Three questions for us today.

Can you remember the first time you ever read the Bible? Some of you grew up reading the Bible on your mother's knee, and you may not. But for some of you, you may have read it for the first time that you can remember.

Can you remember, secondly, the first time Scripture came alive to you? Even those who grew up with Scripture on your mother's knee. For all us, hopefully there's a come a time in our life when the word has come alive.

And third question. Have you found a way of reading Scripture, of approaching Scripture, that's life-giving for you? Or are you still seeking that? Or are you still seeking that? Is Scripture this inaccessible "should" that's out there somewhere. You know you should be fed by Scripture, but somehow getting access to it remains illusive.

I remember vividly the first time I read Scripture. I was about 16 or 17 years old. I went to my parent's bookshelf. Hunted for a Bible. Found my grandfather's Bible. Pulled it off the shelf. Blew the dust off it it. And turned, like you do, in any new book to the Table of Contents.

And I saw "Old Testament" and "New Testament." And I thought, "Something new is better than something old." So I turned to Matthew chapter 1: Abraham begat, so-and-so begat, so-and-so begat so-and-so. And I closed it up. And I said "Forget it. What is this? I don't even know what a 'begat' is, let alone who these people who were begotten." It just seemed dry and old, and as internally dusty as it was on the top.

But the next night, I went back. And I picked it up again. And I skipped the first 18 verses of Matthew chapter 1, past the geneaology. And then "This is the story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth." And I kept going. And I was spellbound. I read the entire gospel of Matthew that night.

And I felt like I had entered into a new world. This was a different kind of book than what I had been reading in high school English classes. There was something else there. There was something. J'est ne sais quoi. I don't know what it is! There's a something here. But what? It was a book unlike any other.

Now, do we read Scripture because it's a holy book? It says on our Bibles, "Holy Bible." Is this divine? Is this book holy in that sense? If we were Muslims, it would be for us, because a Muslim believes that the Koran is literally the word of Allah. It isn't just a word from Allah. It is literally a divine book. It is God in word form.

And so for a Muslim, if you were to ever (like we do sometimes in our homes or our Bible studies) put the Koran on the floor - if it were to touch the ground - you could be killed. Because that is blasphemy. This is the holy book, and you're letting it be soiled with the ground.

Or is the book a magical book, as some sacred scriptures are in other religions? And so I turn the page, and I point my fingre, and I get the formula for whatever it is that is supposed to lead me that day.

I've sometimes wondered why in our culture we have people who, when they take an oath, put their hand on the Bible. In the court of law or swearing into political office, we put our hand on the Bible. Why? Is it because there is a magical power here and a curse would fall upon me if I failed to tell the truth or to fulfill this oath of office? Is it because we think there's something magical going on within this book?

Now, I think there's something else. It's neither a book holy in the sense that the Koran might be viewed as holy to a Muslim. Nor is it a book that is magical in the sense that it is bursting with supernatural power that we just need to figure out how to access.

But rather it's a book unlike any other book. It is a book that enters us into a holy, sacred story. It is the story of God's pursuit of us, of human kind. Through literature. Though philosophy. Through poetry. Through story. We're invited into God's pursuit of humankind. God's effort to woo us back. God's effort to call us home.

And we also see in this story, this scripture, this text - ourselves. We see this flight from that wooing. Our uncertainty about that embrace. Our desire to establish our own home somewhere else. Our questioning whether this God who calls us is indeed good and trustworthy, and worthy of putting our weight down upon His faithfulness.

This chronicle of God's effort to deliver us from our slavery and heal us from our brokenness and cure us of our loneliness. We hear in this ourselves. We see our own brokenness. Our own loneliness. Our own need for deliverance from the slavery that holds us.

And yet, as we see the people of Scripture stumbling sometimes, running other times. Fleeing sometimes. Standing in holy awe other times. We see ourselves. Because that's us. Scripture is God's word to draw us into a new world. Into a new way of living within this world.

But some might say, "Isn't prayer enough?" Scripture I can't handle. Isn't prayer enough? Last week Jeff led us in his own struggle with prayer. And finding a way of entering into this dialogue with God. And what he has found helpful in that spiritual discipline of prayer.

