Living & Active

When we come to God’s Word we come…

…not to mere words on a page,

…not to an account of something ancient and dusty,

far-fetched and remote,

But we come…

…to something alive and active,

…full of truth and power,

…dynamic.

For the Word of God is living and active says the writer of the Hebrews.

Living.

Active.

Allow those two words to linger.

Is that your experience?

Do you know what it is to be cut open by God’s Word?

To be exposed? Examined? Laid bare?

To you know what it is to be have your heart stirred?

Moved? Led to worship?

Do you know what it is to be led in new directions…new paths…because of God’s Word?

Or are you familiar with what it feels like to have your mind shaped and reshaped by what you discover in its pages?

Or are you humbled by the knowledge that you are just the latest in a long line of sinners saved by grace, who, for thousands of years, have met with God in His Word?

The Word that you read has been read by countless before you. Moving them. Stirring them. Provoking them. Shaping them. Changing them.

You are the just the latest in a long line of witnesses who encounters the living God, speaking….through His Word…

…part of a community of people….the Church…who reverently, expectantly, eagerly…approach God’s Word, ears open, ready to listen…hear.

We acknowledge before you that there hover around this text:

prophets – ancient and contemporary –

who have been truth-tellers at risk.

apostles – ancient and contemporary –

sent with passion and courage undaunted.

saints – ancient and contemporary –

                who have been single-minded for the vision of this text.

martyrs – ancient and contemporary –

                who have witnessed and suffered and died for this particular truth.*

Folks, as you come to the Living Word today, joining saints who have gone before you, may your ears be open, may your hearts be soft, may you experience the work of the Spirit in you, upon you…may you hear the voice of God.

* Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth. (p. 57)