A PASTORAL LETTER TO GOD’S PEOPLE OF THE DIOCESE OF BATHURST
ALIVE AND ACTIVE
READING THE BIBLE TOGETHER
The Word of God I remember being at a youth festival some years ago, and they were handing out Bibles with a cheeky message on the front cover. It said Warning! Reading this book could change your life. I’d like to think that at least a few people were provoked to open it and start to read it. I can only wonder what happened then. We begin with this story to emphasise that the Bible is not just another book. To read it, alone or in a group, is an encounter with God. For Christians, the Word of God is more than words on a page: it is the creative power of God. The first chapter of the first book of our Bible (Genesis) poetically tells the story of creation. Day by day, when God creates something new, the narrative states each time God spoke, and then concludes It was so. The prologue to John’s Gospel presents Jesus as the creating Word who became flesh and lived among us (1:14). In the beginning, was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God…All things came into being through him (1:1). The Word of God is given to us in sacred scripture and, we could say, is released and becomes active when the Bible is read alone or proclaimed in a group. Alive and active is how the Letter to the Hebrews describes the Word. It continues on to say that it is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) I hope that nothing I am going to say in this letter will diminish this central message for you. When we open the Holy Bible, our hearts and minds need to be open too. Expectation is more vital than expertise. However, the more we know about the Bible, the easier it becomes to find our way around in it and discover its riches. The aim of this letter is to offer some useful and basic information; and hope that it will encourage you to begin to find out more. Next year, we plan to make available opportunities around the Diocese for people to learn to become more at home in this book, which is truly a gift from God.
How did the Bible come to us? The Bible did not magically drop down to earth one day in its present form. It is actually a collection of books, composed by different writers, at different times, in certain places, over many years. In some books, we find various styles of histories; in others, poetry; or fables, preaching, visions: and combinations of all the above and more. It is the product of God’s self-revelation to his people over many centuries and more, through the events they observed and reflected on with the eyes of faith. Mostly, what is contained in the sacred books circulated and developed in spoken word before it was written down. In this way, the communities of faith, guided by the Holy Spirit, played their part in testing and authenticating which books and which parts of books were what we would regard as inspired by God.
Technologies and the Bible
“Do you understand what you are reading?”
The most recently composed books in our Bible are just under 2000 years old; the oldest were written down centuries before that. In those days, there were no “books” as we know them now. The scriptures were copied by hand on scrolls and then distributed. You may remember Luke’s account of Jesus preaching in his local synagogue: He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written ‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon me…’ (Lk 4:16-18).
You may know the story of St Philip and the Ethiopian court official. It is in chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles, verses 26-39. The official was a devout Jew, on his way back from praying in the Temple. On the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, he was reading the prophet Isaiah when Philip caught up with him and asked if he understood what he was reading. How can I understand, replied the official, unless someone helps me?
It was around the time of Jesus that a new technology emerged: the “codex”, or the book as we know it. Perhaps providentially, this made copies of the scriptures easier to carry around and circulate. It also meant that collections of books could be bound in the same volume. Eventually, all the books that now make up what we call the Bible could be contained between the covers of one book. You may guess that this has several implications. One is to emphasise that this variety of books is a network of meanings which produces a unity of revelation about God’s relationship with humankind. Another implication is that it becomes necessary to choose which books are “in or “out” in a stricter and more final way. The next big development, which brought about more changes in the way the Bible has been used, was the invention of the printing press in the 15th Century. Until then, the scriptures mostly had to be copied by hand, which was time consuming and meant that they were too scarce and costly to be available beyond churches, monasteries and great houses. With the advent of the new technologies of book production, more and more people could have a Bible; and one translated into their own language. This was an enormous blessing; though one which raised new questions about individual interpretations, and the teaching office of the Church, to which I’ll return later. Today, we are in a rapidly developing age of electronic and digital technology, which is having effects on human culture which we are still working out. As far as reading the Bible goes, we can access and search the sacred texts more easily than ever. This will have both benefits and challenges: and we are still counting them!
The passage which puzzled him begins He was led like a sheep to its slaughter… (Isaiah 53:7-8). He asked Philip Is the prophet talking about himself, or someone else? Philip shared with him the Christian interpretation that this is a prophecy about Jesus Christ; and from there expounded the Gospel. We don’t know how long this took, but when they came upon some water, the Ethiopian asked for, and received, Baptism. I have been studying the Bible for half a century and still have a lot to learn. My understanding has been deepened and expanded by listening to and reading saints and scholars, the teachings of the Church and sharing insights with fellow believers. That is why this letter is subtitled reading the Bible together. It is impossible to be a Christian on your own; and the work of interpreting the sacred texts cannot be done alone, just as the scriptures were not produced by individuals working alone. As we noted earlier, these writings, inspired by God, emerged from and were authenticated by communities of faith. This can help us understand the teaching of the Second Vatican Council about Divine Revelation, in its Dogmatic Constitution called Dei Verbum (“the Word of God”). It talks about the relationship between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. Tradition, which literally means handing on, refers to the teachings of the Apostles which was expressed in a special way in the inspired books (n.8) but also transmitted to and developed by their successors the bishops, in communion with the faithful and the Bishop of Rome. Both tradition and Scripture flow from the same divine wellspring (n.9). The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it …(they are) so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the other (n.10).
The Bible and Personal Prayer Although we walk the path of faith together, each of us is unique in the eyes of God and each person’s response to the divine invitation to love is his or hers alone. That uniqueness is the gift each one brings to the community of faith, and is partly discovered there, though not fully. Remember the words of Jesus: When you pray, go into your room and shut the door… (Matthew 6:6) These times of personal prayer can be nourished by reading and pondering the Bible, through which I may hear God speak to my heart. Many believers, including the present writer, recall occasions when the words of scripture illuminated the realities of their lives at a certain time. We do not expect grand revelations to happen every day; but a little wisdom, even guidance, can be God’s frequent gift for those who wait and listen. Although we are not talking here about “bible study”, it is difficult to insist on a sharp line between the two activities. It certainly helps to be more familiar with the Bible and its context than not when we take it to prayer; and even academic study of the scriptures should be approached with a prayerful and respectful attitude to writings which are more than just another book. Although this modest letter has barely touched on the beauty and the power of God’s gift which is the Bible, I hope that it has left you with more questions to explore; and that, in the year to come, we may provide opportunities to do just that.
Verbum Domini (The Word of the Lord) is the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI which emerged from the 2008 Synod of Bishops. It is worth reading in full, but I will conclude with this beautiful meditation quoted in it on Mary and the Bible: Here I would like to mention Mary’s familiarity with the word of God. This is clearly evident in the Magnificat. There we see in some sense how she identifies with the word, enters into it; in this marvellous canticle of faith, the Virgin sings the praises of the Lord in his own words: “The Magnificat – a portrait, so to speak, of her soul – is entirely woven from threads of Holy Scripture, threads drawn from the word of God. Here we see how completely at home Mary is with the word of God, with ease she moves in and out of it. She speaks and thinks with the word of God; the word of God becomes her word, and her word issues from the word of God. Here we see how her thoughts are attuned to the thoughts of God, how her will is one with the will of God. Since Mary is completely imbued with the word of God, she is able to become the Mother of the Word Incarnate. (n.28) +Michael McKenna Bishop of Bathurst Feast of St Andrew, Apostle, 2023