For many of us, our struggle may be more with Scripture than with prayer. This book just seems inaccessible and scary. Dry. Difficult. Whereas prayer, I believe, is God's gift to us of an intimate conversation with God. Scripture is God's gift to us of an objective conversation with God. Whereas prayer comes from within us to God, and as we seek then to listen to God to us, Scripture is clearly God coming to speak to us.

Sometimes we don't understand what we hear. Sometimes we don't like what we hear. Sometimes I find myself reading Scripture and saying, "Lord, I don't particularly even like who this text says you are, or how you act."

And so Scripture is an invitation for an objective dialogue with a word that comes from outside of me rather than just a word that comes from within me. Whereas our dominant voice in our culture would say that we define what is good, and true, and right. And it is all subjective and defined from within us. Scripture is God's way of saying, "No. Truth, goodness, beauty is not simply a human fabrication defined from the subjectivity of our own lives. It comes to us, and ultimately is shown to us, defined for us in human form in our Lord, Jesus Christ." The Spirit of God would take the written word of God to carry our hearts into the living Word of God, Jesus Christ.

Scripture is not an end in itself but it is God's written word to carry us into the living Word. So that our lives, rather than being defined by our circumstances, tossed about by the storms that shake us, driven by our fears and our difficulties and our doubts and our diseases, would be shaped and formed by the living Word of God, Jesus Christ.

Now, we're all amateurs when it comes to the Bible. We all feel like we stumble our way through it, trying to understand it. It is for many of us a perplexing, and indeed intimidating book. What is this?

And so in our study of spiritual disciplines, what are some practices that can help us feel at home in this book, and help this book call us home into the living Word of God, Jesus Christ?

Rather than guilt being the dominant emotion we feel about Scripture: "I know I should study it more. Now, this week. After this sermon. I'm going to try more. I'm really going to be determined to give myself daily to read it. I'm going to read the entire Bible this month," and then 3 days later (when we've forgotten and feel guilty about it) rather than guilt being the dominant emotion or doubt about how to access it, may today the fresh wind of the Spirit of God blow through our lives and drive out the doubts, the cobwebs, the fears, the guilts, the insecurities. And may this Spirit take the written word of God in our lives and draw us into the embrace of the living Word of God, that we might be the people of God in the midst of our storm-tossed world.

When a child is dying of starvation, their appetites shut down. They lose all interest in eating. And that's merciful. Because if a child has no access to food, to continue to desire it is destructive. What's the point? They even lose their capacity to cry. There is no longer hunger pain in their stomach. It's gone. The digestive system has shut down. That's a merciful act if this child is going to die of starvation.

For the aid worker who is trying to save that child's life, in addition to sticking IV's in to get some kind of nutrient going, often there's no capacity of IV's. Instead they'll stick their finger in sugar water and stick it in the child's mouth, and just hold their finger in the child's mouth. And dip it back in the sweet water, and put it back in the child's mouth with the hope that saliva might form again in that child's mouth. And the hope that hunger might emerge again. That appetite might be awakened. And the first sign of hope in that aid worker's life for that child is when that child starts crying. If tears are restored, if pain has been rekindled in that child's life, then you know you've won. This child is going to live.

The Spirit of God would take God's finger and dip it in the sweet water of Scripture. And put that in our mouth, that saliva might form. It's not an issue of discipline. "Oh, I need more discipline when it comes to studying the Scripture." It's an issue of hunger. It's an issue of the Spirit of God awakening our hunger. And our being disatisfied with all the junk food that we might fill our lives with that squash hunger and destroy nutrition. And instead this pure, life-giving Word of God would be that which would nourish the hungers of our lives.

Jesus, for our text for today, gave a staggering rebuke to the Sadducees. They were in the midst of a discussion of a theological fine point. If a person has been married many times, when they die, who's their spouse? Do they have many spouses? Or just one? And they're in the midst of this debate. And Jesus enters in with this absolutely staggering statement.

Reading: Mark 12:24-34

"You know neither the Scripture nor the power of God." They were in the midst of this debate. "If you've been married many times, how many spouses do you have in heaven?" And Jesus jumps in.

Now we could take this passage, and it has throughout history. Jesus says, "Oh, you're going to be like angels in heaven." So we build this whole theology that in heaven we're like angels. But that was not the point of Jesus' statement. The point of Jesus' statement was you're not married in heaven like angels are not married. His point was not that you are angels in heaven. Just to say you aren't married, just like angels aren't.

