A Little Monday-Morning Catechism
(from having the History Channel on)


warming up—

Did God make the rock?
Yes

Is God the rock?
No


now the heart of it—

Is the Bible real?
Yes

Is the Bible true?
Yes

Is the Bible story?
Is it myth?
Yes and Yes

Did the things in it happen
(ark and ark and such)?
Why, yes

Is the Bible also metaphor?
You bet
And fable (fabula), allegory,
song, and liturgy

It’s all these things
and more
It’s also real and true
a storybook
a manual for life
by first prescribing faith

Mostly, the Bible is
a story about God and us

How God moved
How everything was made
(and was good
work)
The morally static
cosmos
and then us
and then the sabbath
When God rested
showing us
that we should do the same

It is a special book
A series of books
A book of life
Truth or consequences
A book not without humor
too
(ask Balaam’s ass)
A book that saves
though
like most books
only through engagement

Meaning
read the thing
hear it
try to own it
even with all of its absurdities
that one might think
a holy book
should not have
but this one does

As it is
a book of faith
and love


C L Couch


Photo by Daniel Morton on Unsplash