stone. We have the Psalm this morning, which is a hymn of praise to the Law. We have the second reading, which is Paul's instructions to Timothy about the use and the great value of the sacred Scriptures. And, finally, in the Gospel, we have Jesus' parable of the unjust judge, which encourages us to be always, constantly and diligently, in prayer. We have these four things going and an incredible plethora of richness for a preacher to choose from, and you will be very sad to hear this morning that I have chosen to spend a few moments talking with you about the Bible.

Perhaps some of you remember it. If you are a life-long Episcopalian, once you were confirmed, you graduated from Sunday School and no longer had to deal with the Bible. And, for some of you, you probably may not even recall where it is in your home, and you may not even have one anymore. It is something about our denomination - it is just this huge blind spot for us, and I do not know what to do about it, but I can start this morning by reminding all of us of a few things about the Bible.

These reminders this morning are what I consider to be fairly mainstream Anglican teaching about the Scriptures. Now, I may be wrong. I don't propose to speak for mainstream Anglicanism, but I believe that what I want to remind us of this morning is mainstream Anglican teaching about the Scriptures.

The first thing that we can remember this morning is that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a history. They are a history of the revelation of God. It is an historical account. From beginning to end, the Bible is an historical account of God revealing Himself to a small group of people in a very limited geographical area of the country, at specific times, over about a thousand years. That is what the Scriptures are. They are an historical record of the revelation of God, and, as history, it is subject to many different interpretations. All written history is subject to interpretation. I don't know how many of you are baseball fans or Yankee fans. If you are a Yankee fan, just don't let me know about it, O.K.? If you are a Boston fan, well then you can just cry with me this morning. I don't know if you follow what happened, but, last night, the Yankees really thumped Boston, 19 to 8. It sounds like a football game! 19 to 8! And so, this morning, there are written accounts of that history, and can you imagine the difference between the Boston papers and the New York papers as they recount that event? I mean, if you read those two accounts, you might think it was two different events, as the interpretations would be so different of that one event. And that is the way our Scriptures are. They are an historical record, but they are written from a perspective; and that perspective is that God was acting in those events, over that period of time, to love and rescue His people. That is the assumption that lies behind all of that history.

So, the Scriptures are an historical record of the revelation of God. They are a history of the revelation of God, but they are not revelation; and this is a key part of Anglican teaching and thought about the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the record of the revelation, but they are not the revelation themselves - we do not worship the Scriptures - and that is a very important part of our belief as Anglicans. Some denominations do, and I am not here to take them to task for it; but we do not worship the Scriptures, we worship the revelation that they record.

And then we come to the third thing to remind ourselves about this morning, with respect to the Scriptures, and that is that they are inspired by God. Now, let me tell you what I think most Anglicans believe when we say the Scriptures are inspired by God. I believe that what we believe is that, one day, God decided that He needed a book of words that would be His Word to the world; but, when He looked around to try and find somebody to write down these words, all He could find were human beings. And so, He inspired them, and He got what He wanted. He inspired the biblical writers to put down these words, and God got exactly what He wanted - plus some stuff. He got the definitive record of God's dealing with the human race through the nation of Israel and through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He got the definitive words about all of that, but then He got some other stuff, also. I ask you to look at First Corinthians. If you want to see an example of what I am talking about, look at First Corinthians, where, for twelve chapters, Paul spells out - in the most powerful words I can think of - he spells out the absolute centrality of the Cross of Christ in God's scheme for human salvation. And the words are absolutely perfect and powerful and wonderful, but, sprinkled in those twelve chapters are some real confusion over speaking in tongues and some absolute nonsense about the role of women in the Church, and then he goes on for a few verses trying to remember whom he baptized and whom he did not. And so, when I say that the Scriptures are inspired by God, it is true. We have the definitive language for our faith, but we have some other stuff, also. The job of the people of God is to use Holy-Spirit-filled reason to decide which Scriptures are true for all times, in all places, for all people, and which are not. That is one of the jobs of the people of God. Now, we don't do it politically, with political pressure (ideally), and we don't do it without prayer. It is not just reason. It is Holy-Spirit-enlightened reason, but, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, continuing on in the lives of His people, you and I have to decide, through the Holy Spirit and through prayer, which Scriptures are true forever, in all places, at all times, for all people, and which are not. That is one of the jobs of the people of God.

So, that is the end of my little talk about the Bible, and, now, so what? We all know that, right now, today, the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican communion are in a bit of a brouhaha, and the brouhaha has to do, in its essence, with the nature of human sexuality. There is going to be a whole lot of talk about it, starting tomorrow, as the rector warned us, and there has been a lot of talk about it in the past, and there will be in the future, a lot of argument and brouhaha over the nature of human sexuality. In all of that argument, every one will be talking about the Scriptures, and you and I - if we are going to get through this time, and if we are going to help our friends get through it, and if we are going to answer the questions that will come to us from our non-Anglican friends - you and I had better be very comfortable with the idea that no one, or hardly anyone, in this argument, is arguing about what Scripture says. There is widespread agreement in all of the factions of what Scripture says. Where we start to disagree, and where we need prayer and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and where we need to wait for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the truth, is not in what the Scriptures say, but in whether or not those passages of Scripture are true for all times, and in all places, and for all people, or whether they are not - whether they were so historically conditioned by their time that they lack validity for our time. That is where the argument will center, or where it should center, and I am not here to tell you where to come down on that argument. I am not here to take the sexuality Scriptures, one by one, and go through them and tell you what I think. I am not even sure what I think most of the time! I am going to wait for the Church to decide, and, while we wait, we must understand the true nature of this debate. It is not about the authority of Scripture, and it is not about what Scripture says. It is about whether these Scriptures are true for all times, in all places, and for all people, or whether they are not.

There are so many things going on in all of the Propers this morning that it is very, very fitting that the final Proper, the Gospel for this morning, talks about prayer. Prayer is the only way we will resolve and get through all of this, as we pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us about the Scriptures. So, if you don't already keep the Episcopal Church and the Anglican communion in your prayers, you better start; because the days and months ahead are going to be tough, and we need to pray, each and every one of us, that the Holy Spirit will lead us - as it always has - into all truth.