Scripture

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NRSVUE)

Okay, so each week throughout the fall, we have been taking time to wonder about why we do what we do in worship here in Oldtown. And this week we are wondering about scripture and what scripture means to our worship and our faith. Now, scripture is something that is considered “sacred writing.” Different religions look to different sacred texts for guidance and inspiration. As Christians, we look to the Bible for guidance, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Now, the Bible is not meant to be a book of rules that weighs us down and makes us feel bad about our lives, though some people do look at it that way. It’s supposed to be a guide, a storybook of adventures from the people who were here before us–people who tried hard, people who made mistakes, people who stumbled over and over again, people who were imperfect just like us.

Now it’s important when we look at scripture that we remember historical context or what was happening in the world at the time the story took place. We also need to remember that the Bible was not written just for Jews or just for Christians, or just for any other religious group for that matter. It was written for human beings to help them better understand what life is about and what it means to be human.

We often think of the Bible as a book, but it is actually a library of books written by forty or so authors over fifteen hundred years on three different continents. The books contain stories that began as oral traditions handed down from generation to generation until someone collected them and finally wrote them down, sometimes hundreds of years later. That’s years and years of people sitting around campfires, walking along dusty roads, and gathering in tents, homes, and courtyards, listening, discussing, debating, and interpreting these stories, poems, letters, and accounts.

The Bible contains stories about all the things we experience in human life: loss and grief, fear, anger, empires and governments, war, money, power, stress, transformation, grace, healing, and joy.

Okay, so that’s a little bit about the Bible, but let’s go back to focusing on what the Bible or scripture means to our worship. Well, to me, scripture is the root of our worship. When I start planning a worship service, besides an overarching theme like “Wondering why we do what we do in worship,” scripture is the foundation of the planning.

I don’t know if you have ever noticed it before, but it’s not just the sermon on Sunday morning that reflects on the scripture reading of the day. All of the hymns we sing, the prayers we lift, the gifts of music we hear, and the focus of our whole worship reflect the sacred story or the scripture reading for the day. And here in Oldtown, we encourage everyone to ask questions and to wonder about what they heard in the scripture lesson. That’s why each Sunday after the scripture reading I ask if a word or a phrase or a question was raised for any of you. And on Wednesday night at our Wondering about the Word gatherings, we don’t look for right and wrong answers about scripture, but we gather to truly wonder, to ask questions, to share our opinions, and to dig deeper into what the scripture might mean in our lives.

Now you may or may not know this, but it was actually because of a man named Martin Luther and something that he did five hundred and six years ago this very week that we can think and wonder about scripture on our own. Before Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany, in 1517, starting the Protestant Reformation, only priests were allowed to read and interpret scripture. So you could come to church and be told what to believe, but you were not allowed to wonder, to think, to doubt, or to ask questions. Because of the Protestant Reformation, not only do we have the Protestant Church, of which Oldtown is a part, but we also believe in the “priesthood of all believers,” meaning that everyone can read and interpret scripture on their own.

Some people memorize scripture, and I remember having to do that in Sunday School as a child. We didn’t always worry about understanding the scripture, but we worked hard at memorizing it so that it would always be in our hearts and minds should we find ourselves in a time or place where we needed to recall it for comfort or guidance. Even adults would have their favorite scriptures memorized with the ability to recite them on command.

Two things that I remember clearly as a child about annual meetings here in Oldtown were: number one, when your name was called for the roll call, you didn’t say “Here” or “Present,” but you recited your favorite scripture passage. And number two, for the annual meeting, everyone baked their favorite pie, so after the meeting, we all had a delicious dessert! Today people don’t memorize scripture like they used to, but they also don’t bake as many homemade pies either! I guess it’s kind of like looking at the historical context of a scripture reading. The more you know about how people lived at the time and what was happening in the world around them. The better you understand why they did things, the way they did them.

The truth is, in 2023, almost all of us carry a bible with us at all times because our smartphones have every version of the bible we could ever want on them. And if you find yourself struggling with something, you can always ask Siri or Alexa or Google or whatever search engine you have to give you scripture readings for times of struggle, grief, or anxiety, and they’ll appear on the screen within seconds. Now the homemade pie might take a little longer (though Flaky Crust Pies in Norton has lots of delicious choices!) Friends, the truth is that each generation reflects on and experiences scripture differently, and that’s okay because we all find our way to be guided, inspired, and fed by sacred texts.

Now I know that we have covered quite a bit already, but I don’t want to lose sight of today’s scripture reading. Today, we heard from the book of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which is one of the most important scriptures to our Jewish brothers and sisters because it tells of the importance of not only living lives of faith but also handing on that faith to future generations.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The interesting part is that this is one of the scriptures that Jesus was taught as a young child. He knew the Shema–the first two lines of today’s scripture reading–and I’m sure that he repeated it on a daily basis.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

But years later, when Jesus was in the midst of his ministry he was questioned by a group of Pharisees and Scribes as to what the greatest commandment was. Actually, they were trying to test Jesus. Jesus responded with what he had learned as a child but then added a new piece that would help bring the kingdom of God a little closer. He said:  “The first is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

So, friends, scripture is important. It is the root of our worship and the foundation of our faith. But remember, it’s not a list of rules but a guide to help us find our way. It is not a book of answers, but it is a book that helps us find answers in our lives and in the world around us.

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, as you go out into your busy week ahead, remember that the Bible is not a book to read cover to cover, but it’s a library of books to open our hearts and minds to new and exciting understandings. May we all learn from the ancestors of our faith while forging new pathways and gaining new experiences, knowing that we never travel the road alone because God walks with us each step of the way.

My friends, may it be so. Thanks be to God, Amen!