Open This Book: Bible Reading as a Spiritual Practice that

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1 Open This Book: Bible Reading as a Spiritual Practice Psalm 119:105, Romans 10:5-17, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Pastor Marianne Cotter, First UMC Baraboo January 15, 2017 We all have ups and downs. We all get sad sometimes. It s part of being human. In the winter, some of us are down for longer periods of time. Seasonal affective disorder is a kind of depression that often starts in the late fall and continues until spring, more prevalent in areas where there s less sunlight during the winter months. People with Seasonal affective disorder often feel tried and are more easily agitated. They might find it hard to concentrate; they don t sleep as well and find it hard to enjoy things. People with Seasonal affective disorder may even feel hopeless or worthless. Getting more light using light therapy is one thing that can help. Good mental health means being screened for depression if you are sensing these symptoms of prolonged sadness. To live the life God intends for us means we all need to stay as mentally healthy and as spiritually healthy as we can. We need to be watching for signs of Spiritual affective disorder. Affective means related to mood or attitude. Just as we have ups and downs in our emotions. We have ups and downs in our spiritual lives. Spiritual affective disorder is when our attitude towards God, our own spiritual life or participation in the life of our faith community is lacking. Some signs are feeling over committed like there s never enough time to just be wishing felt more at peaceful, more centered We re unable to enjoy the present moment because you are going over past mistakes in your mind or are anxiously anticipating what s next The cure for spiritual affective disorder is to get more of the light of Christ in your life - to lighten up. Every week in January through the end of February you ll be introduced to a new spiritual practice which does just that. When you hear Bible Reading as a Spiritual Practice you may think: That s too hard; I couldn t do that. I wouldn t know where to start. I have my old Bible I got in Sunday School. Is that the Bible I should use? Do I start at the beginning and read till the end? Starting this practice can seem hard. But the Word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart. (Deuteronomy 30:14). The Word of God reveals God s light it is not 1

2 something beyond our grasp. The Word is so close to you it s literally within your reach. We re going to open this book right now. There are Bibles to be found in the pews. There should be a Bible for everyone in this room. Now, let s open the book. If you open it in the middle, you are probably in the Book of Psalms. Reading a psalm a day is a great way to start a Bible reading practice. The psalms are the prayer book of the Bible. Many were sung as part of the liturgy of the temple in Jerusalem. Some are personal prayers, others incredibly beautiful poetry. Some are joyful community prayers of praise, others are laments, or songs meant to be sung while going on a pilgrimage. Jesus knew and prayed the psalms. We ve sung a verse from Psalm 119:105 today: Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Next turn to page 835 (if you have one of these Black RSV Bibles with First United Methodist Church printed on the cover). The beginning of the New Testament: the Gospel according to Matthew. Another way to start a Bible reading practice is read about the life of Jesus. To do that we go the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I suggest starting with Mark: it s the oldest and shortest of the gospels and the easiest to read. Now turn to page ix, right at the start of the Bible. There you have a list of all the books in the Bible, sixty-six in all. What you have in your hand is more than a book. It s a library containing many kinds of writings. The Hebrew scripture was written in Hebrew and includes the Torah (the first five books outlining God s covenant with Israel summed up in the Law), the Prophets (twenty-one in all) and the writings (Psalms, the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the remaining books of the Hebrew scripture). Next turn back to page 835. Now, hold the Hebrew scripture in your left hand and the Christian scripture in your right. The Christian Scriptures were written in Greek. The first four books - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - all tell the good news of Jesus Christ. Each one addressed to a slightly different community in the first century, each one of the gospels. Next Acts continues the story of the early church that began in Luke. After that 2

3 are thirteen letters written by the apostle Paul or people writing in Paul s name. Each one is addressed to a church and an individual, starting with Romans and ending with Philemon. Next are eight other letters including Hebrews and James, and finally the Book of Revelation, a vision recorded by an early Christian prophet named John. There are places in the world for instance parts of Libya, Iraq and China where having this book puts you in danger. Christians keep reading it though. So why should you? The reason to read this book is because here God s self is revealed to us. Reading this book enables a relationship with God revealed in Jesus Christ to grow. Through this book the light of Christ comes to us. A Bible reading practice will help you lighten up. God s word is a lamp for our feet, a light for our path. We do this practice not so we can brag and quote this verse or that. Our Wesleyan, our United Methodist, way of following Jesus has always involved coming back to this book - again and again - to address our own spiritual affective disorder. The apostle Paul helps us to see what s at stake in a Bible reading practice. We heard from Paul s letter to the church in Rome today. Paul was once Saul, a Pharisaic Jew who had a transformational moment on the road to Damascus an encounter with the Risen Christ. This resulted in him eventually becoming a leader of the way, the name for the early church. When he wrote his letter to the Romans, I believe Paul was feeling a kind of spiritual affective disorder; feeling sad, a bit depressed, like he was fighting an uphill battle. Paul couldn t understand why more of his fellow Jews hadn t come to faith in Christ like he had. After his conversion, Paul remained a good Jew, faithful to the covenant God made with the Hebrew people as outlined in the Law. Paul preached that all the promises set out there were still in effect. All that is in this first part of the Bible - the Hebrew scriptures was not discarded. This is the scripture that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 called inspired or God breathed. When he arrived at a new city in his missionary travels, Paul first went to the local synagogue where he argued that those promises made to Israel had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. What the Torah, the Law was meant to accomplish but couldn t has now been fulfilled through faith in God s messiah, Jesus Christ. By the power of the Spirit, through faith in Christ, we can have life. We have 3

