THE BIBLE AS THE RECORD OF A DIALOGUE BETWEEN GOD AND HUMANITY.

These reflections use the concept of dialogue to open up Scripture in a new way.

Each Sunday in the liturgy of the Word of the Eucharist, Catholics and other Christians listen to three readings from the Bible. The three-year cycle of readings we use today was introduced in 1994 and was adopted by the Church of England in 2000. The reflections for each year A to C of the cycle should be read after or alongside reading the Bible passages to which they refer. The reflections take the Bible as the record, in various forms, of a loving dialogue between God and humanity. The practice and experience of dialogue in the Catholic Church, since the time of the Second Vatican Council (1963-5), both internally amongst its members and externally in terms of relations with other Christians, members of other religions and of humankind in general, has led to a richer, broader definition of what ‘dialogue’ can mean. This broader meaning is in turn enriched as a result of applying it to a reading of the Bible. The light cast by reading it through the ‘lens’ of dialogue brings into sharper focus, what Christians understand by ‘inspiration’ and ‘revelation’ as the self-revelation of God which also ‘reveals’ our own identity. It may make an understanding of ‘covenant’ in both the Old and New Testaments, more accessible. It may help to provide a different slant on and definition of what is meant by speaking about ‘God’ and ‘creation’, about being human, the articles of the Christian Creed and the mission of the Church in today’s world. Above all perhaps, ‘dialogue’ brings us to the notion of the Trinity as the everlasting dialogue-dance of mutual self-giving of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Humanity and the whole of creation shadows or mirrors this dance here and now, and we are invited to claim our place in it now and hereafter.