The Spirit-Lifting Up Scripture - Acts 13- July 31, 2011- Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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Reader: let us pray. Holy Spirit, come into this place and speak through these scriptures in some new way. Let our hearts and minds be open, and let us truly listen. Amen. (opens the Bible)

Bible: Hello. (Reader doses Bible quickly. After a moment, opens it again.) Hello. (Reader doses Bible quickly again. After a moment, opens the Bible just briefly.) Hell- (Reader opens Bible again briefly.) Hell- (Reader takes a deep breath, then slowly opens Bible and keeps it open.) Hello, Oh ... this time you decided to keep me open for a minute.

Reader: Who ARE you?

Bible: Oh, come on. You've known me just about since you could walk and talk. I'm the Bible.

Reader: Well, yeah, but you've never talked before.

Bible: If you don't think I've been talking, then you haven't been paying attention. I'm ready to talk most any time you're ready to open me.

Reader: Okay, but you've never talked quite like this before.

Bible: Oh, -I can talk in a" sorts of ways. I haven't even begun to show them a" to you. Now, before you opened me up, you said a prayer, right?

Reader: Right.

Bible: And that prayer was for me to speak in some new way, right?

Reader: Well... sure.

Bible: Well? Did you really mean it?

Reader: I guess so, but ...

Bible: Bingo! Oh ... wait a minute. That's another church, isn't it? There's so many churches reading me so many different ways, I get mixed up sometimes.

Reader: Can't blame you there. It must be difficult to keep track of all the talk about the Bible these days. It seems like there's a lot of controversy, and about a million different interpretations. Just the other day I was looking at a letter to Newsweek magazine, and it said, 'The Bible says that grass and fruit trees were created on the third day and the moon and the stars on the fourth day. So why would anyone take seriously what the Bible says...?

Bible (tiredly): Yeah, I get that a lot. People trying to make me into a science book instead of what I really am. That would be like someone listening to one of your sermons and trying to use it as an instruction manual for programming computers.

Reader: Hah! Good luck with that!

Bible: And I'm not a science book. It drives me nuts that God has given human beings all of this
scientific knowledge, and so many people kick it all under the rug because they want me to be the science book. I wasn't written to do that. I was written thousands of years ago, when people's
understanding of science was pretty incomplete. Of course the moon and stars were created before the plants and trees.

Reader: If you're not a science book, then what are you?

Bible: I am an inspired testimony to God's love for the world. And I tell about God's love in a lot of different ways. I have poetry, and music, and history, and riddles, and parables, and sermons, and humor ...

Reader: You have humor?

Bible: Oh, I love humor. Here's one for you. What did the little boy say when he opened the Bible and a pressed leaf fell out?

Reader: I don't know. What did the little boy say when he opened the Bible and a pressed leaf fell out?

Bible: Hey, Mom! I found out where Adam keeps his spare suit.

Reader: Okay, that's a good one.

Bible: And did you ever actually try and picture a camel squeezing through the eye of a needle?

Reader: One hump or two?

Bible: Now you're getting it. People are so serious about Bible reading, sometimes they miss the joy of it.

Reader: I hear you. But things are serious. The world is full of pain and suffering. There are wars and famines and just plain hard luck. A lot of people who read you are just plain desperate. They're looking for something to hang onto just to get them through the night.

Bible: I know. And they've come to the right place. I have so much to offer people in desperate times. When I say that I am an inspired testimony to God's love for the world, I am talking about something that has proven itself true for thousands of years, and especially during the worst of times. Think about it: God is everywhere. There are a lot of places to see God at work - you can look in nature, in art, in children, in yourself. Any of those things can give you a momentary impression of what God is doing. But they are momentary. Nature can be sunny or stormy; life-giving and life-taking. Art is always in the eyes of the beholder. Children grow up. And your inner feelings are about as dependable as a good mood in the stock market. But my story is about a God who proved Himself faithful over thousands of years. Day in, day out - in good times and bad -millions upon millions of people have turned to God and found healing for their broken hearts, and strength to get them through terrible persecution, and hope and joy to lift their spirits. Think about the scriptures you've been reading in church lately.

Reader: We've been reading stories from the middle chapters of the Book of Acts -the days after Pentecost when the Good News of Jesus Christ was beginning to spread around the world.

Bible: And who made it all possible?

Reader: Well, the Holy Spirit.

Bible: And what have you discovered?

Reader: That amazing things happen when the Holy Spirit is moving! People are healed; walls between people break down; the Church is built up; people are released from prisons of injustice and oppression; and false ideas and false teachings are confronted and pushed aside for the truth.

