1 Timothy 4: 11-13

11 Command and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 

As we ponder being created anew, I’m challenged and energized by these words in 1 Timothy.  On one hand, it has the listener lifted up as a gift; no matter their age, in preaching and teaching scripture.  It invites us to follow Scripture and find authority in it.  Sounds good until I consider that when 1 Timothy was written the very thing we consider Scripture today had not yet been decided.  The bible, as we know it, wasn’t created yet.  This very scripture in Timothy we’re reading here couldn't be the scripture the writer is talking about, right?  It creates a conundrum of sorts.  What scripture was holy when this was written?    

As I read this with the lens of being made anew in Christ Jesus and through the gift of the Holy Spirit I find my solid ground.  After all, God didn’t stop speaking long ago either right?  I know the Bible is inspired by God, but I know so many issues we face don’t always get answered neatly by 2000 year old words.  Interpretations and new issues challenge us anew.

Yet the word that is Jesus Christ helps us to find our way through this messy struggle.  And the word of the Bible is our starting place to center our search.   With that these words from Timothy are empowering.  After all, what we can do here and now is to do our best to live our lives in love and faith.   I believe the purity part spoken of in verse 12 comes in our intention to seek out the Holy Spirit’s guiding light in our lives today and to seek to remove our self motivated needs along the way. We are called to interpret together and to struggle together.  The scripture we have needs the living word of God and this comes when we freely wonder faithfully, while engaging faithfully with our world today.  As we  journey together into our world with love and faith and an open heart to what God will call us to next the answers will never be neatly laid out like a map.  It will always be a bit messy, but together we will find a journey to follow that is constantly unfolding in God’s love.

Pastor Michael Stadtmueller