May 4

Rev. Joan E. Sulser ~ Scripture John 10:1-10

Today is Bible Presentation Sunday, when our 4^th graders are officially presented with Bibles from the church. I love that we make a big deal out of this, with a special breakfast for the children and their families, and a verse specifically chosen for each child, and ribbons marking the verses they have memorized during the year.

I also like that we teach the children to use the Bible. They learn where some of the major stories are. They learn that it’s ok to ask questions about what they read in the Bible. The teachers encourage the children to underline and highlight and make notes in their Bible.

Too often, I think, we treat the Bible like the picture on the front of today’s worship bulletin. We act as though the Bible is part of a beautiful stained glass window – something to be admired from afar, but not very relevant for today’s world.

Those of us in the more liberal Christian churches have complicated relationships with the Bible. We know it’s important. We feel as though we should be familiar with it. We often wish we knew where we could find a specific passage or story. We want our children to know something about it.

At the same time, we’re not necessarily comfortable with the Bible. We have had it used as a weapon against us. We know all sorts of terrible things have been justified with Bible quotes. We find some of the Bible stories frightening or mystifying.

Some of us have tried reading the Bible and gotten stuck or bored. Some of us have turned to the Bible for answers for situations we’re facing and haven’t found anything helpful. Some of us treat the Bible like a magic book – close our eyes, think of a problem, open the Bible randomly and then hope those two pages have the perfect solution to our problem.

I think some of us are afraid that if we really get to know the Bible very well, then we’ll find that it will make our lives uncomfortable. After all, we know there’s something in there about treating people fairly, and loving God, and following Jesus … and also probably a lot of thou shall nots.

In fact, this fear of thou shall not may be one of our biggest stumbling blocks. After all, we’re all somewhat familiar with The Ten Commandments. Many of us have a vague sense that the Big Ten summarize a whole lot of other, smaller commandments that also focus on what we should and should not do. Most of us don’t like it very much when someone tells us what to do and what not to do.

So I think many of us avoid reading the Bible because we see it as limiting our life, fencing it in with a lot of picky, irrational rules. And that’s how some of us secretly feel about Christianity in general – that it’s a lot of picky, irrational teachings that limit our life.

I believe, though, that Christianity, and the Bible are far from dry, legalistic codes intended to make us miserable. I believe that the final verse in today’s scripture reading is the heart of Christianity and the heart of the Bible. Jesus says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Abundant life is what God wants for all of us … not a cramped, penned in existence. Abundant life, not a list of shoulds and should nots.

This verse from the gospel according to John was the theme of the 2004 international gathering of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. But instead of translating the Greek as "abundant life" they translated it as "life in all its fullness." Setri Nyomi, the General Secretary of the Alliance, said it was an intentional decision.

You see, here in Africa, the temptation is to buy into the western love of materialism – to live according to a theology of prosperity – to focus on human satisfaction and greed rather than humble gratitude for the utterly free, overflowing grace of God. In Africa, abundance is immediately understood as an abundance of things - not the abundance of spirit and grace that Jesus describes. And so that’s why we chose the translation, "life in all its fullness." (from a sermon by Susan R. Andrews, Moderator of the 215th General Assembly, June 27, 2004)

We know, deep in our hearts, that abundance is not about more stuff. Abundant life is not about getting more … having more … doing more. We know that "the beauty and the blessing of abundance – the overflowing fullness, the gracious plenty which flows out of the heart of our generous and benevolent Creator – this abundance is all about God, and not about us." (Susan R. Andrews)

Abundant life is relationships that are life-giving. Abundant life is trusting that we are cradled in God’s heart. Abundant life is living to our full potential … loving and serving God in Christ.

The Bible is a guidebook for life in all its fullness. The stories of people of faith wrestling with life choices illuminate our own struggles. The stories of God’s care for all people show us God’s values. The stories of God’s concern for justice and peace reveal God’s will for the world. The Biblical poetry where people cry out their praise and their anger and their fear lets us know that we can bring our full selves to God. The parables of Jesus, the concern with good governance, the passion for those who are society’s least and lost – the Bible gives us guidelines for life in all its fullness.

So I hope our 4^th graders use their new Bibles – mining them for life-enhancing jewels. And I hope their love for the Bible will rub off on us, so we may be nourished by the Word of God and led to abundant life. Amen.