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“Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: help us so to hear them, to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and for ever hold fast the hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

So read the words of the collect appointed for today, the day we call ‘Bible Sunday’. A Sunday when we give thanks to God for our Scriptures and the insights and truths they contain relating to our understanding of God and his Son, ’The Word made flesh’.

Have you ever pondered, however, how odd our Scriptures truly are? And I say ‘odd’ not in any derogatory way but in a positive and challenging way. What is ‘odd’ about our Scriptures is that, although bound as a single book, they are in fact a ‘library’ of texts from different times, contexts and situations. Some are allegorical stories, some histories and biographies, some letters, some records of visions and prophesy. All very diverse but together forming a ‘whole’ which to quote Anglican doctrine ‘contain enough truth for our salvation’. 

The priest, theologian and poet Rachel Mann writes of the Bible :

“ …  consider how we handle our Biblical texts. I wonder what our preaching and teaching might look like if we were to be properly honest about the Bible’s complexity and contradictions. What happens to the authority of St.Paul’s letters to Timothy, for example, when we accept that he didn’t write them?  …  As I am sure you know, that the very word means ‘Library’, and we must wrestle with the fact that is a library of wonder, terror, and hope and NOT an instruction manual with a univocal position.”

Mann is right to challenge our assumptions of Scripture, as for example she says only some of Paul’s epistles were actually written by Paul. Those not written by him but bearing is name do so as an act of respect for Paul by writers who followed him and were inspired by his teachings. For these epistles not to have been written by whom we might think wrote them does not discredit them. They do in fact show how Scripture continues to inspire and influence those who encounter it and are moved to put pen to paper in theological exploration. Something we continue to do today, except our musings and those of others since the compilation of the Bible into the book we have today - by St.Jerome in 400 CE. Books left out  don’t get to be part of the Bible but commentaries on it. It is not only Paul who didn’t write all ‘his’ epistles there are for another example at least three Isaiah’s and umpteen other authors involved in most of the books of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.

What I think, this shows, is how Scripture, can as I have already said, inspire us to think and ponder on God, and for us Christians on the ways and person of Jesus. Scripture has always sought to encourage us to think about what is recorded and why, to pray about what we read and to interpret God’s Word in ways that speak to each of us in the times in which we live. 

Thinking of the ‘Bible’ as a ‘library’ is perhaps a way forward for all of us to think about Scripture anew. If we use it as a library, we can explore where the various books it contains come from and what the context they were written in was like at the time. Because we can’t simply impose 21st century ideas and values on writings some over five thousand years old and nor can we simply translate those old words directly into 21st century Scottish society. We have to use these words as starting points for thought, prayer and action - we have to live them out. If we can do this then we bring the Scriptures alive and make them relevant to the lives of people today. They are then not some dusty tome that is rarely read but something living, truly the Word made flesh. And, it is the ‘Living Word’ that is vitally important to us Christians.

We Christians are not people of a book of scriptures. No! We are a people who follow the fleshly embodiment of Scripture ‘The Word’ in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is always the ultimate interpretation of Scripture and his words and actions truly bring the Word of God alive. We are called to listen to what Jesus says and to try to follow his ways by continually challenging our own perceptions, prejudices and preferences. In doing so we make Scripture live and allow it grow within us. Scripture should be a living thing for us and not some half-forgotten book on a shelf.

We need to read, mark and learn by inwardly digesting what we hear Scripture telling us. We need to ponder, pray and interpret Scripture so that it nourishes us and becomes the living Word within us. 

Mann entitled her piece that I quoted from earlier; ‘We should embrace our oddness’ and it is a challenge we could do well to live up to. Our Bible, our faith is odd but that’s part of its glory and its ability to change lives. Jesus is the Word made flesh, a human being and at the same time divine embodiment of what we call Scripture and the essence of God. How odd is that? But, also how exciting and wonderful is it as well. 

The reading from Genesis where Jacob wrestles with God was always read at the beginning of each year that I was at Theological College in Chichester. Initially, I was rather foxed as to why two men wrestling was the ‘College Scripture’ until it suddenly in my final year it dawned upon me that it was a metaphor for my own wrestling with Scripture, doctrine and God throughout my three years at seminary. Having fallen down the chapel steps and sprained my ankle and put my hip out, I think the reading had more relevance to me when I heard it at the beginning of that final Michaelmas term. 

