“Slaves obey your masters” – codified the slave trade even into early America.

“Wives submit to your husbands” – affirmed the status of men over women

And the many wars in scripture that had God taking sides still justifies our own belief that God is on whatever side we are on when our nation goes to war.

Scripture has been used in the rhetoric of the Third Reich, the KKK, and by abusive men to explain why they should be allowed to beat up their wives or girlfriends.

But is this the fault of scripture? Is scripture inherently bad? Do these few random texts point to how we should live, or are they merely descriptions of limited human thought that have been wrongly attributed to God?

With the history of scripture’s misuse wide open before us, there’s a temptation to be skeptical of its pages altogether. If there are things like this that are so wrong, one might ask, what use is it to us? Wouldn’t we be better to use the power of our own rationality to try to live our lives? Is there a better morality out there for us? Especially in the midst of the Bible belt where we see daily the marks of scripture being held up as something we must believe and follow in it’s entirety to be “saved,” what do we do to redeem this book from its worshippers?

First of all it might be helpful to say that I worship God – not the Bible. In our tradition, we revere the Bible, we understand that it is God’s Word to us, and we claim it as an authority for our lives. But if we’re not going to swallow it all as infallible truth, then what steps do we need to take to uncover what it is that God would want us to see?

What I’d like to do today is try to open up the Bible for you as a text of liberation, instead of a text of terror as it has sometimes been called from the underside of life. This story from Acts is one such story of how scripture also speaks to liberation, equality and freedom. Philip teaching the Ethiopian eunuch breaks some major cultural barriers of the time. The Ethiopian was a foreigner, an outsider certainly as far as the Jews were concerned, and perhaps with our American eyes we will see the power of this story as a black man returns to his own country to teach and start the church throughout Africa. Because he was a eunuch, he was also considered “impure” because of the mutilation of his body. It isn’t just a coincidence that this particular story is mentioned in Acts. It’s put there to begin to show the widening of God’s circle. All nations, all peoples, including those who were considered “taboo” would be led to God through the amazing story of God’s love unfolding throughout history, and particularly through this story of love demonstrated by Christ who’s life may have been taken away, but his love still lives on.

So why do we tell our stories of prejudice and fear? Why does it make sense to remind ourselves that even as the Israelite people were led out of slavery in Egypt, they grumbled in the wilderness to go back to what they knew? I think we need to tell them so that we can be humbled in God’s presence. Just when the words come out that let us know we’re feeling superior to someone else, we are reminded that God is the God of all, and everyone is our brother or sister through Christ. Perhaps if I am humble, if I can tell my story, then I can offer better counsel and understanding. Maybe I can be a more compassionate listener and not toot my horn as one of those “women pastors” who made it, but realize that there’s vast room for improvement in my own heart.

STORIES OF PREJUDICE…

KKK stuff on my desk in Altoona

What then, about our stories of liberation? They are even more powerful to tell. I went to Altoona as a young and cocky pastor fresh out of seminary thinking I knew what I was doing. I didn’t. There were things I didn’t even know that I didn’t know. But even as I dealt with the prejudices of living in a town where jobs were scarce and people were constantly afraid of being laid off thus planting seeds for hate groups to run rampant – I learned about how people could have the skills of demonstrating God’s freeing love. A wonderful woman named Kay, whose son died of AIDS, taught me my first real lessons on how to be with a dying person. I didn’t get that in seminary. I learned it as she sat with me, and talked to me about just spending time, and how she told me I didn’t need to be afraid of death for it was also part of God’s plan. I’ve had the blessings of working since with two wonderful Parish nurses who reinforced that training, and yet my first real sense of ministry with the dying came from a mother who loved her son when many other people were afraid to go near him.

YOUR STORIES OF LIBERATION (If there’s time) . . .

God’s love, my friends is in our freedom from slavery. God’s love is in the equality of humankind – expressed as early as Genesis 1:27 that tells us clearly that both male and female were created in God’s image. God’s love is present as our circles expand, not as they shrink. God’s love speaks to both the native and the foreign. God’s love is for the righteous and the unrighteous, the courageous and the afraid. Our human limitations can’t stop God’s persevering care and compassion for God’s creatures. Thank God for that.

And Amen.