Today I was blessed to read this paragraph in an e-mail from the Gainesville Catholic Worker House, so I wanted to share it with you in hopes that you may also share in this blessing. I find their description of what it means "to do scripture" very refreshing, freeing, and new. But, as Shane Claiborne likes to say, I have a feeling this is simultaneously a "new and ancient way of life". This way of reading and understanding a religious text like the Bible may seem new and different to me today, but it's quite possible that many people in the past have studied it this way before and will probably continue to do so in the future. Yet somehow certain groups of people manage to live their whole lives without considering the many possibilities... So I'm thankful for groups of people like the GCW family who not only take the time to consider options, but who also care enough to both share what they discover with those around them as well as learn from those - no matter who we are or from where we come - who wish to share their own discoveries. But without further ado, here you are:
"We try to do scripture a little different at the GCW than what some of you may be used to in your churches, from Sunday school, etc. We start with the premise that these stories have something really thought-provoking and life-changing to tell us about the world in which we live. We emphasize that the stories in Scripture are critiques of our own culture and our own society, and the stories that various segments of society try to indoctrinate us with regarding questions about value, meaning, what it means to be human, what our responsibilities are to one another and more. We believe that the story about the Reign of God, which is at the heart of Scripture, is a story which critiques the world we live in–its various systems be they political, economic, religious, etc–and challenges us to live our lives in such a way as to give witness to a deeper reality, an alternative vision of what this world could be."
1 comment:
yes, yes, yes and yes.... what a succinct way to talk about scripture... thanks for sharing some good news. i might have to use it for class on thursday :)
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