The Value of Study

A sermon preached at Old South Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Hallowell, Maine, May 13, 2007.

Text:  Acts 16:9-15

The Rev. Susan M. Reisert, minister

Many Christians approach the Bible as conservatives approach the Constitution:  you don’t interpret it, you read it.  Now, today is not the day to debate the validity of such a theory on the Constitution.  I know that some of you will be disappointed about that, but you can bring it up with Joseph after the service if you wish.

Today, however, we will consider the appropriateness of simply picking up the Bible and reading it.  And, for the most part, to consider the peril of such an approach. Today, we will explore the value of study and moving beyond the simple act of picking up the Bible and reading it.  After all, unless you are reading the Bible in Hebrew or Greek, you are already dealing with interpretation, in how the Bible is actually translated into English.

Certainly, in the midst of our devotional lives, simply picking up the Bible is perfectly fine.  Finding some comfort and a pearl of wisdom in a simple act of reading an old, familiar passage is an important part of our lives of faith and ought not be hindered by a large stack of resources for study. And, to extend from that, I found the little column attached to the “religion” section of the Morning Sentinel yesterday to be helpful.  Dan Harrington wrote about a class he attended on “holy reading.”  This method of reading Scripture encourages readers to slow down.  The practice, written by a Benedictine monk, comes down basically to four steps:  1)  read passages slowly many times over, 2) repeat and reflect on what has been read and ponder how it might apply to your own life currently, 3) open your heart to God to help gain a fuller understanding, and 4) Ponder and listen to God; wait for the quiet moments where he whispers meaning to us.

This is a good start.  But, I believe we must go further to be truly responsible and faithful members of the church, who rely so heavily on scripture for perspective and understanding on who God is and how God works and what might be God’s will.  We must learn to study, to explore, to find meaning beyond the words on the page and to appreciate the cultural differences and the language issues that the Bible presents—especially as we read the Bible in English, a language very different from the one in which the books of the Bible were written. 

Let’s look at today’s passage as an example.  There is much to be gained by simply reading it.  There is more to be gained by using the method of the Benedictine monk—reading it slowly many times over and opening one’s heart to its meaning and perhaps even the changes in its meaning, etc..  And, there is yet even more to be gained through the use of some method of study.  We’ll get to some of those in a moment.

In this morning’s passage, we encounter a woman named Lydia from a city called Thyatira.  Who knows where Thyatira is, or was?   [located in what is today Turkey.] 

Paul meets Lydia in Philippi.  What is the significance of an encounter with this woman in that particular place?  Where is Philippi?   [Philippi was in eastern Macedonia, very far from Jerusalem.  Meant that Paul was finally in Europe and that Lydia and her household would have among the first, if not the actual first, converts to Christianity in Europe.  It also indicates that Lydia had traveled and set up a home far from her place of origin.]

The woman known as Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth.  What would be the significance of the purple cloth?  The purple itself?  [Purple signified wealth and privilege; it was the color of royalty; would have meant that Lydia herself was probably quite well off.  Being a seller of purple cloth meant that she was an upper middle-class business woman.

These days we’re used to being able to get any color we want.  On the soccer field yesterday where the kids were playing, there was every color of the rainbow.  Each team designated and grouped together by color.  We don’t even give it a second thought.  Yet, it hasn’t always been like this.  Once upon a time, dyes were natural, not synthetic, and certainly some were hard to come by.  The dye for purple, for instance, was made from a juice found in minute quantities in shellfish.  It took thousands of crustaceans to make a yard or two of purple cloth.  So it was very expensive, and sellers of purple could become quite wealthy.

Purple was also the color of the Roman elite, likely putting Lydia in contact at least with those who purchased for the elite, if not the elite themselves.  Looking at the entirety of Luke-Acts, Lydia is then among a group of wealthy women who, in some way, supported the ministry of Jesus and then of the leaders of the early church.]

Paul, along with Silas, meet Lydia by the river, after they arrived in Philippi after a long journey at the behest of a man who had appeared to Paul in a vision.  On the Sabbath day, they went outside of the gate to a river, where they supposed there was a place of prayer.  And that is where they met Lydia, a worshiper of, who was among a group of women who had gathered in that place.  It appears that Lydia is not Jewish herself, but that she believes in God.  She was what the Jews knew as a “Godfearer,” someone who worships in the synagogue, but hasn’t converted completely to Judaism.  But to have a synagogue you need ten men who will meet together to say prayers.  Philippi, it seems, doesn’t have a synagogue.  If there’s no synagogue, then any Jews that happen to be in town or passing through know to meet near the river on the Sabbath to pray.

