And book shops are worse. Novels aren't too bad, but dictionaries are fascinating. How about "Mrs Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words"? Who could resist it? How else would you know what "matutolypea" means? Or a dictionary of the Apocalypse, which shows how various religions and scientists think of the end of the world. And I have to show you this one; it is made lopsided, because it is a history of the leaning tower of Pisa.

What I am leading up to is to say that there is one book which we all know about and which I hope we have all read, at least in part. It is not one book, really, although it often looks like one. It is a whole library of books, a whole bookshop between two covers. It is called, "The Books" because it is a whole collection of books. The Greeks call it Ta Biblia, which means, The Books, but we usually call it the Bible. There are about 64 books in this library - history, myth and legend, poetry and law, books of sermons and letters. There are books which explore the past and the future as well as books which look for meaning in the present. Some are well written and interesting, some are tedious and boring. Some are the work of an author we can name, while others have been written and rewritten by many people over the years. And all these books have been chosen to be part of the Bible bookshop because in every book we can see the Spirit of God at work. The Spirit is often obvious, shining out like a light, but it can be like a river flowing deep underground, a faint murmur under the story, only to be found by digging deep. Many times the readers of these books disagree about where the Spirit is taking us and often we are left puzzling over some difficult passage.

We can go into the library of the Bible whenever we like, but on Sundays, the people who write the Lectionary give us a selection of different readings to look at.

Today we have some Hebrew love poetry from the Song of Songs followed by a poem written by the King of Judah's official poet. The second reading is from a letter written to the early church, while the final reading is part of the Gospel according to Mark. The Gospels are not like any other book in the Bible. When we read the Gospels, we stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, we hear his words and see how he lived, died and rose again. In all the readings we see how God touches human lives and how we, too, can be touched by the Spirit of God.

When I read the Song of Songs, I love the picture it gives of lovers delighting in each other. It is as if the whole of nature is singing with them. The stag leaping upon the mountains is a real animal and the mountains are real mountains of rocks and trees, grass and trees. God is delighted with the lovers, God's flowers bloom and the voice of God's turtledove is heard in our land. The ripe figs and fragrant vines and the lovers meeting together are the things God loves.

Psalm 45 is a poem written for one of the kings of Judah, and, according to the poet, this ruler is blessed by God. We don't know which particular king it is, but he is blessed with good looks and fair speech. He is a king who loves righteousness and justice, a ruler who will be good for the land of Judah. The luxury that surrounds the king implies that the whole kingdom is prosperous and peaceful, trading with nations as far away as Ophir. The writer wants us to know that God delights in beauty and prosperity, in the good things of life, but only when their foundation is justice, mercy and righteous deeds.

The next two readings bring this idea into a sharper focus. In the gospel we see Jesus in one of his many clashes with the religious authorities, the Pharisees and the scribes. The argument is concerns the rules about food, what you were allowed to eat and how you had to prepare it. Jesus and the authorities also disagreed about the Sabbath regulations, what you were or were not allowed to do on the Sabbath. Jesus point is this, if people are full of fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness and all manner of evil, then the detail of religion is dishonest and ungodly. I believe that Jesus would condemn the Anglican Church which spends so much time arguing about who is allowed to be ordained. Jesus is far more concerned about what the church does than about what its rules and regulations are. If the church practises exclusion and prejudice, then it is wrong, no matter how much it argues. If the church is full of politics and intrigue, double dealing and party spirit, then it is wrong, however much it talks about God.

All these words that we put into our mouths, says Jesus, are like the food we eat which goes straight through and gets flushed down the sewer. These are strong words. If the church is full of deceit, envy, slander, pride and folly, you might just as well flush it down the toilet.

In his letter, the apostle James says the same thing, but rather more politely. "If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless." There is no doubt that God delights in our worship. It is wonderful and godly to gather together, to sing God's praises, to listen to God's word and to share the body and blood of Christ. This is where the spirit of God may truly be found. True worship is strengthening, life changing, inspiring. James says that we have been given new birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of God's creation. We are here to allow God to change us. God's Word, coming to us in Scripture and Sacrament, has the power to save our souls. To use Jesus' idea, God's Word, with a capital W, is a cleansing diet for our hearts, flushing out all the evil intentions that Jesus talked about, creating religion which is pure and undefiled before God the Father. James gives as his example of pure and undefiled religion, care for orphans and widows and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

As we allow God to work in our community we will find two things happening. The first is that good fruits will multiply and flourish. Love, acceptance, affirmation; support and care for each other, community building, a welcome for strangers, generosity for the needy, compassion for the sick and mercy for sinners.

The second thing is that our church will be transformed. Our worship will fill us with joy and delight as God's Holy Spirit dances among us. I think of the lovers in the Song of Songs; the music and the feasting in the palace of the righteous king.

St Luke's church is built on a hill. Jesus says that a city built on a hill cannot be hidden - with God's spirit at work within us St Luke's will more and more become an example of true religion, religion pure and undefiled before God the Father.