4 salvation. In this passage, Paul tells his fellow and sister Jews that the covenant made with Abraham is now available to all people equally Jews and Gentiles both. It is based on faith, not on a special relationship with God. The way to return to the original intent of the covenant between God and Israel lies with the Word. This Word is very near. It is in the mouth of the one who confesses Jesus as Lord. It s in the heart of the ones who believe Christ was raised from the dead. Just as individuals can get a little down in their spiritual lives, so can a whole nation. That s what happened after the exile in Babylon. The people of God had gotten out of the spiritual practice of listening for and doing God s word. And God s judgment came in the form of exile. Later, as the exiles returned to Judea to rebuild their lives, they faced an uphill battle of their own. Returning to God s word would be the cure for their spiritual affective disorder too. The clues are found in the Book of Deuteronomy. The final form book of the Deuteronomy dates from the time of the exile. Set in the time of Moses, Deuteronomy addressed the depressed mood of God s people when they realized they would never again have the life they knew before. Turn with me now if you would to page 179: Deuteronomy 30: Here is part of what God s inspired word was saying to the depressed remnant of the nation of Israel: Deuteronomy said: 30: For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? 14 The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. Do these words sound familiar? They are ones Paul quotes in Romans 8:6-8. Here the author of Deuteronomy is saying there s no excuse for not knowing and doing God s will, doing what is right, since the Law can be easily studied and read. For the exiles, getting over their spiritual affective disorder meant coming back to a life of covenant faithfulness. Coming back to the Word of God, studying and living the commandments as recorded in the scripture. 4

5 It s in our spiritual DNA as United Methodists go back, again and again, to the Word of God to be seeking and doing God s will as revealed to us in scripture. In a way, the whole Methodist movement was meant to cure the Spiritual affective disorder of 18 th century England. We go back to scripture because it is here that we encounter the living God, revealed to us in Jesus Christ. So here is the good news: this Word is near to us all. And beginning the spiritual practice of the Bible is within your reach. It s near to those who sit down at a computer each day. With a few clicks of a mouse, you can find an online Bible, or access The Upper Room devotional. The Word is near to you if you watch TV. You can keep your Bible right next to where you keep the remote control. Before turning on the morning or evening news you can take time to read and reflect on the good news found in scripture. The Word near to people who drive around all day in their cars. You can keep your Bible on the seat next to you. When you run into get a Kwik Trip to get sandwich or cup of coffee, in between doing errands or on a lunch break, you can take ten minutes to read and reflect on God s Word. We all feel down sometimes. There are times we feel low energy, uninspired in our spiritual lives. If you read the Bible as a spiritual practice your times of feeling down in your spiritual life will be fewer and farther between. With regular study of the Bible, you will lighten up. Christ will reveal himself to you. In all this there will always be an element of mystery, something beyond our control. This story by David Hosey of Washington D.C. points to the encounter with the living God that s potentially there whenever we read the Bible. Here s what he wrote in the January 22, 2014 of The Upper Room. Our young adult Bible study group sat outside a sandwich shop in downtown Washington D.C. We were beginning our discussion of the Letter of James when a man approached our table. Excuse me he said. Are you studying the Bible? One of us hesitantly answered Yes. May I join you? he responded. We glanced at each other. 5

6 How could we say no? The man sat down and asked if we would read the passage again. We did and it was stunning. James indicts his audience for showing favoritism to the rich while neglecting the poor. Ray, the man who had joined us, listened intently as we read. Then he told us about being homeless and going into churches and being ignored or even asked to leave The worse part of being homeless. he said, is having nowhere to hear the world. He meant the word of God. But he could have meant any word at all. Too often people who are homeless are ignored; no one speaks to them. After studying the Bible and sharing a meal, we asked Ray if we could pray for him. But he prayed for us. Christ visited us that night. How many other nights have we received a visit from Christ and not realized it? What will happen as you open this book? How will God be revealed to us in the time ahead? But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Links 6