We all wrestle with God in some way as we try to understand the meaning behind our Scriptures and in our interactions with others when we perhaps glimpse the image of God in them and they in us. Faith is never a straight forward thing and certainty, understanding and questioning all jostle for dominance at anyone time. I realise now decades on way that reading was such a good one for my college and my own theological journey. I still wrestle with God and if you do too I hope you don’t get your hip put out of joint!

Luke 17:5-10

To be truthful I would rather have had just read verses five and six, rather than 5-10, as what those two verses say about increasing one’s faith I think is very good:

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.”     Luke 17:5-6

Verses 7-10 rather annoy me:

“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”                                                       Luke 17:7-10

I find the whole concept of slavery abhorrent and the fact that this reading would seem to encourage ‘rough treatment’ of slaves inhuman. I realise that, Jesus is speaking, in a different context to ours and that  what Luke is trying to do is to suggest that we have things that we just have to do; like praying and that we should just do it without complaint. But, the way Luke says it though does not sit well with our 21^st century sensibilities; ‘Slave come here, get my tea. Yes I know you have worked in the field all day but just do what I say you should do.’ We might like to think that we have moved on since then but many people today still live lives of slavery and bondage. Some due to human inhumanity and others due to marital or family pressures. A better image today might be to say that just as you work or care for your family so should you try to give time to God as well. Prayer to God should be as much a part of our lives as work or caring for the family are.

This is related to what Jesus has to say about increasing one’s faith and not giving up on it when things get tough. It can be all too easy not to give time to God so that our faith stagnates or solidifies; that it stops developing. In using the word faith I also take it to include the word doubt as well, for doubt is as much about faith and not it’s opposite. The opposite of faith is certainty and certainty does not enable anyone to increase their faith for if you are certain then what is there left to discover? 

Some of my earliest memories are accompanying my Dad in his allotment. Something I did from about six months old. My Dad’s allotment was on land belonging to ‘Sutton’s Seeds’ which used to be based in Reading, until the M4 motorway was driven through the middle of the seed beds in the late 1960’s.

My Dad’s plot was next to his Uncle Jim’s plot and quite often the pair of them worked together sharing seeds and produce. I realise now that my Great-Uncle ensured that my Dad and his growing family always had enough to eat. Money was scarce but Uncle Jim was generous. So too was Auntie Dorothy, who brought me my first garden tools - small boy sized when I was about three and a half. 

My memories of the feel of the soil on my hands, the joy of harvesting what we grew and the smell of the methylated spirit stove and the subsequent ‘meths' tasting tea have remained with me all my life.

When the allotment was covered in concrete and we had moved to the west of the town I continued to help my Dad with the large vegetable patch at the bottom of our long garden. But, a passion for growing flowers now developed thanks in part to our lovely neighbours who like my great-uncle and aunt encouraged my interests by giving me plants. 

Over the years, I sort of forgot the childhood joy I found in helping to grow things to eat but lockdown in 2020 changed all that. With additional time to obsess over the garden I created raised beds in which to grow initially; sweet peas for cutting and kale for sustenance. This has continued with the sweet peas relegated to large pots and the raised beds stuffed with a variety of different brassicas, runner beans and latterly potatoes. After a few disasters with the allium family, I have concentrated on these three crops and what joy I have re-discovered in harvesting what I have grown. It still feels like magic has happened.

Especially, as I tend to think; ‘Oh! nothing will come of these seeds’. Yet every year things do grow, even things (such as this year) like broccoli that I have no memory of planting!

God’s good gifts are how I think of the produce I pick, even when the crop isn’t great because of the vagaries of our climate. God is generous and I give thanks for that generosity. 

The Hebrew people were taught to be thankful for God’s generosity as the first reading from Deuteronomy tells us. ‘Be thankful, give thanks and make a thank offering to God for all you are given’ probably sums that passage up. Paul’s words to the Philippians continue the theme as he tells those early Christians that God will always give us what we actually need, even if it is not what WE think we need. 

The Harvest, is not something we can ever take for granted. There are many across the world whose lives depend on how good their own harvest is and the effects of the Climate Emergency we are now living in, only seem to make their existence even more precarious. In our own country the Harvest cannot be relied on to bring all we need either. We do not produce enough produce to actually feed our population and we rely on goods flown across the world to appear on our dinner plates - not something that is particularly ‘eco-friendly’. Food miles can be enormous just to put vegetables in our mouths. 

Farmers are in a tough place. They are being asked to produce more home-grown food and at the same time subject to internal and external forces that can make this difficult. Much land is  also coming out of food production because it’s just too expensive to farm. The food producers of our country and our world need not only our thanks and support but our prayers too. 