And then he goes on and says, "He's the God, not of the dead, but of the living." And you build from that a theology that says what's really most important is our life here. And not our life forever.

You can see how Scripture has often been used to abuse. We've taken a verse of Scripture and we've run with it. "Wives, submit to your husbands. Slaves, obey your masters. Obey the governing authorities over you because they have been established by God." It is so easy to take a verse of Scripture and run it to its logical conclusion, and miss the whole point. And so Jesus says, "You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God."

It is easy for us to focus on an aspect of truth and miss the entire truth. Instead of reading Scripture as this invitation to a love affair. Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. And loving our neighbor as ourselves." We view it as a set of proof texts or ideas that we can stack on top of each other. And try and build our own home out of them rather than accept God's own invitation home.

Three things I have learned over the years about the spiritual discipline of Bible reading.

First of all, read it not for today or for this week, but for a lifetime. Read it with the expectation that I'm going to be walking through these texts many many times over the course of my life. I'm going to be going through Scripture many times over the course of my life. I'm going to read the Bible many times over the course of my life. So read it for a lifetime. We are walking down ancient paths that hundreds of millions of people have walked down before us.

And so don't read it alone. Read it with others. Let those from different cultures and contexts who've looked at the texts different from you shape your reading. We need each other to guide us in our own understanding so we don't just take one text and build an entire understanding out of it and miss the God of the Bible.

The Scripture has shaped hearts and homes, societies and civilizations for centuries. And so read it for a lifetime. Read it with this expectation that over the next 5 years, 10 years, 50 years I'm going to be walking through this text. And it's going to add layer after layer of truthfulness in my life.

In southern Sudan only about 10% of the entire population is literate. Because of their famines and their wars, schools have just not been existent. It has just not been possible to become literate. And so only about 10% can read.

But most people are Christian. So in a sermon on Sunday, people who can't read Scripture hear it. And what do they do with it? By the end of the service, they would have composed a song. And then they will sing it as the sermon ends together as a congregation. And then they'll go out to their neighbors in the villages surrounding them and sing the Scripture to the surrounding communities.

There is an entire theological college in southern Sudan that is entirely oral because no one can read. And over the course of your theological studies you memories, literally, 180 portions of Scripture. Big portions of Scripture. Not just a verse here and there, but 180 chunks of the text. And your exams are not just your memorization of the text, but your ability to apply the text to life situations. And so you're given a situation and you have to say, "Now this text, I think, would relate to that." And you recite it. Your ability to bring truth to life and not just know the truth is the test of the role of Scripture.

Secondly, therefore, read Scripture not just for information but for transformation. Read Scripture not just to know it but to be changed by it.

When Kerry and I first moved to Sitka years ago to work at Sheldon Jackson College a local pastor came to greet us. And I was very excited that here was a pastor coming to greet us, wanting to pray for our ministry there. And instead what I received was a theological exam. And his first question in this theological exam as he was tryign to test me out and see if I was utterly abhorent in my faith was, "Tell me, what is your doctrine of Scripture?"

And I knew what he wanted to hear was, do I believe that it's inerrant or infallible? What words do I use to describe the authority of Scripture?

And I didn't want to play that game with him. And instead I said, "I know what you would like to hear me say, and I could probably say what you would like. But I think more important than simply what idea I have about what Scripture may be is how God uses that Scripture to shape my life. And what use I make of Scripture. Because ultimately my doctrine of Scripture will shape my attitude and use of Scripture rather than simply what it says on the shelf." And so I said, "I seek to be in Scripture every day, praying that the Spirit of God would change me through the word."

We don't worship a text. We don't worship a book. We worship word made flesh. and the book leads us to the Word. Leads us to the living text.

When we're embroiled in a dispute about faith, about doctrine, about Christian behavior, about ethics, about morality, the test of our knowledge about the Word of God is whether we can respond to that dispute in ways that express our love for God and our love for the people involved in the dispute. And so Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." And this text equips us for that love affair.

We are the only sacred Scripture that most people in the world read. We are the only text that most people read. And so when they read your life, what do they see? Do they see a person who has been drawn into this love affair? Who has been invited home and who lives at home with themselves and with the world because they are at home in God? Scripture would heal our homelessness. God would use this text to draw us.

One of my heroes is a man by the name of John Bosco. He's a driver for one of World Vision's vehicles in Uganda. In Ruchai, this center of HIV/AIDS in Africa. In World Vision's hierarchy of 24,000 staff, drivers are fairly low on the prestige scale.

