Letters From Home

I don't know about you, but the preponderance of mail that we receive these days are political ads (propaganda?) that for the most part go straight into the recycle bin. But from time to time a personal letter or note finds it way and a flit of joy comes to our hearts. Some of you remember pre-digital days when a loved one would correspond via letter. How treasured those letters were! Perhaps you even have some still spirited away.

In a sermon on Psalm 91, Augustine rather famously commented that, "The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home." Like the sojourners and exiles that we are, we yearn for a word from home, a word our Father sends us in the Bible. I appreciate Augustine's focus on the personal nature of the Scriptures, lest they become too much like a textbook. Likewise, Martin Luther in his Preface to the OT, said, "The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid." Luther would go on to explain how to look into the Scriptures is to look into the very heart of God, for they reveal His mercy, His justice, and His unfailing love. Perhaps standing on the shoulders of folks like Augustine and Luther, J.I. Packer, in his classic Knowing God says, "The Bible is God’s Word to us about Himself and His plan... God’s Word is His commitment to us, revealing His mind and character." Over the ensuing pages, Packer goes on to espouse the notion that to read the Scriptures is to read the mind of the Creator and to feel the heartbeat of His grace.

Every so often it seems good to pause and remind ourselves that the Scriptures are the heartbeat of a loving God for his people. They are not an impersonal collection of truths, or a Rubik's cube to be solved. They are letters from home. Letters from a Father who loves us and wants to remind us that our place at the table is set and we will be joining the feast soon.

It is also helpful to remind ourselves of the heart of our Father as we come to difficult texts or texts that seem at odds with conventional wisdom. This week the word from our Father has to do with marriage (1 Peter 3:1-7). Marriage, of course, is God's great gift to the whole world. It is a gift for those who are married and single, for those who are Christian and not. It is also something that, owing to our fallenness, is incredibly difficult. As Peter continues to lay out the household codes, that Pastor Michael introduced last week, he turns his Holy Spirit inspired gaze to husbands and wives. Again, the reminder, a letter from home. Our Father is telling us: marriage is good; my heart toward you is love; let's talk about how to do this well.