Week #7: Scripture by Pastor Kelle Nelson

Week #7:  Truth in Scripture

It is often assumed that since I am a pastor, I know scripture well. 

Well.  I know scripture.  Parts of it I even know well.  I have a Bachelor’s degree in Religion and a Master’s of Divinity degree from very established institutions.  My long-term relationship to Sallie Mae should tell people how very educated and thus articulate I should be in quoting scripture to you.  But I’m humble enough to say out loud that there are people much better at quoting chapter and verse than me.  No matter how hard I try, that has never been the way that I approached God’s Word.

Scripture for me is the collection of ancestral stories of my people. It isn’t written chronologically, in fact the idea that it is “written down” at all is something that wasn’t even imagined when the stories were first told.  Stemming from an oral tradition, they are the stories that tell us how we came to be, who we are and what our purpose is on this earth. 

The idea of “truth” in scripture for me is interesting.   We live in a world today where everything is fact checked and we have multiple sources that we can draw from to try and understand what really happened.  And while we have some historical understanding with the context and the language behind our scripture, we can’t go to various news sources to see what “really” happened.

I understand scripture to have a definition of truth that is different than how we define what the word, “truth” is today.  Truth, in a scriptural understanding, is not about our facts lining up on the who, what, when and where of how it happened exactly in real time.  Truth in scripture is about the overall message of what is being intended from the story. 

Take for instance the story of Noah’s ark.  Did a man named Noah build an ark so great that two of each animal voluntarily boarded it to survive the flood that God set forth?  Uhm, probably not.  It seems a little far-fetched.  Is this story realistic?  No.  Is this story true?  I think that depends upon how you look at it, and how you understand what truth is.  Because the end of the story, when the flood is over and things are getting back to normal looks like this…

“God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations.  I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh that is on the earth.’  God said to Noah, ‘This is a sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’” (Genesis 9:12-17 NRSV)

And there is the truth I am looking for.  I don’t care how many cubits this supposed boat was supposed to be.  I’m not interested in the conversation of how two of each animal made it on to the ship.  I don’t even care that Noah was supposed to be 600 years old and somehow, he and his three sons took to the task of repopulating the world.  I get it. 

The truth comes to me when I look up into the sky and I see the promised rainbow.  The covenant of that rainbow, that same sign our ancestors saw as well, is what makes me realize what the “truth” is.  Truth is the promise that God has given us to be with us, no matter what. 

Early in my ordained ministry, I officiated a funeral for a beautiful baby boy named Noah.  A baby that came too soon and rocked the world of his parents who were so eager to welcome their first born into the world.  The sudden news of Noah’s lack of heartbeat while still in his mother’s womb that led to her birthing him and never getting the chance to hear him cry or look at them with those amazing newborn eyes stays with me to this day.  I remember as we stood at his graveside his parents just held each other, sobbing.  It was as if one of them let go, both would just fall over. 

I will always thank God for the support they found in each other and the courage they had to take one day at a time.  Today I am grateful for their faith, and for the three children they welcomed into the world since Noah.  I am grateful for their honesty and their willingness to be part of the spiritual community that I call home. 

Whenever I see a rainbow, I think of Noah and his family.  God does not promise us that life will be easy.  But what is given to us in this covenant is the care and attention that is needed when the waters of life rise above our comfort level. 

That is what my ancestors needed to hear.  That is the story that had to be told for people to carry on.  And that is the legacy that carried on in Noah’s family as they figured out what life is like when something you anticipated with all your heart and all your soul gets wiped away from you in a blink of an eye. 

Cubit measurements and DNA aside, there was a message that needed to be taught and understood back then and especially today, and that is the scriptural truth that I hold on to instead of memorizing chapter and verse.  Scripture lives in my heart as the stories of my people; past, present and future.  And it is with these stories that I continue to remind people of a God that loves them no matter what and the promise from that same God to never abandon them – even when the waters rise in life. 

Contributed by:  Pastor Kelle Nelson, St. Paul Lutheran Church