Flexible Bible
“Mary Cosby used to begin her New Testament class by bending her soft-cover Bible and saying she preferred a Bible that was flexible. Then she would say, ‘The Bible is not a manual for morality, but a mirror for identity.”’—Carol Martin, Bread of Life Church, “A Mirror for Identity” at InwardOutward.org, Church of the Saviour, July 15, 2018.
My first introduction to this more profound and flexible Bible study was with a small group at St. Mark’s in Little Rock in the 1980s, led by Dick Moore in a room above the children’s classrooms, which we called “the upper room.” As we studied the books of the Bible, Dick reminded us that the Bible was a roadmap, not the destination.
I think of old friends like Carole and Gary Kimmel, who were in our class and now live on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I remember well Betty and Brady Anderson, who later became Bible translators in Tanzania, Africa. Later, Brady was appointed by President Bill Clinton to become the American Ambassador to that country. They taught me so much. Together, we uncovered new insights from the Bible that had never occurred to us.
As we saw God present in the lives of people in the Bible who were like us—with gifts and faults—we also became more aware of God, the Holy Spirit, at work in our own lives and in the lives of others. We saw that the relationship of the Holy Spirit did not end with first- and second-century Christians; instead, the Spirit continues to lead us today. If we believe only in a strict, literal translation of the Bible, we deny the continued presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives today, which will bring us more good news.
I share with you the Bible I received from Bishop Maze twenty-four years ago, at the time of my ordination. It is also flexible.
Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/daily