This Book is a Lamp!

       The fall of my senior year at seminary, I was approached by one of the professors in the hall.  He said (with a bit of grin on his face) that I should look into getting a new bible before certification interviews began. Seniors had to receive recommendations at these interviews in order to continue with the process towards ordination; without that, one could graduate with a degree but not become a pastor.
       "Why did I need a new bible?" I asked.  I knew mine was a bit ratty but I had received it at confirmation and so even though it had some years of wear and tear, it was special to me.
       He explained that the committee might have problems with my refusing to keep the book of Genesis in the canon of scripture.  When I began sputtering that I didn't know what he was talking about, he told me that my book of Genesis had been turned into the office.  I left him and sure enough, the first section of my bible including the page with my name on it and the entire book of Genesis had come loose from the binding, fallen out, and been turned in that day.  I collected my pages, bought a new bible, and did pass my interview!
       How is your bible?  Do you know where your bible is?  That may be an obvious answer for those of you who have come to read this post with your bible for study and prayer.  When I asked my confirmation students a couple of years ago, they weren't sure.  In fact, most of them admitted that although they had been given bibles as gifts at some point, they didn't remember ever reading them and weren't sure if they could easily find them.
       In an attempt to help change that, we began a new program last year.  Bibles for this year's confirmands were bought and given to family members: grandparents, parents, godparents, or others.  These people then spent the year using the bibles and marking favorite or important passages and writing in them.  Last Sunday after the young people came forward and affirmed their faith, they were given these bibles.  Now in order to find out what had been passed on to them, they would have to open up their bibles and read.  That was the theory.
       Last Sunday I was privileged to see the theory be proven almost immediately.   As soon as they received their bibles and were welcomed by the congregation, the service continued with the offering.  I had a great view of the first row where they all sat and as I watched, they opened up their bibles and began to look through them, read, and to share what they found with each other.  It was wonderful to see those heads bent over their bibles.  I pray that continues throughout their lives.
       They have been given a gift far beyond a book, even a copy of the bible, because the writings and markings in those bibles are also the passing on of the faith from the community of saints.  Those books pass on which verses have been important to their loved ones and have contained words of comfort, hope, wisdom, and joy.  These are not just books but are witnesses not only to God's truth but also to the living faith of those around them.
       That is the true gift of the community of saints, of all the people of faith who have gone before and who surround us now.  If we listen and share with each other, the faith of others forms a scaffold on which our own faith can grow through the years and a shelter when our faith is shaken by the storms of life around us.
       I remember being told that it was wrong to mark in bibles, that it showed disrespect for God's word.  Now I have lived enough that I disagree; I too have spent this last year marking and noting things in my own bible.  Over the years I have discovered what I should have said to that professor (and the committee if it had actually been raised), that my ratty bible with all it's markings and dog-eared pages was evidence of its hard and continual use over the years since my confirmation.  There is more in this book than can be understood in a life-time but open it up and I promise you will find treasure, hope, and above all, love.  Read Psalm 119:103-105.