“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. “

 - John 1:1 (NRSV)

I believe in the ongoing revelation of Godself to humankind and all creation.  It didn't stop with the Big Bang.  It didn't reach its conclusion with Moses or the Buddha or Jesus or Muhammad.  The Word of God isn't a single book or set of books.  It isn't just Jesus.  The Word of God is how we talk about this ongoing revelation of God.  So the Word of God can be the Bible, Qur’an, a poem, a song, a painting, a dance, a movie, a conversation and even a TV commercial.  The Word of God is anything that helps us get a glimpse of God or helps us know God.

We Christians say that Jesus is the Word of God and what we mean is that in Jesus we see the character and passion of God.  In Jesus God’s desire for a transformed creation is made known.  God’s grace and love are seen and felt and experienced in Jesus’ life and teachings and death.  God’s will and way are made personal and alive in the life of Jesus.

We also say the Bible is the Word of God.  Now some take this to mean it is God’s definitive statement of how we are to live and treat one another and the world.  They believe that the Bible as God’s Word must be infallible and inerrant.  So if the Bible says creation happened in six days well science and common sense be damned it had to have happened in six days.  But I think that when you speak of the Bible as the Word of God you are talking about the Bible being a way to know God, to experience God and a storehouse of many peoples’ and cultures’ encounters with God and the truths that come out of such personal and national encounters with the divine.

If you read the Bible you will realize that it has all the romance, drama, epic clashes of empires, tragedy, suspense, humor, wise teachings, observations of human nature, the dark side of human greed and lust and pride, and propaganda of every sort as all the  Shakespearean plays and Greek theater combined.  The Bible has the ugliest, darkest and most horrible of stories.  It also has the most moving and inspirational hymns, prayers and poems.  It contains bad people doing bad things for bad reasons.  And it has good people doing good things for good reasons.  And it has good people doing bad things for no good reason.  The Bible has just about everything you can think of when you think about human culture, religion, emotions and drives. 

We cannot forget one thing however; the Bible has been used to justify genocide, slavery, subjugation of women, torture, murder, pollution, rape and the destruction of the environment.  The Bible has been used to create a hostile faith that sees itself as all knowing and all good and every other faith as somehow less if not downright evil.  It has helped make some people work tirelessly for a world political climate where the apocalyptical end of creation can be realized.  It has been used to justify snake handling and all sorts of other bizarre behaviors.  And most of this happens when you believe that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God.

You see, words are powerful:

• …  They can build up or tear down
• …  Different words have different meanings but sound the same
• …  Some words have many meanings
• …  Some words provide solace, comfort and protection
• …  While others cut to the soul and damage
• …  Some words spoken in certain ways with certain tones and timbre and emphasis can communicate widely different things.

And the Bible is full of these kinds of words.  This is why it can be used and misused in so many ways.

And still the Bible survives and thrives after 3000 years.  It still influences people to strive for the highest goals.  It still inspires people to seek a transformed world and transformed lives.  It still speaks truths and it still helps us experience God.  The Bible doesn't have to be infallible or inerrant to be God’s word.  Because I believe something can be true without being factual the Bible can have conflicting stories, strange misquotes, faulty history, just plain bad ethics, and culturally and historically bound laws and commandments and still be true in its efforts to help us understand God and our relationship with God and how that relationship is lived out in our relationships with others.   

One day Helen Keller’s assistant Anne Sullivan wrote in Ms. Keller’s hand “The sky is a beautiful blue today.”  And Ms. Keller wrote back, “What is blue?”  And Ms Sullivan had no way of telling her what blue is.  This is what the Bible tries to do; it is an attempt by hosts of people writing in a variety of languages on at least three continents to explain what cannot be fully explained with words just like you cannot fully describe what blue is.  Words after all are simply metaphors and they can only hint at that which they seek to describe.  The Bible is like poetry, drama, dance, art, music, etc… because just as they try to communicate truth and beauty and reality through artistic expressions which can only hint at the truth they seek to reveal, so too the Bible can only give us a taste, a quick glimpse of what God is and how we are to be. 

The Bible is the story of God’s encounter with a people, of God’s interaction with a people, of God’s revelation of self to the world, of God seeking to know human existence, and of the clash of human and divine wills.  We are people of the Book, people of this story known as the Bible.  It isn't the complete story and we who know that story have an obligation to share it with others and to add to it our own story.  We know that the Bible can help us, inspire us, and reveal God to us but it isn't infallible or inerrant and it doesn't have all the answers and yet it still is true.  The Bible is the Good, Bad and Ugly but it is our story and in it we find God, truth and a way to transform lives and the world.  Thanks be to God for this.