In the church I attend, each of the three scriptural readings (the psalm is chanted, or read responsively by the attendees), is introduced with “A reading from ___” and then ends with “The word of God.”
The (Christian, Bible-reading) world breaks into two camps of those who believe that every word in the Bible is literally the inspired word of God, and those who do not (the latter bringing up arguments such as “which translation” or “then explain TWO different creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2″ etc.)
For those wish for a statement at a Biblical reading that does not refer to the literal word of God, I offer this simple, yet quite lovely introduction that speaks more of the Holy Spirit:
“Draw near with your heart and soul and mind: hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.”
- Amen
Tags: Creation, Genesis, God's People, Holy Spirit, reading, scripture, word of God
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