Paul preaches the Gospel to her.  Her heart is opened to the message that Paul brings to her.  She converts, along with her household.  So Paul, who seemed this time to be on a mission that was going nowhere, meets the woman who will be the at the center of the church in Philippi.  Other churches give him nothing but grief, but the Philippians area  constant source of support for him—spiritually and, importantly, financially as well.  He’s founded a church in what seemed an unlikely place, a place that he probably had no intention of ever going to, but felt compelled by that vision and ended up with a great success story.

There is much to be gained by simply reading this little story of one of Paul’s more important encounters with preaching the Gospel.  There is much to be gained by slowing down and letting the passage speak to us, to hear in a new way the encounter between Paul and this wealthy woman, another Gentile converted to the new faith.  But, there is a significant richness that is added by taking some time to study, to use some easy to find resources to learn about the different pieces of this story.

The first resource that I would highlight is a good study Bible.  A good study Bible has notes—when, how, who wrote the different books of the Bible.  We tend to understand the Bible as a “book.”  In fact, there is a translation that calls itself “THE Book.”  But, the Bible is really a library of books written over the course of many years, by many people, in various locations.  The different books of the Bible have different purposes and intents—some are meant as sacred story and narrative, where God and people are particularly close and are on a journey of some sort, other books are meant to be read as law, some as poetry, some as history, some as prophecy, some as visions of the future, some as the Good News of the Savior, some as letters to large groups of people, one as a private letter to an individual, some we don’t really know much about when it comes to intent or purpose. 

The Bible is a library of books.  And, not one of those books was written originally in English.  So, there are often translation issues and difficulties.  A good Study Bible will illuminate at least some of those.  Neither Hebrew nor Greek is easily translated into English.  And, as I often point out at Bible Study, the New Testament, for instance, in the original, was written all in capital letters with no punctuation or paragraphing.  What you see in the Bible in the differentiation of capitals and small letters, in punctuation, is the work of scholars and those in the business of translation.

In addition, we have NO original copies of any book of the Bible.  We have copies—copies not made by machine, but by scribes.  Some copies are different than other copies.  A good study Bible will sometimes make note of where there are important differences in the copies of a book or letter, or where scholars are not sure or are in disagreement about punctuation, where one sentence comes to an end and another begins, what is meant as a question or a statement, etc.

A good study Bible has maps.  Maps are important, too, to the study of the Bible.  As we see in this morning’s scripture, it is helpful to know where all of those places are, to know that Paul and Silas have traveled far from Jerusalem in spreading the Gospel.

In addition to a study Bible, there are commentaries.  These go a little or a lot further than the notes that you will find in a study Bible, depending on the commentary.  Some are one volume commentaries, with what amounts to an article for each book of the Bible.  Other commentaries offer a volume for each individual book in the Bible.  There’s a lot to be said for most of the books of the Bible.  There is background, history, cultural issues (as in this morning’s story, what was the significance of them going to the river to pray?  What is the significance of purple?), translation problems, etc.

There are also Bible dictionaries.  This is something that I find particularly useful, in looking up a place or a name or a concept, etc.

Are you feeling overwhelmed?  A little intimidated?  All of these books, with lots of words and tiny print.  Where to begin? 

There is much to be gained by not only reading the Bible, but by engaging in some study and some exploring beyond the written word that you read on the page.  Some of you may be wondering, well, why should I have to do this work?  Isn’t that what the minister is for?  Well, even there, I would suggest that there is value to the study that you do for yourself—in the exploration, in the learning on your own, in the unraveling, in the questions and issues that you consider for yourself.

So, when it comes to all of these resources, in their grand volumes and in that tiny print and densely worded prose, I would offer you this: don’t sell yourself short.

You are thoughtful and intelligent and faithful people.  You must be, you chose to come to church here!

In our individual and collective journeys of life and faith, there is value to the study of this book that exists in this central place in our lives.  Just look at where it finds its place in this sanctuary—in this central place, on this pulpit.  It deserves not only honor, but respect.  And to show honor and respect is to find ways of moving beyond the printed word on the page, but to endeavor to understand when, where, how and why these things were not only written but why they have been preserved for so long and why they have found this place of sacredness to our faith.

There is value to our study.  There is holiness to our study.  There is God speaking in our study.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[The information about purple was found at sermoncentral.com in a sermon called “Lydia, the seller of purple,” by Mike Truman.]