On opening the Bible

It's a sad fact, that if you've been to church for long enough, you'll have heard sermons which hardly refer to the Bible. If your church likes to undermine the authority of scripture, you'll probably get to the point soon enough where you don't even open the Bible at all. That particular criticism couldn't be leveled at the church in New Zealand my cousin Johnny and his wife Kristy visited last year. They had the privilege of listening to the fourth in a series of sermons on "love". Apparently the preacher had been 

"Really thinking lots, and reading, and really praying, and just thinking what to say... all morning."

But you certainly couldn't accuse them of not having the Bible read. It was. Revelation to be precise. Unfortunately, this was only as part of the preacher quoting at length from John Eldredge's Wild At Heart.

It reminded me of Mark Driscoll speaking at the evangelistic rally, Burn Your Plastic Jesus at the Sydney Entertainment Centre last year. It was a great night. 10,000 people encouraged to consider the real Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. The gospel was clearly explained (unlike in New Zealand) and the challenge clear. One of my few criticisms of the night (and I always have at least one!) was that the Bible was never opened. Surely this isn't good practice - to not even open the Bible. Driscoll quoted the Bible, held it in his hand, even put his finger in between the pages. He motioned to open it a few times before quoting the verse from memory. But physically the Bible was never opened. (Incidentally, I think Driscoll will eventually change this, as he learns so quickly.)

I'm trying not to be a Pharisee about it, but I believe it's good practice to open the Bible. To visually demonstrate that this is God's word; that this is the word of God to you. I've seen it modeled to me that even if every Bible reference is in a preacher's notes, they will still bring their Bible with them, and open it up to the passage and plonk it down on the lectern. Is this a fair expectation? I believe it is a reflection of our conviction that God will do the work to change people by his Spirit, through his word.