Winning entries for the 'Bible in 750 Words' Competition
FIRST PLACE - Robin Stockitt
At the centre of creation lies a heart beat: tick...tick...tick...tick. At times the beat quickens, during moments of high anticipation, but then it returns to its steady rhythm, without pause, without hesitation, day after day, year after year, unending. It is the pulsing life blood of love flowing from the heart of God towards all that he has made. One day this God will visit his creation in person. He himself will go and participate in the life of humanity. He will laugh and cry, encourage and admonish, educate and confuse, suffer and die, and rise again to the surprise, delight and dismay of the people with whom he lived. But this is to rush ahead to the end of the story.
At the heart of the Bible is a struggle. It is the story of a great drama in which humanity tries to keep in step with the heartbeat of love. Occasionally God and his people walk in harmony, shoulder to shoulder in sweet communion in the cool of the day. It was like this at the beginning for Adam and his wife given paradise to enjoy and guard. And there were holy moments of great intimacy too for Abram, Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah, John and Peter. These were ordinary humans who felt the pull and tug of the heart beat of love upon their souls and responded to it. And yet the struggle to hear and to heed God's voice was often lost by those very same people who, last week, had followed God's insistent call so carefully.
At times the struggle was lost by a whole nation, God's chosen nation, Israel, despite the pleas and warnings of the prophets, God's spokespeople, who bravely stood up in his name. “These people, whom I love to bless”, announced God one day, “will be a vehicle for blessing to spread to the whole world. They are blessed, not because they are more loved, but simply so that others might, through them, discern and enjoy me too”. God took these people, a rag-tag collection of unknown tribes, and through an extraordinary tale of enslavement in Egypt, rescue and deliverance across a harsh and forbidding desert, shaped them into a people that belonged to him. But alas, all too often, the blessing was kept to themselves and thereby it began to decay. The prophets came to call them out of their stupor and stubborn rebelliousness. ‘Trust' called out Jeremiah in the heat of political turmoil. To no avail. ‘Be merciful' declared Micah when the temptation was to be harsh and unyielding. But no-one heard.
And so it continued year after year, king after king, prophet after prophet until one day all God's chosen people were taken away to a distant land - the land of Babylon - where they remained for 70 years, in order that they might learn that mercy is better than sacrifice and love, for God and neighbour, is more important than anything else in the whole world. Those who heard the heart beat and remembered from whence it came wrote down their struggles and heartaches, as well as their joys and times of jubilant thanksgiving. Their prayers and poems were collected together in the Psalms and became a treasured library.
And so God's time drew near. It was the time for his appearing, for his coming to his own people. He called himself Emmanuel, God with us or Jesus, God the Saviour made flesh. He chose to come in disguise, as an infant in an unknown village to a simple peasant girl. He came to those who had lost their way, who had become deaf to the pulsing beat of love, who were blind to the yearning of God for them. This Jesus, God's own Son, would enter their darkness to find them. He would even enter death for them, in order that they might know, that in God's great drama, forgiveness, reconciliation, and a new beginning were available for all. When Jesus rose again after three days, everything became new. God's people were no longer those who simply named themselves, ‘Israel'. Jesus had flung the doors of kingdom of heaven open wide for all to enter. The community that gladly walked through those doors of welcome, called themselves the ‘called out ones' or the ‘ekklesia' or ‘the church' made up entirely of people. The remainder of the Bible concerns the struggle of this new community to understand itself, its relationship to Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth who had come to reveal God to them and to tell them all about the heartbeat that never stops. It is an unfinished story
Tick...tick...tick---tick
SECOND PLACE - Richard Briggs
A wandering Aramean was my father. He went down into Egypt, to and fro about the walls of the great city, ferrying household gods to distant parts, and handed down a tale to be told every year at the festival of weeks. Agrarian nomads were we, spinning tales of escape from slavery, of miraculous intervention through sea and desert, meeting up with other clans whose gods were also enthroned in powerful myths of long-distant familial strife and the cosmic calming of chaos. We settled into a dispersed confederation of tribes, a loose amphictyony indeed, trickling into a green and pleasant land, with the occasional hot-head judge rallying us around. Then the prophet Samuel inducted Saul as king, with grave misgivings, while David transformed Salem into his outpost of monarchy. It didn't last: the line split this way and that, and spokesmen of Yhwh, a heretofore little noticed warrior God of El's pantheon, suggested that (a) ethics and (b) monotheism would sort us out. We toyed with it: some were keen, and urged cult-centralisation as the key, while others set up ecumenical committees under every green tree. The Deuteronomists tried to consolidate the new orthodoxy, using the tried and trusted Marxist methods of seizing the means of production, and issued a brand new prototype ‘book of the law' in the reign of Josiah, performing several public readings to rapt response. But before you knew it the Assyrians and Babylonians had scattered us all around the fertile crescent. Exile. The glory of the Lord was seen back-pedalling out of the temple, the city lay deserted, and we struggled to write edifying songs in a strange land. If only we had worshipped more