If I had given any thought to the meeting before entering our church that Sunday morning, I would have expected it to be much the same as usual, other than the subject of the sermon. Why think otherwise?
“This morning we’ll do things differently” our pastor announced. “For one thing, we’ll not read our Bibles.” Most of us hadn’t brought one anyway; we trust our pastor to teach us the truth. Our church has always been open to change, although we all know who sits where, and the Order of Service is pretty much predictable. So, now what?
“We know only as much of the Bible as we have in our hearts,” the pastor said. “What we’ll do now is find out how much that is.” He looked at a group who sat over to his left and asked, “Who can quote the first two verses of Genesis?” One of them, a young woman, said she could and did so without hesitation.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’: and there was light.”
“Thank you. Does anyone remember verse three?” the pastor asked. “And God said…” No, wait, it’s – “And God saw the light, that it was good…” said the man behind me, and then stopped. Others could remember parts of the following verses, and everyone knew that God said “Let there be” a number of times.
We knew that when God saw what He had made, He said that it was good. Just about everyone knew that on the seventh day, God “rested” (whatever that meant). I was hoping that our pastor would skip to chapter three, where God makes Adam, and then Eve from Adam’s rib. Plus the Temptation, and so on. But he didn’t. Instead, he turned to the New Testament, and the Sermon on the Mount. Quite a leap.
We all flunked the Beatitudes. (At the time I saw this as a test of our knowledge of the Bible.) As for how many of us knew the content of various chapters of the Gospels…well, wasn’t that why we had a pastor?
Speaking of which, he was now in his stride. “OK, let’s look at things another way. How many of you have a favorite verse they can quote accurately?” Ah, I thought, this is more like it! I had three or four. I began with John 3:16 (of course) and then quoted Romans 3:10: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” I followed that up with Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” I had memorized these some time ago so I could witness to people at work.
Four or five others quoted their favourite texts. A woman who loved gardening quoted Jeremiah 17:7 & 8: the nice “green leaf” verses. Older members were able to quote some key verses from John, chapter eleven. (I thought maybe that came from attending many of their friend’s funerals.)
“Most of us are familiar with proof texts,” said the pastor, stepping forward from the pulpit, “because we use them when we share our faith. But what we’ve just heard indicates to me that we know very little of the Bible. I wonder why.”
He gave us a serious look. “Now, I want you to imagine that you are not here among your friends but elsewhere among your enemies. They control all that you read and have confiscated your Bible. They say that a proof of correct thinking may allow you future access to a One World Version, which is non-gender specific, and has none of the verses that make older versions, such as the King James Version, offensive to minority groups.
“So, all that you know – really know – of God’s Word is how much is in your heart. The question you would now be asking yourself is whether that would be enough for your faith to survive.”
Finally, as if what he had said wasn’t controversial enough, he asked that next Sunday we bring the word that God had given us through the week while praying or reading our bibles. We should write it down and bring it along. Then we could read it out, he suggested, and added that he was really looking forward to many of us being able to do that.
Our pastor’s usual practice was to stand at the exit so he could shake hands with everyone, but that morning the handshakes were “touch and go” — as though he had a skin condition they didn’t wish to catch. Still others stared straight ahead as they left, so they could avoid his eyes. If anyone had asked me, I would have said that his message had gone over like the proverbial lead balloon. From comments out in the parking lot, I assumed there’d be fewer people in church the next Sunday. Not so. In fact, there were more than usual. Some who had acted touchy in the parking lot were absent, but others – including new families – had replaced them. Word had got around and there was a buzz in among them between the parking lot and the church entrance.
I’ll never forget the meeting that morning. So many shared what God had shown them during the week. Hardly had one sat down than another jumped up! The changes the Lord had made in lives were obvious. On the following Sundays, their sincerity even melted the hearts of those diehards who were finding the whole thing too hard to resist. The meetings are now lasting more than an hour, but to me they seem less than half that, and when they end no one wants to leave.
That first exciting Sunday turned out to be no one-week wonder! And our pastor no longer stands at the door but sits and talks with those who want to know more about seeking God, following Jesus, studying the Bible, and how to share their faith with people outside the church.
Our church meetings are now interactive, which makes them exciting and less predictable. As Jesus, the Head of the church, inspires the members of his body, they respond accordingly. Our pastor is free to do what a shepherd does best, which is to care for God’s sheep. Or, to put it another way, we are now a band in which everyone plays instead of the one-man band our pastor had been, backed up by a few gifted musicians.
What if we were to no longer have our bibles? Well, since we know it in our hearts and sing it from our hearts and speak it from our hearts, no one can take it from us! No longer do we go to church to hear what God shared with our pastor but instead gather as a church to share with one another what Jesus has fed us all during the week — which he now does.
There’s an increasing belief among us that something big is likely to happen. Not just in church but in our homes and workplaces as well. I can hardly wait for next Sunday to share next what the Lord been showing me!
Fact or Fiction? This story is fictional, but what if it suddenly became Factual?