Breathing

Photo by Elizabeth Lovelace Wisenbaker

The Bible is a diverse collection

   of documents, written

      by faithful people over

         a long period of time.

By the grace of God,

   its original words –

      some filtered through centuries

         of oral transmission,

then centuries more

   of scribal recording –

      have been translated

         into many languages

      so that people can hear and

   be inspired in familiar dialect.

Perhaps the single constant

   throughout scripture’s history,

      its present form, and

         its future formation,

      is the church’s insistence and

   reliance upon the very self of God –

by way of the Holy Spirit –

to guide our reading,

   interpretation, and application

      of it into both the physical location

         and the moment in time

      of our current human existence.

Both the allowance and

   the necessity of this guidance

      form the foundation

         for our understanding

      of this text as “Living Word”

   to and for the world.

© 2016 Todd Jenkins