Sacred Text

I want to be clear.
I love the Bible.
I have been and continue to strive to be a student of this text.
I am challenged by it.
I am encouraged by it.
I am confronted by it.
I am angered by it.
I often find myself in its pages and its often conflicting and complex words.
I discover the divine through the stories of the people whose lives, journeys, and mistakes are recorded there.
I feel the echoes of the cries of the oppressed, imprisoned, marginalized, hungry, and needy in the poetry and songs.
I meet the Christ who calls us toward one another, the outcast, the left behind, the wounded, the weak in its pages.
I feel the Spirit of God move in, move out of, move within, and move through these pages.
But I also want to be clear on this:
This text is not a toy!
This text is not a prop!
This text is not vehicle to garner popular support!
This text is not to be used to proof text a point!
This text is not to be used as a hammer!
This text is not to be used as a tool of division and hatred!
This text is not to be used as a photo op for self-righteous gain!
This text is sacred.
It is sacred not because of the words on the page but because of the God toward whom the text itself points.
It is sacred because it calls us toward love, mercy, justice, and righteousness.
It is sacred because God is revealed therein.
Be careful with this text.
There is fire in its pages;
a fire that will consume all you thought you once knew;
a fire that will cleanse and purify;
an unquenchable fire that will light the way and ignite a passion deep within the soul.
It saddens me that this text has once again been used as a part of political theater.
Using the text in this way cheapens its message and violates its purpose.
As a student of the text,
I am angry, frustrated, and sad.
We must demand better.
We must be better.