Weekly Greeting - September 5, 2025
Wednesday the Bethlehem UMC staff took some time out of our meeting to sign the Bibles that we will present to our third graders this Sunday.
I still remember the first Bible I bought for myself. It was a white Precious Moments Bible with all sorts of sweet stories and reminders inside. Later I would purchase my very first New Oxford Annotated Bible (with the Apocrypha!) for serious work in seminary, but for a time that Precious Moments Bible was my prized possession.
My current collection of Bibles is a motley assortment of gently and not-so-gently used translations ranging from King James to Common English. I love to give Bibles away, so I often find myself looking on my shelf for a favorite only to remember that I gave it to someone else to use — or to keep.
After church on Sunday our third graders are invited to a “lunch and learn” so that they can become more familiar with their Bibles because, let’s face it, Bibles are strange. In what other book do you look up a chapter and verse? And have you read some of those names? It’s easy to be intimidated by a Bible, but my prayer is that our third graders, and all of us, will see our Bibles as a trusted companion, a source of wisdom and guidance, and the best way we have to get to know Jesus (who wants us to know him!) While our Bibles may look intimidating, and while thumbing through them may feel intimidating, they are the gift of our foremothers and forefathers in the faith who encountered God in real and surprising ways, and who wanted us to encounter God as well.
Consider this Sunday’s Bible presentation an invitation to all of us to pull out our favorite Bible and sit awhile in God’s amazing grace!
With gratitude,
Mary Beth