November 4, 2021
Good afternoon,
During the summer and fall, our study group has looked at three books:
What is God’s Kingdom ? by Cesar Garcia
Why Do We Suffer ? by Valerie Rempel
What is the Bible ? by Dennis Edwards
They are all now available in the church library. They are written for a wide audience. The books are short with short chapters, and discussion questions at the end of each book. Each author also gives definition to new terms we might not know or understand.
We have had six to eight screens on Zoom. We zoomed in Cesar and Valerie, and we are trying to get Dennis on Zoom. All three have studied for their PhD’s, so they are scholars. But their writing is for the people in the pews. They are different from our group. Cesar is from Colombia, Valerie is from California and Dennis is African-American from Chicago. Places matter.
Last evening we talked about reading the Bible from the point of view of the “marginalized”. This is hard for me because I am not marginalized. I am a white older man with higher education and wealth . These all give me privilege in southern Ontario. We talked that our ‘ social location ‘ matters to how we read the Bible. If we are a man or woman it changes our lenses. Dennis is African American so he reads the Bible with a lens of colour and of slavery. Try reading the Old Testament with our anti-slavery bias or lens.
The Bible is our book of faith. We need the Holy Spirit to help us interpret it because the Bible is not flat, nor straightforward. We need the Living Christ to also be the Word of God for us here and now.
We have Scripture in every worship service. Keep reading the Bible, even a line or two a day, and it will transform the life of the church. Praise to the Spirit .
Grace and peace to all of us.
Fred
Soaring like Vultures
lifted up by unseen Hands
Trust, silent enters my fears Monica Pieper Landoni 2021