Recently I was talking to a student worker who was trying to do bible studies with art students. It was proving difficult he said because ‘they don’t do words’. These students were confident in their ability to express themselves in visual forms but believed they could not relate to the written word. This belief seems to be increasingly pervasive - words are difficult and in the age of multi media it is visual presentation that matters.
How can we expect a generation glued to their mobile screens, used to fast cutting film techniques and YouTube to feel at home in front of an open bible? Do we need them to? Perhaps we could just present the gospel in new ways and admit that bible study as we have known it is outdated and old fashioned.
This Christmas many of us will hear the words of John’s gospel read aloud:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Jesus is described as the Word of God. He came in the flesh to reveal God to us. He did not come to present a dissertation on systematic theology (that would have been inaccessible!). No, he came in a way that made him accessible to all. He acted and spoke words that were challenging, provocative and wonderful. He lived among us, and he died for us. He showed us the way to life through his life and death and resurrection. When we read the bible we are not just engaging with cold academic words on a page instead we are confronted with a living person who has an authoritative message to share. In the gospel we are taught the way to God through this person, through his story. In the gospel God’s Spirit works to reveal Jesus to us. The bible is so much more than just words and yet it is given in words. These word point us to the revelation of God to man and speak to us today. If there is a generation that does not do words the solution is not to avoid them but to really read them together, point them to the glory of Jesus as seen in the written Word. We must do words because our God is a speaking God and if we reject words we will not be able to hear God.
So how should we respond to these art students who don’t like reading? We need to pray and work even harder to open up God’s word to them, patiently helping them discover God’s voice in its pages.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
What a truth to meditate upon this Christmas!