This is what we are doing this morning. We are giving thanks to God for all we receive through his good Creation and we are giving thanks for those who produce the food we eat and we are praying for their well-being and continuation in doing the job we need them to do. We should never take the farming industry for granted, just as we should ever take God for granted. 

Later in this service we will use the words of the General Thanksgiving - words that have been said for over 500 years in one form or another. The prayer begins:

“Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life…” 

Like today’s readings this prayer reminds us to be thankful and to be thankful to God every day. As we give thanks for the bounty of Creation may we never take God’s generosity for granted and further that we will like my Great-Uncle Jim always share the bounty we have with others. 

John 3:13-17

There’s a moment in Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest when Miss Prism, the governess, admits to having written a novel. Cecily expresses the hope that it does not have a happy ending, and Miss Prism says:

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”

In fact, as opposed to in fiction, the good often end unhappily. The world is full of innocent suffering – look no further than Gaza, where children are dying for lack of food, for evidence of that. And on Holy Cross Day we reflect on the supreme example of innocent suffering and of self-emptying love.

Today’s Epistle explores that idea of self-emptying love. 

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself…”

What Paul is saying is that Jesus chose to accept the limitations of human life, including our vulnerability to suffering and our mortality. The Cross is a reminder that even our most painful experiences, physical and emotional, need not separate us from the love of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way: 

“Through every event, however untoward, there is access to God.”

He was in a Gestapo prison when he wrote those words, and he was executed shortly afterwards.

Today’s Gospel explains why Jesus emptied himself. It offers the whole Christian message in a few verses. Jesus foretells his own death on the Cross:

“…so must the Son of Man be lifted up…”

And then speaks of God’s purposes:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

In that single sentence that Jesus utters the little word “so” – 

“…for God so loved the world...”

Words can have several meanings, and, over time, they shed some meanings and gain others. I have no doubt that the teenagers with whom I once worked as a teacher would understand the word “so” in this context as meaning “very much”.  They would say “That’s so unfair” or “That’s so the right thing to do”, and I once overheard, at a bus stop, one girl saying to another, “That’s so my bus.”  

To read this verse from St John’s Gospel as meaning “God loved the world so very much that he gave his only Son…” would not be a misunderstanding, for the Incarnation and the Passion of Christ are evidence of the extent of God’s love for humankind and on Holy Cross Day we are reminded of the extent of God’s love. 

But that isn’t what the word translated as “so” in today’s Gospel actually means. A more accurate translation would be “God loved the world in this way – he gave his only begotten Son…” Jesus is commenting on the nature of God’s love, and only indirectly on its extent. And what he is saying about the nature of God’s love is firstly that it is self-giving – it involves God coming into the world to redeem it and accepting the human condition in all its joys and sorrows. Secondly, he is telling us that God’s love is universal. The world, in the original Greek, is “kosmos” – not just Planet Earth but the whole of creation. “God so loved the cosmos…”, not “God so loved members of a particular race”, nor “God so loved the citizens of a particular nation state, nor even “God so loved followers of a particular faith”. Because it is universal, the love of God is also unconditional. 

But unconditional love requires a response, and the response may or may not be forthcoming. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

The second half of this verse is often used as an argument that salvation is only possible for Christian believers, for those who assent to the doctrines of the Church. 

That seems to me to be a dangerous narrowing of God’s purpose, as though God were saying “Respond to my love by agreeing with me on the fundamentals of Christian doctrine.” That’s a misunderstanding of the Greek word translated here as “believes”, for that word isn’t merely or even mainly about assenting to propositions. It’s more about trust and response and the kind of understanding that comes from experience. 

When we humans love, the response we hope for is not that another person will agree with us on all issues, but rather that someone else will love us. The purpose of God’s self-giving, self-emptying, universal and unconditional love is, surely, to evoke from human beings a love of exactly the same kind. To believe in Jesus is to respond to him with that kind of self-giving, self-emptying, universal and unconditional love. And that leaves open the possibility that those who have never heard the Christian Gospel, and those who have found aspects of Christian theology baffling and unacceptable, may nevertheless have responded in the way that the self-giving, self-emptying God both shows us and seeks to evoke in us.

Miss Prism’s preferred type of fiction involved the good ending happily, and the bad unhappily. In the light of Easter, the Cross isn’t the story of the supremely good person ending unhappily, for self-emptying, self-giving love triumphs in the Resurrection and today and every Sunday is a celebration of that.