How’s the diet?

Bible Sunday … is that even a thing? Yes, it’s the last Sunday in October. It’s a moment to celebrate! We have God’s Word available in our own language, in a cornucopia of different English translations. The nourishment we need as Christians is as close to us as our bookshelf or mobile phone. We have a banquet at our fingertips!
 
It’s also a moment to remember. It wasn’t always like this. In Tudor times, William Tyndale was burnt at the stake for the crime of translating the Bible into English. The Bible was read only in Latin in church. If you wanted to understand what God was saying, you had to rely on those who knew Latin to tell you. And for 1.5 billion people around the world today, the Bible is still only available in a foreign language. For them God’s Word is as indigestible as avocados with their skins on.
 
One community of speakers which has recently started to tuck into the Bible in their language for the first time are the Omi people. They live in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. They’ve often been marginalised and told that their language is worthless but now they can say that God himself speaks Omiti! And their appetite for God’s Word is growing. Since they are mainly an oral culture, they’re used to sharing and remembering information by word of mouth. So they’re getting to know the Bible by passing on passages orally, telling and retelling stories with actions until they know them by heart. Some people have been so gripped by hearing Bible stories about Jesus in Omiti that they’ve immediately gathered more friends and family together to pass on what they’ve heard!
 
Bible Sunday can be a moment to reflect on our own spiritual eating habits, too. Have I lost some of my appetite for the Bible? And do I have a healthy diet? With all the demands of daily life, it’s easy to cut corners with food, cut down on square meals, get by on processed food and favourite snacks. It can be similar with the Bible. Snacking on the odd verse here and there, and dipping into the most easily digestible passages, or other people’s thoughts on them, may fit with a lifestyle on the go, but in the long-term, it doesn’t help me grow much spiritually. This Bible Sunday, how about treating ourselves to a slap up Bible meal, sitting down with God’s Word to feast on a whole chapter or biblical book? And maybe it’s time for a reset, planning a more balanced diet for the months to come, using some resources to help? Scripture Union  and BRF have some good ones.
 
The traditional prayer for Bible Sunday (below) asks God to help us “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the Bible so that we find his comfort, hope and life through it. May God give us big appetites to make the most of the feast!
 
Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
      the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen

Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash