"...with our Bibles and minds open"

Notes from the Pastor...

During Lent, some of you may, and I hope many will, consider taking up or reclaiming the discipline of Bible study.  I believe the study of sacred scripture is both an individual and communal event.
In 1809, Alexander Campbell taught the Christian Church that no one was to interfere “directly or indirectly with the private judgment of any individual,” as long as the private judgment did not contradict an “express declaration” or an “approved precedent” of scripture.
And so it is that you and I in personal relationship with Jesus, and through the leading of the Holy Spirit, find scripture as informative to life and personally interpret commands and ethics due in large part to our own experience. Held in tension to individual interpretation is community.  Since all individual interpretation leads to individual inference, there is a danger that our inferences may be misinformed or just plain incorrect.  Therefore, we must come together in mutual respect; with our Bibles and minds open, taking into account: logic, the tradition of the Church, and the experience of other believers.  We do this trusting that the Spirit of God is present and guiding all dialogue toward truth.  Further, we must, following the precedent put before the church in Ephesus:
“Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph. 5:21)
When we come together and study the Bible we not only come away with a more informed interpretation, but we also proclaim Christ more fully to one another and our community.  In the words of Dietrich Bonheoffer:
"The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us."
Once again, I will end this speculation with my favorite benediction: “May the Word of God continue to mess you up!”

Grace,
Pastor Ryan