Introduction

In the name of God,
World Maker,
Pain-Bearer,
Life-Giver. Amen.

Years back, when I was about twelve or thirteen,
which is not too long ago
I used to stay at Gilstead Road,
Not too far away from the Church of St Alphonsus
but better known as Novena Church

I remember they used to ring bells very often,
early in the morning at about six,
then at about noon-time,
and then at about six.

And I thought what good service
A morning wake-up call to go school
maybe a timely reminder for office workers to get their ass of their chair for lunch
and then a countdown reminder for kids in the afternoon sessions.

I didn’t think it was good service
When I did not have to wake up at six.

So I learnt later
there are actually prayers to be said during these ringing of bells.
During the first set of three rings

“The angel of the Lord brought tidings to Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit”

During the next set of three rings

“behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your words”

During the last set of three rings

“the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”

And after each recollection, a Hail Mary is said.

I will base today’s message on these three prayers.

What does Mary have to do with gay men?
Maybe you know the answer better.

Instead I’ll be more inclusive,
and remember there are families among us

Instead, I’ll ask another question
far more exciting, far more titillating, far more sensational

What does Mary have to do with the Bible?

“The angel of the Lord brought tidings to Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit”

Do you believe in angels?
It is nice to believe in angels,
especially when they are blonde, tiny,
and come with bows and arrows.

But angels, we know basically refer to messengers
messengers from God.

A messenger of God brought good news to Mary.
Messengers of God have brought good news to God’s people for a long, long time
So brace yourself
for a quick history of how these good news have come about -
a history of the Bible in ten minutes.

History of the Bible

Scene one.

You are gathered around a camp fire
Out in the wide open fields
You are a nomadic tribe
traveling from places to places
searching for a more permanent place to stay

The village elders are telling stories
they are telling stories that you are somewhat familiar with
but these village elders always tell story with a twist

You know the story of how god-Marduk killed his Mother Tiamat
who became a muddle of watery mess
then out of this watery mess Marduk created the world,
the earth, animals, human beings out the violent chaos of a dead body
But the village elders tell it differently –
No mess, no violence,
But God breathed life into a watery mess,
with love, light, with purpose
And God called it good.
Maybe God is good too.

You know the story of how the gods decide to destroy the earth with a flood
and god-Ea decide to warn one of his personal favourite (for no particular reason)
and asked him to build a huge ship and save his family – then came the flood.
The gods promised that they will not flood the earth again,
they learnt their lesson because during the flood
there weren’t any sacrifices – and so they went Hungry.

No! No! Your village elders tell you a different story.
God destroyed the earth with a flood because God is grieved
that the world has become wicked. God saved Noah because he is just!

So many of the early stories began in this way – alternative versions,
alternative versions inspired by a growing sense of what ethics meant,
a sense of what is moral and right.

Many stories contained in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, began in this way,
and there are many original stories,
stories of great heroes like Abraham, Moses, Caleb,
told around camp-fires and passed down the generations.
And from this time period, we have much shorter versions
of what would later be books named Genesis, Exodus, Numbers,
Joshua and Judges.

Scene two.

You have grown from a tribe to a nation-state.
You have chosen yourself a king.
You have settled in a land surrounded by more powerful empires
So, like those things you have been told about being Singapore,
how it is a small island struggling to survive, without resources,
and with huge, big jealous neighbours,

You, nation states of Israel and Judah is just as equally anxious
You try to create a national identity,
identify your core values and beliefs –
One people, One nation, One Israel;
with Judah competing for the name.

King Josiah has consolidated religious teachings
around the centre of Jerusalem,
in the temple.
And the emphasis lie in establishing laws
to create a religious identity
And so books were written and collected
Leviticus, Deutoronomy,
Samuel, Kings, Chrononicles,
books that emphasize on a common religious identity,
on law that you keep to maintain your differences from your neighbours.
Many of these literature that comes from the temple,
Jesus would latter refer to as the ‘laws’.

And then we have the ‘prophets’.
The temple was not the only centre of religious teaching.
There are traveling, influential teachers known as the prophets during this period of time.
Prophets like Nathan, Elijah, Elisha.
And the prophet behind the first part of the book of Isaiah.
And the books of Amos and Micah and Nahum
and Habbakuk and Zephaniah and Hagga and Joel.
These prophets emphasize on right relationship with God,
and insist that the nation must live rightly and justly.
These prophets hold up a higher standards than the law,
they emphasize right living over national identity.

Scene three.

Your nation was destroyed.
You were carried into exile into Babylon.
There was no more Jerusalem temple.
Jeremiah weeps for your loss,
but remind you that you must not lose your soul in foreign lands
Daniel encourage you to persevere in your God-given vocations
in an alien land.
You must remember God,
and turn and turn to God again.
Ezekiel and Obadiah calls you to continue hoping
that God will bring you back again.
The second part of Isaiah speaks of the suffering servant Israel –
beloved of God, who bears the sin of many,
whom God will vindicate.

Scene four.

You are returning home from exile.
You are finally rebuilding the rubbles of the destroyed temple.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah was written to remember these events.
The books of Genesis, Exodus was finally edited round about this time.
It is an awkward period because the temple authorities again focus on the nationalistic identity
and were most particular about ritual and racial purities.
Put away your foreign wives,
in order to keep yourselves pure.
Some people starts to become somewhat disillusioned by the exclusionism.
But the prophets behind the third part of Isaiah spoke out loud and clear.

Arise, shine, for your light as come,
and the glory of the Lord is rising upon you.
For the Lord will arise upon you,
and over you his glory will appear.
Nations will journey towards your light
and kings to your radiance.

And better still.

the foreigner who has given his allegiance to the Lord must not say,
‘The Lord has excluded me from his people’
The eunuch must not say ‘I am nothing but a barren tree’
These are the words of the Lord,
You will receive from me something better than sons and daughters.

The writer of Jonah poked fun at the racist smugness of the some of these biblical authors,
and wrote a story of a foreign country turning to God while the prophet sulks at God’s generosity in forgiveness.
Malachi then demanded that the priests better concentrate on their attitudes or God will purify them with fire.
Through this period, the wisdom books and the Psalms continue to be edited and collected.

But not all exiled people of God returned to Jerusalem.
Some were happily settled in their adopted homes.
the book of Esther was written to remind people that God still protects from in their new adopted homes.
And among these people, another version of the Bible was formed.
Their version of the Bible did not contain materials from the nationalistic pieces related to Ezra and Nehemiah, and included several other books, and another version of Daniel and Esther.
Their version did not become our official version, as we buy it off Christian bookstores, but it was the version used by the early Christians.
One beautiful idea formed by this Greek version of the Bible
was that the Wisdom of God was exiled alongside with the people of God,
and remain with them as God’s very presence.

The author of the Gospel of St John took on this idea when we wrote,

‘In  the beginning was the Lord, The Word was with God, and the Word was God’
‘And the Word dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only Child of God.’

The history of the New Testament follow in similar lines with the history of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Paul and the writers of the letters concern were about the mission of the church,
and the organization of the Church.
Memories of Jesus’ words, like the early Hebrew stories, existed in oral forms.
But the gospel writers form them into different versions to speak to different groups of people.

Then the Christians were exiled from the temple
and the Gospel of John spoke to these Christians who do not belong

‘I will not leave you comfortless…
Do not be afraid, for I have overcome the world’.

By the time when Revelation is written
Christians were rejected from the state.
And like the prophets of God,
the writer of this difficult book
keep edging us to keep faith,
believe in God,
and worship God.

The Angels brought tidings to Mary –
Angels brought good news to God’s people;
a history of the Bible.

Reading the Bible - Contexts

Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
be it done to me according to your word.

People of God through the ages respond to God’ call,
in the context of their culture, their society,
just as they are.

So to understand deeply of biblical texts,
we often have to look into the cultural contexts in which they are written.
because there are often meanings behind the words of the text.

Let me give you an example
Suppose I tell you the story in Luke 1 in this way,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Mary behind a coconut tree.
The Angel shifted to the left said, and said,
‘Hail Mary! full of grace’,
and then shift to the right
‘The Lord is with you”
And continue the conversation in this
left, right, left right position with Mary turning the other direction each time.
You know the extra meaning behind the text.
Especially when there’s a bollywood musical with Mary’s neighbours
dancing around behind her.

Well the context of the story is similar.
You see, this is how a middle-eastern man will normally seduce his suitors.
I read about this,
I didn’t experience it.
You see, a man will corner a woman when she is alone.
She may put up wild show of resistance at first,
but once she allows him to touch her,
she will give in, and readily become his.
So notice how Mary is cornered by an angel,
and finally give in with a “let it be to me according to your word’.
Which is really, “as you like”
And the duty of the man is to emcompass her, to take her in
and protect her for the rest of his life.
“The power of the most high will overshadow you.”

Notice how Luke is telling us of a love story.
A love story of how God seek to protect Mary
as the plan unfold for the redemption of the world.

Also consider the context of the story.
In the temple tradition, the relationship between God and Israel
has primarily become a contractual one.
Israel will keep God’s word,
and God will continue to be Israel’s God.
Scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.
And this keeping of God’s word
becomes popularly reduced to 2 rules –
stone on the Sabbath,
and make sure you’re cut.
So two dimensions there,
keep God’s word,
God keeps the nation safe.

But Luke tells of a different relationship.
Luke tells of a relationship between an individual and God
rather than a state and God.
And Luke speaks of that relationship in a different way,
God seeks out our souls,
and we surrender ourselves to the word of God.
Notice how the word of God is no longer a distant object
a legal contract,
but a dynamic response between our lives to the will of God.

To arrive at such an understanding of the Bible,
we will need extra information in the text.
Often Study Bibles will be important.
A good translation will be important too.
You can find an accurate translation
in the New Revised Standard version,
or the latest NIV if you prefer a more evangelical slant.

The Oxford Annotated Bible is a good Study Bible,
or a Harper Collins Study Bible.

But let’s face it,
carrying a thick bible around with you
as your leisure reading,
you may not have many friends left.

Even if you do not have much time to study the Bible,
do read it in a translation that speaks to you,
and I recommend Eugene Peterson’s ‘The Message’

And I am going to recommend two ways of reading the Bible
that is easier to handle,
without need to use many reference material.

The Bible is written in different texts types, or genre
that has remained pretty consistent throughout all human literature.
- the written methods with which we respond to the messages of God.

The first class are legal documents and persuasive pieces, like sermons
and letters. These are pretty straightforward and I won’t touch on them today.

The second types take the form of poetry, and the third type the forms of stories.

How do we read poetry?
First look for them.
They look a bit different in your bible –
lines broken up in chunks
instead of texts of double column

might be a bit difficult if you are using the King James Version.

The first thing you do with poetry
is to imagine yourself as the listener
and try to see, and hear what the listener sees and hear.

Arise – you are deep asleep.
someone is waking you up.
Shine – is there this light coming out from you?
Are you beaming?
For your light has come – what light?
You look around.

For darkness shall cover the earth,
   and thick darkness the peoples;

All is dark, it is still night. But something is happening.
You can feel it in the air.

but the LORD will arise upon you,
   and his glory will appear over you.

You are starting to see something. What do you see?

Nations shall come to your light,
   and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Whoa. But is this what you are looking forward to?
Is this the thing that satisfy your heart?

Wait a minute –

Lift up your eyes and look around;
   they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
   and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.

Yes, this is the thing that you have been waiting for –
the one thing that satisfy you.

Then you shall see and be radiant;
   your heart shall thrill and rejoice.

There good news for you, you
Mother Jerusalem,
Your kids are coming back to you.
The kings are the extras.

Next thing to do with poetry is
to focus on the pictures that they paint.

Arise, shine; for your light has come,
   and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
   and thick darkness the peoples;

Have you ever been awakened from a dream in the middle of the night.
Waking up to emptiness, darkness?
What is darkness? The night of despair?
And then find dawn slowly breaking.
Beauty of the day coming to light?
Beauty of the day? We’re talking about a whole caravan
a huge party happening right at your doorstep.
How is it like to be warmed by a surprising hope
that happens before you catch your breath?
A moment of loneliness that suddenly gives way
that you have no time to figure out how the respond –
appropriately.

The final thing to do with poetry is to look for connections in the pictures that they paint.

Arise, shine; for your light has come,
   and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

The next lines build on this by contrast.

For darkness shall cover the earth,
   and thick darkness the peoples;

It is a remembering of darkness that makes our day more bright.
We will not remain in the dark.

but the LORD will arise upon you,
   and his glory will appear over you.

What is this glory?  The next line builds on it by explanation

Nations shall come to your light,
   and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Is this enough good news for you? The next lines elaborate and extend.
 
 Lift up your eyes and look around;
   they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
   and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.

Have you thought of that? The glory of God?
What is this glory? Bright fireworks?
Angels appearing around you?
Isaiah explains that this glory of God is home-coming
Glory of God – homecoming

What do you see in the sign outside the church entrance?
Just a ‘Welcome home?
No, more than that –
the Glory of God.

There was this time when some of us were having a prayer meeting,
praying for the concerns of this church.
And you know how sometimes I can whine about this and complain about that.
And while we are whining and sharing,
Foo Keong said

‘Hey, for all our complaints,
we must not forget that
this is a place
where many of us have come home’

Home- Glory of God.

We’ve heard that men in this church aren’t very welcoming to women
our women want something done about it.

Think, in  Singapore organizations,
how often do we hear about members passionately feeling for something?
How often do we hear of members staking out and insisting that this will be a welcoming home?

What do we do?
Set up refugees camp as we try to welcome more women members?
Worry about increasing crime rates as more women come?

Lift up your eyes and look around;
   they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
   and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.

And this is what we can say to our detractors –
hey… bitch about FCC yeah?
As far as we are concerned,
here, people have come home
to the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls.

A quick recap of how to read poetry –

1.  put yourself in the listener’s shoes,
2. imagine what the listener hears and sees.
3. Respond to the pictures created by the poet.
4. Look at how the ideas are connected.

Next stories,
How do we read stories?

Note though I’m using the word in the broadest sense.
I can tell you about my most intimate life-stories
It doesn’t mean they are not true.
Just that I’m telling it to you a achieve a purpose,
from one point of view,
and someone can tell you the same events,
in a totally different version.

We’ll use Luke 1 as an example.

When we look at stories,
we look at the plot –
we look at the problems created,
and how the problem is solved.

The gospel of Luke opens as a good news,
The problem for God is to inaugurate a new era
an era of hope for all people.
How will God accomplish this?
For one, he could send Gabriel
to shed some light on the Roman emperor,
and kick his butt to do something about his empire –

It was supposed to have happened to Constantine.

But was that God’s solution?
God’s solution was to seek cooperation from a woman
in a village insignificant to the empire.
Seek cooperation with a woman!

Where do we look out for the wonderful works of God?
Where do we look for radical solutions to our problems?
The Bible tells us to look for it in the least expected places.

Next we look at the pacing of the story. But first I’ll read to you Matthew’s version of the story.

The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that. Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

That’s it.

But notice how Luke slows down everything.
The angel announce the news – but it is not over yet.
Mary ask a question – but it is not over yet.
The angel give an explanation – it is not over yet.
Mary gives her permission. There.

The point is, how we respond to God matters,
and God slows down to wait for us.
God gives us time to ask questions.
And God waits for our response.
How we respond to God matters,
and it is worth the wait.
The sort of questions we ask matter,
and it is worth the wait.

And so when we read the Bible,
we enjoy God’s patience with us as we take time,
to clarify, to ask question, to believe.

Next we look at the characters.
Who are the major characters that the writer want us to empathize with?
We’re told that there is this character named Joseph, described as
a man descended from David.
Royal bloodline – pureblood, not Muggers.
But wait – he’s only a minor character.
The main character we have here is Mary.
Again it shows us  God’s priority.

It gets more interesting when we consider other minor characters.
Before the passage read out to you,
We were introduced to Zechariah the temple priest.
but who are the actors in God’s drama?
His wife Elizabeth and Mary.
Zechariah was too busy at the temple.

Next we look at the places where the events happened.
Nazareth, not a place in the political map of who’s who.
Then we have Mary traveling to a town in Judea,
to a place described as Zechariah’s house.
But Zachariah is not at home, and so right under his nose,
in his own home, the good news is brought to his wife Elizabeth.

Finally, we consider the writer’s point of view.
Writers write with an attitude, and we have to figure out what this attitude is?
When we put plot, problem, characters, pacing, setting together,
it is easier to figure out the writer’s attitude.
What is Luke’s attitude towards religious authority, towards power, towards politics?
Luke certainly speaks with a strong attitude.
Again, just prior to the passage we just read,
we have Zechariah saying this to Gabriel –
‘ I don’t believe you,
I am an old man and my wife an old woman’
The next thing is, he is struck dumb.
Dumb men.
Luke certainly speaks with an attitude.

So to recap about reading bible story –
consider the problem,
the solution,
the characters,
the places,
and then bring them all together
and interpret the writer’s point of view.

Behold, the handmaid of the Lord,
be it done to me according to your word.

Remember, also,
the Bible is a collection of writings,
in which each generation of writers build on
what previous generations of writers have written,
fresh from their experiences of God.
Therefore, we can find plenty of connectedness
between one text and another text
and learn from these connections.

