October 19, 2003; 19 Pentecost B Readings: Isaiah 53:4-12; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:35-45; Psalm 91:9-16.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith Living and Active "The word of God is living and active..." Hebrews 4:12 Last year at this time, I was starting a campus ministry program at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland Virginia. I had gathered a small group of students who were meeting with me once a week. The students who wanted to get to know me and be part of the campus ministry were interested in studying the Bible. All of the students had been involved with Christian communities that talked a lot about the Bible. Interestingly, they had all a biblical education that scared them as children. The adults around them focused on sin and God's anger. The Book of Revelation received much attention, as did all references to the impending apocalypse. These college students wanted to expand their understanding of scripture, and they wanted to know how the Bible, which was written so long ago, could relate to their lives. Many people have mixed feelings about the Bible. Many of my friends over the years did not go to church because the Bible had been waived in their faces while they were told that they were going to hell. I will never forget the man who drove around to colleges when I was a student. He carried a six-foot cross. He would plant himself next to our library, and tell us we were going to hell. "Read your Bible; women shouldn't be in college," he would say. His wife wore a button that read, "I am my husband's servant." This was not great advertising for the Bible or the church! Because I was not going to church at the time, such encounters informed much of my understanding of 20th century Christianity. I walked by that man with his servant-wife and big cross, glad to be independent of such a tradition. Imagine my surprise, when I later started to read the Bible for myself, to find so much about love, forgiveness, justice, peace, and equality in the Bible. So many of the Christians in the press and around my campus had seemed so angry. In the Bible, I met God who loves me and cares for me. I experienced the grace of God, which takes away all fear and anger. I encountered the word of God, which is living and active. To say that the word of God is living and active is to say that God's word continues to speak to us and to our time. Working with the college students of Randolph-Macon led to many great discussions about the word of God. I was invited to speak to the Inter-varsity group-twice! You may wonder how it was that I was invited to talk with them. Inter-varsity is known to be a very conservative Christian fellowship. I was excited to meet with them because I respect their commitment to follow Christ. I believed that we could find common ground in the Bible. I talked with them about God's living and active word. Often times, such conservative groups use the Bible to tell others how to live. They use the Bible as a rulebook. As one of my seminary professors liked to say, the Bible is better understood as "God's love story with God's people." This is the story that continues; the Bible can help us to enter the story. Praying with the Bible can bring people of differing theological perspectives together. It talked with the Inter-varsity group about listening for God's word to them. When you read a passage in the Bible, what gets your attention? I said. Does a word or phrase stay with you? Maybe God has a message for you that can be known by praying with that word or phrase. This is an ancient method of approaching the Bible known as Lectio Divina, which means holy reading. Have you ever tried to read the entire Bible quickly? Lectio Divina is the opposite of that. Instead, of reading a lot quickly, you read a small amount slowly. While you read, you see what gets your attention. Then pray about that. By praying with scripture, we open ourselves to God's living and active word. My young friends in the Inter-varsity group liked my presentation. It affirmed their deeply held belief that God is with us and seeks to communicate with us. Wow. Common ground was found. My time with the students felt graced. I have also taught this method of praying with scripture to many Episcopalians. In so doing, I have experienced God's grace as people who felt alienated from the Bible found a way to connect with God through the scriptures. God's word is living and active. It gets into us and moves us. The Lectio Divina method of reading the Bible, of praying with the Bible, can help us to let the word into our lives. It has helped many to connect with God over the centuries. When we seek God in the scriptures, we will find God. We will find God who seeks us through the living and active word. Amen.