zealously. If only we hadn't intermarried. And then suddenly, Cyrus was sending us back, into the lion's den once more. While Nehemiah reconstructed the city, Ezra reconstructed our heritage, published a new 5-book special edition of the traditions, and gathered a large number of other scrolls in honour of the ‘prophets'. After that it was Ptolemies and Seleucids hacking up the land until the trashing of the temple in 167BC, whereupon the Maccabean resistance opened up new possibilities of Israelite self-determination. These we contested into and through the Roman occupation, looking for a wide range of messiahs to meet the ultimate parish profile, until Jesus of Nazareth arrived proclaiming the year of the Lord's favour, clearing out the temple, and enacting the blessing to the nations which, before Abraham was, I am, ungrammatically, but pointedly. The lame were seen walking, by the blind, who were now seeing. It was chaos: was this the one who was to come, or were we waiting for another? And then he threw himself at the mercy of Pilate's Jerusalem, and the wheel of history turned, and crushed him. Betrayed with a kiss, by those he came to save. Crucified, dead and buried. Except then he wasn't: the women went to the tomb and they saw angels, and then it all gets very confused, except for this one thing: no body. And the other thing: he started appearing to people again. And then he was gone, just before the tongues of fire started appearing, and revival broke out at Pentecost. For a brief glorious period there was church growth with no committees. Saul didn't like it, thinking this was just the kind of in-house factionalism that would compromise the requisite purity of the house of Israel, so off he went to Damascus to raise hell, but ran into the blinding light of heaven, and his heart was more than strangely warmed. Reconstructed as an apostle to the Gentiles, and with the zeal of a convert, which some said he was, he set about constructing a new gospel of faith not works, later refined to covenantal nomism, and with a narrative substructure to die for. Other Jesus followers, encouraged by their local communities, thought it worth setting the record straight with gospel accounts of his life and deeds. Luke tried to hold it all together with some mediating revisionist history, and as the Roman Empire co-opted the whole known world into the imperial cult, the story fragmented off into disparate attempts to respond to persecution. And now I too am a wandering apocalypticist, dreaming of the tree of life from before the world began, and wishing that Jesus would indeed have come back soon, as he promised, though Peter once told me that a day is like a thousand years. What a day it has been.
THIRD PLACE (tied) - Robin Thomson
The Bible is the story of God's relationship with his world, in four stages.
It begins with creation: a breathtaking picture of one world, very good, with human beings placed there to care for it and live in relationship with God.
This beautiful creation is spoiled by the fall. Human beings choose to disobey God and go their own way – the first sin. Sin spoils every relationship and spreads everywhere, resulting in the further judgements of the flood and the tower of Babel.
Has God's plan failed? The focus changes to zoom in on one individual whom God will use for his purpose of redemption, over many centuries.
God gives Abraham a command - ‘Go!' - and three promises - land, descendants and blessing to all nations.
Abraham's descendants end up as slaves in Egypt. But God rescues them dramatically. He reveals his name and character as Yahweh to their reluctant leader Moses, brings them out of Egypt, and claims them as his covenant people – Israel. He will be their God and they will be his people, holy (belonging exclusively to Yahweh) and priests (mediators to the other nations). They will be a model community, demonstrating Yahweh's character and purpose in every aspect of life, spelled out in his laws.
The 12 tribes of Israel – grumbling and unbelieving - go through testing in the wilderness and finally enter Canaan. The initial waves of conquest under Joshua run out into the chaotic period of the judges. There is no central authority to keep them together and distinct from the surrounding society, with its debased ethical practices.
Yahweh allows Israel to have a king. Saul begins well but ends badly. David is the ideal, extending Israel's boundaries, administering justice and acknowledging Yahweh, despite disaster in his personal life. His son Solomon, extraordinarily rich and wise, surrounded by women, builds the Temple in Jerusalem.
The psalms express the people's prayer and praise, while the wisdom writers reflect on life as they observe it.
Solomon's brilliance masks underlying tensions and after him the kingdom divides. North (Israel) and south (Judah) are constantly at war, constantly under pressure to assimilate to the surrounding nations. Both fall prey to idolatry and syncretism, injustice and social division, relying on political and military manoeuvres rather than faith in Yahweh. He judges both by sending them into exile: Israel under Assyria (722 BC) and Judah under Babylon (586 BC).
The prophets bring Yahweh's perspective on the nation's life. They focus on inevitable judgement but also restoration. Beyond that they look for a deeper relationship with Yahweh that will penetrate inside people's hearts and transcend national and cultural boundaries.
Judah is restored by the Persian king Cyrus. A small group returns and rebuilds the Temple. Ezra and Nehemiah help them to maintain their identity, waiting for God to intervene with his anointed king and restore their past glory.
Four hundred years later he comes: the Galilean prophet Jesus heals, casts out demons and preaches God's kingdom. He gathers a group of disciples and large crowds follow him. But he does not appear to fulfil people's expectations. The authorities find him a threat and collude with Rome to have him executed by crucifixion. Three days later he rises from the grave and commissions his disciples to bear witness to his resurrection and call all to repent and receive his forgiveness.