In the reading from Isaiah, we read of the global homecoming to Jerusalem
“Camels in drove will cover the land,
Young camels from Midian and Ephah,
all coming from Sheba
laden with gold and frankinscene,
heralds of the Lord’s praise’.

In Matthew’s Gospel,
the writer will write of the magi visiting from the east,
bearing gold, myrrh and  frankincense for the Christ-child.
Notice how Luke draws from the story of home-coming to the story of the manger.
Shepherds out in the vast field find themselves home in front of the manger.
Wise men and maybe women leave their homes to find a home far away.
And with the asses and animals, where there are no more rooms in the inns,
God finds a home.

So the Christmas story is a story of home-coming.
And as we move towards Christmas,
may we find ourselves moving home,
to a place of belonging,
where God also belongs.

Interpreting the Bible with our lives

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Just as the word was made flesh,
we must interpret the Bible in the flesh of our experiences
and in the experience of other people.

One of the things about the Internet
is how it facilitates communication
and we can learn about how other people read the bible.
I have much to learn from Ding Guangxun
and he is a communist Christian.
I have much to learn from him,
because he brings a fresh perspective from experience to the Bible
and there are much fresh perspective we can learn from
from Nigeria, from Hong Kong, from anywhere else.
But we don’t have to look so far for fresh perspectives.
We are different enough from each other to give us diverse insights into the Bible.

So I am going to read Luke 1 from a woman I know.
We’ll call her Maria.
Maria was a woman who fell in love with a man,
a married man with children.
The married man later divorce his wife and married Maria.
Maria’s family quite literally disowned her
but later came to grip with the reality.
Maria gave birth to kids.
And one of them turned up to be mentally retarded.

Let’s not romanticize Mary’s ‘Be it done to me according to your word’.
I think Maria will be able to understand the risk that Mary takes,
in a world that stones women to death for adultery
(after all Mary was already espoused to Joseph).
Maria will understand the shame that Mary attaches to herself in that ‘yes’ she said.
Why did she have to travel to Bethlehem with Joseph alone and not with the rest of the clan? Were the rest of the family gossiping? Were they ashamed of the gossiping?
These gossips and family shame issue was Maria’s life too.
When all the joy of child birth in the years to pass gave stress to a life
of raising a child with mental illness, Maria just pressed on.
How did Mary feel when she visited the temple only to have Simeon tell her that because of the child, many swords will pierce her heart?

I think Maria will tell us that
Mary knows all these things,
she pondered all these things in her heart and she carried on with her son,
keeping by him until his last breath,
shamed and naked on the cross.

Maria will tell us that Mary’s life of service
is not easy, she pressed on with no certainty,
only promises that God has taken on himself
to take care of her.

Our life is not easy. But God has taken on himself to take care of us.
No matter what happens, we will have to press on,
even when the signs that we look out for
may not be present,
or may even work against us.
This is faith –
Not certainty, but lots of hope and self-love.

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
In order to read the word with our experiences,
we have to trust our experiences to teach us something about the Bible.
We have to be honest and authentic with ourselves.
And we have to be open to the experiences of others.

Responding to our Reading

 How do we respond when we read the Bible?

The angels brought tidings to Mary.

Do you believe in angels?
Even if you don’t believe in cupids,
you must freshen your imagination
when you read and respond to God’s word.
How you respond to God’s word is just as dramatic
as the moment when God said, ‘let there be light’
because in this new creation of a new world,
God uses you to build his reign.
When you respond to the Bible,
you have to imagine all the angels
waiting, attending to your response.
Awaken your religious imagination when you read God’s word.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.

God’s invitation is gracious,
respond as you are.
You may think you may not be ready,
you may not think you know enough,
But because God is gracious,
God accepts your response here,
no matter how unprepared and messy it can be.

The word is made flesh and dwelt among us.

Let your life be continually reflecting and responding to God’s word.
Let it form your life. Let it give meaning to your life.
With your life, give meaning to God’s word too.

In a while, we will be receiving communion.
In a way it reflects on how we respond to God.

The angels of the Lord brought tidings to Mary.
We will remember what God has done for us,
what Jesus has done for us.
And that demands our response.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it to me according to your word.

God’s invitation is open to us, what ever state we are.
Come, accept God’s promise just as you are.

“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me”.

The Word became flesh.

As we gather around the table,
recognize each other as the holders and bearers of the meanings of God’s word.
And so I say to you…
Hail […] Full of grace.
God is with you.
Blessed are you,
For you hold in your bodies,
the promises of God’s word,
and bear in your souls,
the word of our eternal God.