Bible: Isn't that all Good News for people who are going through tough times, and need to know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel? That there is a loving, caring God that is always there for them?

Reader: I would say that is just about the best news ever.

Bible: Bingo! Oh ... sorry. Wrong church again.

Reader: That's okay.

Bible: So what do you make of today's Bible reading?

Reader: Well, it's the story of Paul preaching in the synagogue at Antioch. It was a touchy situation, because there were many in that place who needed some Good News - same as most every place. But there were also some who didn't want the Good News preached. They liked things the way they were - probably because they gained some power over keeping the common people from hearing the truth. I imagine that's about the same most everywhere too.

Bible: So did Paul debate with them, so that people were sure to listen to him?

Reader: (looking at the story in the Bible): No, not really.

Bible: Did he challenge them to a duel?

Reader: No.

Bible: Did he put on some kind of big show that would Wow them? Or give some amazing theological dissertation, complete with Power Points and discussion questions at the end?

Reader: No, nothing that fancy or hard.

Bible: What did he do?

Reader: He just told the story of God's love, the same as you do.

Bible: And what is that story?

Reader: It's about how the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, and God delivered them, and brought them through the wilderness into the Promised Land. And then, after a time, he raised up a king for them named David, and they became a great nation. And centuries later, when the nation was not so powerful, God kept a promise to Israel that He would send a Saviour into the world, a descendant of David named Jesus. But Jesus was not received by the leaders of Israel, especially the religious leaders. They hated him, and they had him put to death on a cross. And then this is the part I love the best; it's Acts 13, verse 30 ... well ... of course, you know where it is.

Bible: Yes, I do. But I love to hear you read it.

Reader: Really? Why?

Bible: Because it keeps me alive! It lets me breathe! I spend so much time just sitting on people'
shelves, or gathering dust in some corner somewhere. Can you imagine what it is like to have this incredible story of faith to share, and to be opened up so seldom, and to only speak when someone lifts my cover? Meanwhile, the world is so lost sometimes, and so needy.

Reader: Gee, I never thought about how you must feel about that.

Bible: But go ahead. Read Acts 13: 30. What is the part you love the best?

Reader: Oh, yeah. It's this. "But God raised (Jesus) from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the Good News that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus ... "

Bible: Yeah. Isn't that beautiful? I never get tired of telling that story.

Reader: Well, those people thought it was pretty beautiful, too. Acts 13 says that after Paul told your story, the next Sabbath day, the synagogue was packed with people, eager to hear it again. Of course, this made the synagogue leaders pretty jealous, and they drove Paul and Barnabas out of the region. But the people continued to long for the word of God. And the last verse of Acts 13 is so exciting. It says, "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."

Bible: And that's what happens when people put me to work. Instead of letting me gather dust on the shelf, or using me to dub people over the head, or make me into a science book or just a rule book. When they really open me up and read, when they let my story speak to them, when they enter into the story, and celebrate the wonderful love of God, celebrate the Risen Lord Jesus -life is filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Reader: Praise God! And so many people today are going through tough times, just like those people in Acts 13. And you bring the message of hope. You bring the message of healing. We should lift you higher.

Bible: Okay, fine. But remember. It's not about me. I'm just a book.

Reader: Not just any book.

Bible: Not just any book. But only because of who I talk about. Only because ofthe story I tell. It's Jesus Christ that should be lifted higher.

Reader: Right! Right! Man, now I feel like preaching a sermon!

Bible: Oh ... well ... why don't we say that we just did? Why don't we just invite everyone to go home and open up the Bible that sits on their table, and share the story of God's love with one another. Especially during the tough times. God is faithful. There is a Saviour. The Spirit is moving.

Reader: And where the Spirit is moving, the Spirit is lifting up Scripture.

Bible: That's right.

Reader: But I still feel like preaching.

Bible: Well, why don't you pray instead that everyone will go out of the church today and preach a great sermon in the way they live out the story of faith in their lives.

Reader (reluctantly): Okay. Let us pray. Holy Spirit, we give you thanks for the hundreds of people who discovered something so wonderful about you that they had to write it down, and that you took their words and blessed them as scripture to instruct and inspire our lives. We thank you for the Holy Bible, testifying to generation after generation about your faithfulness -your creating and liberating love; your sending your Son to die for our sins, and to rise on Easter to declare your ultimate victory; and your Spirit which moves so powerfully - healing, breaking down walls, building your church, setting free the prisoners, lifting up the truth, and opening up the scriptures. Let there be hope for those who are struggling, light for those walking in darkness, and new life for those whose spirits feel deadened by the noise of the world. And like those disciples whose story we read today in your Holy Bible - may we go forth from this place filled with joy, and filled with the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen.