A Bible for the 25th Century

This sermon series BYOS (Bring Your Own Sermon) is going well.  Great discussion after each worship service about the topic.   You can catch audio of the sermons and read the texts on the sermon blog and on the church website.

This week's question is:

What poems, songs, works of art, novels, short stories, movies, cartoons, etc., from the last 50 to 100 years might/should be included in a bible that would be canonized 400 years from now? Why? Extra points for ones that actually do more than echo familiar portions of the current canon.

That is a great question.  I am going to use this opportunity to talk about what I think the function of the Bible has been for the West and for Christianity up to the Enlightenment.   Since the Enlightenment this function has been replaced in part by science.  The church has so far stumbled in its role, reacting to science by either fundamentalism or by attempting to protect the Bible as a "spiritual" or "theological" book.  

The "Bible" of the 25th century is a difficult prediction to make.  But I think what is starting to take shape is a new cosmic origin story that is common to all humanity that is being presented by science. All of the wisdom traditions will have a role in shaping human identity and possibility in this new cosmic story.    Whatever "poems, songs, works of art, novels, short stories, movies, cartoons, etc.," from our time that make the cut and become our sources of inspiration and part of our new mythos will be those that speak to that new reality, identity, and hope.

That is the sermon in a nutshell.  We'll see what happens when I finally put it together!