At times of prayer the classic structure demonstrated in the examples of Jesus in the Bible includes elements of Praise and Thanksgiving. Very often a prayer includes thanks for "the Word of God," meaning the translations found in whichever publication one relies upon. But thinking back, there was a before the printing press and low-cost or no-cost editions coming out in one's own vernacular phrases and structured into chapters and verses, very often with reader aids like table of contents or index, among other things. In those pre-1500s lifetimes the place to hear or learn the Word of God was in Latin and in a large, imposing building. Of course, the Jewish people committed their oral tradition onto Torah long before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, hence the nickname among Muslims for all three Abrahamic religions, "People of the Book." But until recent centuries literacy was not widespread among these societies, nor were there printed or hand-written materials readily available to practice with. So in all these places and times the prayer to express thanks for "the Word of God" the mental image perhaps was not anchored in a bound volume or other physical artifact; rather the Word was about the message of love and forgiveness echoed again and again in those books brought together to form a Bible.
What about modern people surrounded by many translations and many-times no-cost Bibles: do people with Bibles printed in their own language confuse the published object with the teachings found inked to the paper? Or is the Word of God not tied to the wood-pulp that forms the paper? Among modern Jews there are efforts to recoup abandoned Torah from derelict, damaged, or destroyed temples. And among modern Muslims there is great offense taken when a physical copy of the Qu'ran is harmed or threatened in any way. Relative to both of these adherents, though, the Christians overall seem less concerned when shabby Bibles are recycled or destroyed or abused in some symbolic way. And yet, still at time of prayer there is thanks given for the Word of God, somehow blurring the inky printed lines and the spoken meanings themselves. At least among the faithful and the seekers long ago, there was no confusion between the artifact and the teachings. Whether decorated in gold and precious gems, or threadbare, or even absent altogether except for memorized passages, the Word of God stands on its own.
