The Word is Alive

Sometimes it’s the simplest things in life we forget about. But when God shows you that simple thing in a new light, it can make a huge difference in your walk to Him. God has really been re-revealing some things to me over the past couple days; things that are so essential to our faith, but so often get lost in the shuffle of other things. I am continually amazed by how God keeps renewing my faith and challenging me to grow.

This week has been a blessing; not only did we finally get a chance to get back into our regular routine of having formation on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but we had Fr. J here with us as well to lead formation for us. We spent the first two days talking about 1 and 2 Thessalonians (which, in case you were wondering, were the first two letters Paul wrote). What I love about Fr. J is his ability to break open Scripture in just about any way; we not only talked about the development of Paul’s theology and canonicity, but about how to “pray without ceasing” (living prayer through your work) and what it means to “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught.” I am so excited about this Biblical formation, because I feel like it’s an area of my faith that I am the least comfortable with, but the one in which I want to grow the most.

On the third day we talked about the Synod that just finished up in Rome about “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.” And here’s where the revelation moment happened. Pope Benedict talked about the Bible as “an inheritance, a testament handed over to readers so that they can put into practice in their own lives the history of salvation witnessed in the text [...] the people cannot exist without the Book, because it is in it that they find their reason for living, their vocation and their identity [...] The Word that leaves the mouth of God, witnessed in the Scriptures, returns to Him in the shape of prayerful response, of a living answer, of an answer of love.”

For whatever reason that day, the word “testament” leapt off the page at me, and I really started thinking about what that means. I feel like “testament” is one of those words I use all the time, but never really think about the reason behind why I’m using it; I mean, we talk about the Bible in terms of the Old Testament and the New Testament, and we know that one part doesn’t talk about Jesus and the other part does, but why the word “testament?” Well, it turns out that testament means, “a covenant between God and the human race; tangible proof; an expression of conviction.”

Wait...what?!
THE BIBLE IS PROOF THAT GOD EXISTS!!!!!

Wow! (OK, remember I said in the beginning this was going to be about a simple thing; not an earth-shattering revelation, but one that blew me out of the water nonetheless.) I mean, when I really let that fact sink in—that the Bible is not only the “covenant between God and the human race” and “tangible proof,” but also “an expression of conviction”—I began to realize how really exciting Scripture is! This is where it happens! This is how God speaks to us! This is where, like Pope Benedict said, people “find their reason for living, their vocation and their identity!”

It was in what may seem like another “duh moment”—but which was in all actuality more of a “mustard seed moment”—that God moved a mountain within my heart. I do not think I will ever look at Scripture in the same way again. Apart from all the other knowledge I will gain about the Bible this year, all the ways we’ll talk and think about Scripture, this first acknowledgment of what testament means in my life will inform how I live and think and live out my faith. And hopefully I can make my life a testament that points back to Him.