And John has been a driver for very many years. And said to me as we were bouncing around in his land cruiser one day,

"You know, for years I felt like I was just a driver. All these important people like you come back and forth, and I drive you around. But I'm just a driver. I'm a nothing. I've not graduated from primary school and you probably have a Ph.D., don't you? And I've just done primary school. Who am I?

And then one Sunday I was in church, and my pastor said as I walked in, 'John, you're translating today.' Because our sermon was translated into three languages simultaneously.

He said, 'John, you're the translator.' I can't translate! I'm just a driver. Ask the school head teacher to translate. Not me.

And the pastor said 'John, you're the translator today.'

And the text was from Psalm 139. "Even before you were in your mother's womb I knew you. I have formed you. You are fearfully and you are wonderfully made."

And all of a sudden, John said, "the Spirit of God just went through me. And I thought, I'm not just a driver. I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm wonderful."

He took a little piece of paper and put it on his mirror. And every morning would wake up and say, "Hello, Mr. Wonderful."

John is the pastor of this entire region where he drives. When John's vehicle comes down the road people run out of their houses to talk to him. To share with them their concerns, their needs. To ask for his prayer. John is the spiritual leader of this entire community because he's a person whom the Word of God has touched and changed and given him a new name. A new identity. A new home.

"I'm Mr. Wonderful!" Rather than just the driver.

Third, let's not just read our favorite verses. But let's read the entire Scripture. Over time, allow all of scripture - Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms - to shape you. The issue isn't the quantity of our consumption of the Word. But it's the quality of our conversation with it. So it's not simply reading quantity for the sake of quantity. But to allow all of Scripture to shape us.

Let me suggest 6 practices that Kerry and I have found really helpful in our daily reading of scripture in our 40 years of trying to walk in this word.

First of all, we have found it very helpful to use the lectionary. Which is simply a set of daily Bible readings. Verses. Old Testament. New Testament. Psalm. And over 2 years you go through the entire Bible that way. And we've found this very helpful. You can read the verses in about 5 minutes. It's not like it's going to take a lot of time. But it's a way of helping us to enter into all of Scripture over the course of a couple of years.

Secondly when we do this, we begin in prayer. "Lord, help me understand this text. Speak to me through your Word. make this a dialogue rather than a monologue."

Third, we use a journal. And we begin by writing where we are right now with God. Where we are in our own life. In the form of a letter to God. It's not a memoir. It's not a diary. It's a letter to God. "God. October 6. Here I am." Just a few minutes of "Here I am, God. Here's what's going on in my life."

And then we will read the text and allow the text to speak God's Word to us in terms of where we are right now. And often we will then enter into a dialogue about a specific verse that comes out that day. And then we will pray finally, "Lord, what do you want from me today? What do you want me to be? What do you want me to do? How do you want me to live in response to this?"

This can take 10 minutes. It doesn't have to be a 3 hour morning devotional. It can take 3 hours depending on the time you have. But just a simple, daily way of being nourished by the word.

I eat breakfast nearly every day. I brush my teeth every day. God would give us the gift of being fed by the Word every day. And cleansed by the Spirit every day. That we might be nourished to be God's people.

Towards what end? Why? That we'd be drawn into this love affair. This love affair with God. And God's love affair with the world. That we'd find ourselves at home.

It's a dangerous book. There are reasons why it is banned by totalitarian regimes throughout history. There are reasons why in many places people will take their Scripture, wrap it in a plastic bag, and bury it in their back yard during the day. And only bring it out at night to read it by candlelight. It's a dangerous book. It's a book that God has used to overthrow tyrants. That God has used to launch revolutions. To help people stand for what is right and true. To change whole societies.

And so, as we read this, it is a dangerous book. But it's also a nourishing book. It's a book that God has used to help individuals just live life in the midst of their daily difficulties. Just to persevere when life is hard. And just hang in there in faith at work, and in home, and in retirement, and as life's end approaches. Just to persevere. So it's a nourishing book.

And it's a world-transforming book.

Grab the Bible in the pew rack in front of you, will you? And we'll end with this. Just hold it. May the Holy Spirit take this written Word and lead us into the healing life of the living Word. That God might take us and make us be for the world the very presence of the healing life of God. That others might receive this invitation home.

Amen.