Jesus ascends to heaven and the Holy Spirit is poured out at Pentecost. He makes Jesus' presence real and forms his followers into the true Israel, inheritors of the promises and commission, at the heart of God's purpose.
The church grows outwards from Jerusalem, first restricted to Jews but then opened to Gentiles. This creates deep division but the leaders agree that Gentiles do not have to submit to Jewish cultural requirements, opening the Gospel to people of any background. Jesus' followers are organised in local groups modelled on the Jewish synagogues. Peter, Paul and other apostles, teachers and prophets visit these churches and write letters, explaining the implications of the Gospel, answering questions, correcting false teaching and encouraging them to continue.
The last book of the New Testament reveals the great spiritual conflict behind the increasing persecution of the early Christians. It looks forward to God's final victory, judgement and the new creation. The promise of blessing to the nations is fulfilled as they gather around God's throne. Peter has already called this the establishment of ‘new heavens and a new earth, characterised by righteousness'.
THIRD PLACE (tied) - Veronica Zundel
First, a new world. Then, the garden; and humans to care for it. In God's image, every one of them; yet they think they need more. The fruit they think will raise them, becomes their fall.
Exiled, humans invent and imagine, but also murder and manipulate. God, tired, tries starting again. Noah and clan sail away from destruction. But humans still suffer from hubris. A tower to reach the skies? No, a confusion of tongues. Now humans understand one another, and God, even less.
What will God do? Call a new people to be a light to the world. Now for their story. Abram, renamed, goes travelling. A land is promised - but not for long this time. There are children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. Jacob's brood are many, but only one dreams. Escaping from jealous brothers, Joseph lands in Egypt: first on his back, then on his feet. Jacob and brothers follow.
The tribes grow strong, but are enslaved by ‘a king who knew not Joseph'. They need a new leader. God sends a stutterer and rebel; but there are others to help. After many struggles, the Jews are out of Egypt; the Egyptians die following. Celebration!
But the land is still to be reached and conquered. A moody brood wanders in the wilderness. They rarely do what God wants; even after Moses unveils the commandments. A golden calf is easier to worship than God! Forty years till Joshua arises to lead them in. There is more killing (was this really what God wanted?). Most of the land is claimed for Israel; but still there is chaos; the leaders almost as bad as the people.
‘Give us a king like the rest!' they shout; surely permanent military security is best. ‘You won't like it,' warns Samuel, prophet and judge. But he gives them Saul; and indeed, they don't like it much. David follows, then Solomon; but a king with blood on his hands, then one with pagan wives, are doubtful guides. Judah has its temple, but the nation is divided. Years of good and bad kings follow. Few do as God directs.
Prophets arise, to warn and comfort; but mostly the former. Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many more to come. They begin to warn of northern enemies, of a coming exile. Still few listen. Josiah and Hezekiah bring in reforms, but still the exile threatens. Finally, Israel falls to Assyria; and within a hundred years, Judah to Babylon. Jerusalem the great is fallen, fallen; how will she ever rise again?
Exile is a bitter pill; poets add psalms of lament to those of trust. Scribes begin to gather the history books and the prophecies. Will there ever be a return to the land? Miraculously, Persia conquers Babylon; and the new superpower allows the return of deported peoples. The Jews, small, straggling and vulnerable, return to restore their land. Walls and temple gradually rise. Prophets return to encourage and warn. The later glory is not as the former. When will Messiah come to restore Israel fully?
There are times of conquest, times of freedom, and times of conquest again. Greece and then Rome dominate. Who will save God's people?
The answer comes with an obscure Jewish baby, native of an obscure town. Announced by his prophet cousin, Jesus appears from nowhere, proclaiming a new kingdom; but few follow. Those who do are labelled as undesirables; though many wonder at his healings and teaching. A troublemaker to the authorities, he is eventually caught and executed. End of the story? No, for three days later there are reports of sightings. Can even death defeat this man?
No longer afraid and disappointed, disciples become apostles, telling the world that their leader is still with them. The Holy Spirit breaks out, and the church is born. Persecution only leads to more proclamation. Even table-servers become martyrs witnessing to the truth. Then - who would believe it? - the chief persecutor becomes the chastened convert. Saul, now Paul, travels the known world, preaches to Gentiles, founds churches, writes letters of advice. Others are inspired: leaders have visions, the church holds council, and suddenly following Jesus is multinational. Everyone speaks well of their goodness and mutual love. Pastoral letters become new Scripture.
Don't forget the persecution, however; there's more. Exiled John has further visions: of the church triumphant against all obstacles - not by force, but by love. A new creation, new humans, living for ever. From a garden to a city, radiant with light. One day it will come true. |
Basket is empty
Cambridge Website Design | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Statement | Copyright © 2005 - 2010 Grove Books | Home Business