God is love

Although I am on holiday the events of recent days begun by the tragedy in Stockport, the deaths of Bebe, Elsie and Alice and the wounding of so many others, have caused me to write this post.

It seems to me that the events have given those who want to promote their nationalist, racist agenda an excuse for violence. They are not concerned with the grief or sadness but, based on assumptions and misrepresentations, have found a useful bandwagon to jump on.

Some of that misrepresentation has, sadly, been grounded in a verse from the Old Testament, which I am not going to give oxygen to here. Is is a tactic we see all too often by extremists and fundamentalists.

Taking passages of scripture out of their context is a reprehensible thing to do when done without a great deal of care. The addition of chapter and verse numbers came much later in the shaping of the Bible to aid the finding of things. But I think it also points to the idea that passages should be read in their entirety. Lifting text out of its literary, historical and social context shows a lack of respect for the text and can result in all sorts of unintended messages.

The Bible says.... all sorts of things. How many of us are wearing mixed fibre clothing as we read this? How many of us have recently eaten something proscribed? How many of us women stay silent in church (good luck making the plan if you take all the women preachers off,) or come into church with our heads covered? The question for me is always what are the big themes, the big pictures that God paints? We might want to have a conversation about that but for me it's something about love and wholeness and fulness of life for everyone and everything in God's creation.

Finally, we might also want to have a conversation around what we mean when we say that the Bible is the word of God, but Jesus is the living Word, God made flesh. I am always slightly uncomfortable in church when we stand for the Gospel but not for the rest of Scripture. However, there is something in the story and example of Jesus which is surely key to what we believe and how we behave. We are Christians. Where would Jesus have been as the events in Stockport unfolded? Where would Jesus have been during the riots? I know what my answers to those questions are. Perhaps you would like to consider your response, as we also consider how we use, or abuse, the Bible in justifying those things which speak of power and prejudice rather than love and grace.

Angy.