Christmas advertising is in full swing right now. Companies are hopeful for a bit of a bump and rebound from the economic difficulties of the last year. Some parents are desperately searching for the “hot” toy – a mechanical hamster that randomly moves. It’s another toy that will fascinate a child for about 20 minutes before it’s set aside in favor of something else. On this Thanksgiving Eve, I find myself posing the question, “Of the things that I have, what are the ones that really have value and meaning?”

The TV we bought just in the nick of time for the Beijing Olympics may be monetarily valuable and functionally pleasing, but it has no real value for me except that there’s a good story attached with it (our old TV broke down 90 minutes before the opening ceremony and we rushed to Best Buy, made a quick decision, and had figured out how to hook the new TV up with 2 minutes to spare!) There all sorts of things in my house that I couldn’t resist buying and which are now just stuff cluttering a shelf or closet, waiting for a trip to Good Will.

So what makes something more than a thing? I have been thinking about this for a while. And I have been thinking about a few things and who I might “pass them on” to someday. There’s a book and a picture given to me from my father. Buried in my closet is a bulky winter sweater knitted by my mother (that I haven’t worn in over 40 years). And what about the small antique trunk that was given to me simply because my name is Andrew, having been named after Anders, my great-grandfather who immigrated from Norway almost 140 years ago?

I would guess, that as your thoughts drift along these channels, you will find yourself also recognizing that the things that have real meaning and value for us are often not those that have monetary value. They are ones that carry with them a good story, a relationship, a part of our history, and a sense of meaning. And as gifts are given, we give thanks for the people that have made this true for us.

Lutherans have historically held that scripture is inspired and that it is authoritative for all matters of faith and life. But is that really the heart of what God intends scripture to do for us? I believe there are problems for us if we lose sight of the most important purpose of scripture – namely, to draw us more deeply into relationship with God through the telling of faith stories through the ages, particularly the story of Jesus. Inspiration and authority are outgrowths of this relationship, and are both shaped by this relationship.

Here are a couple challenges that inspiration and authority create for us:

1) Is all scripture equally inspired and to be taken with equal authority? The ELCA’s debates and actions regarding sexual orientation demonstrate this challenge and also demonstrates the proclivity of people to have preexisting opinions on life’s issues and secondarily interpret scripture accordingly.

2) To declare the authority of scripture on any given issue necessitates my articulating what scripture has to say about that issue. Thus, I become the judge of the authority of scripture. On what basis do I ignore certain parts (like Jesus’ rather narrow parameters for remarriage, or Paul’s conclusion that women should be silent in the church) and declare that other parts are to be universally applied (like Jesus’ teaching about loving one’s enemy, or his insistence on forgiving others)? The real problem here is that I might develop the mistaken notion that scripture is for my use – that I am in control – rather than understanding that scripture is for God’s use in fostering relationship with and discipleship in me.

It is important to remember that as God reaches out to the human part of creation, God became particularly present in the person of Jesus. Our understanding of God and our application of God’s intent for creation is therefore best understood through the life and teachings of Jesus. We find his story in scripture. We read it as past event and present reality. As best as we are able and as God gives the ability to do so, we put on the mind and heart of Jesus in how we live our lives and how we integrate scripture into our daily life. Jesus becomes the lens through which we read and interpret scripture. And while that may lead us to have different tiers of inspiration and authority in our assessment of scripture, we remain humble in our discernment because we remember that God is God, and scripture is one of God’s ways to help us be a disciple of Jesus.