Sitting in my small group study last night, listening to the responses to the question, “Is the Bible to be taken literally or figuratively?” , I drifted off into my own imaginings.  Understanding that the Bible is a collection of stories, written as inspired by God, the tales  passed from family to family, clan to clan, tribe to tribe before ever making it onto a scroll, I swing towards mostly taking in the greater lesson.  I read the words and allow God to do the interpretation at any given time. I put most of my stock in the “Jesus said” parts, figuring I can’t go wrong there.

Of particular interest is all the stories of big sinners whom God found purpose for in His kingdom. These are my people. This is my story. I hear it said often that the Bible is the Living Word. What I don’t hear is that we are living out the next chapter, the next installment. During class I began to imagine the next edition of the Bible, the one that is gleaned from our Facebook posts, our twitter feeds, our Instagram pictures. What if that tells future generations how we walked, stumbled, got up again in choosing to follow God? What if someone gathered our ITunes, Pandora or Spotify playlists as Psalms, would these be the songs we sing to the Lord?  Who are the prophets of our time, false and true, who do we follow and how do we know which are which? We have conventional wisdom, changing with the wind, is that our Proverbs?  Is what we are living out worthy of saving for our children’s children? Will they learn from us, grow in hope, gain wisdom from our choices? Will they find inspiration from our struggles and the way we turned to God in the darkness or only see that we wandered without looking for the Light?

I began to see that I AM the next chapter of the Bible. I have the advantage of reading the current guidebook but must remember that others are reading my life the same way and will do so in the future. I am and will be judged on my ability to seek God in all things. My everyday choices will tell those who come after me whether my story is of one of a Pharisee or a good Samaritan, a Judas or a Peter, a blind sinner named Lisa or Lisa, God’s humble servant, filled with sin but covered in grace. I am living out Bible 2.0, the next edition. How it is written is up to me.