I saw an ad this morning for “stylish Bibles to brighten your spring” and it made me shudder a little. No, really, it did. At one point I had about ten Bibles in my home, and that’s in addition to the app I had on my phone. At that time in my life I might have bought a pretty, flowery, “stylish Bible to brighten my spring” with the hope that all those blossoms and “adult coloring pages” would make me take it more seriously. Ooh…it is pretty so I would pick it up and read it – or at least carry it places so it looked like I was reading it. If I were honest.
A few years ago my paradigm shifted a little. I remember when I was beginning my life among refugees from the country of Burma. There were languages that I was fascinated by and I wanted to learn. I went to one of the churches almost every week and my friends were so patient with me as I tried to learn “good morning” and “thank you” and a host of other phrases! Then I wanted to learn grammar and I decided that if I could learn Scripture that would help me.
I searched the internet and found that I could get the Bible in a version of the language very similar to theirs on my Bible app. I downloaded it and began to memorize verses to share. Eventually I wanted a “hard copy” of the Bible so I asked my friends where I could get one. The pastor found me a copy I could buy. Only today, as it sits on my shelf, I feel guilty for my selfishness. That Bible in the Zo language was a “stylish” Bible for me, to them it was a sacred book that brought them out of darkness into a glorious Light. But for me, unless I pick it up and put it to good use again, it is just another book on my shelf.
A few years after this I was working with the Karenni people (a different language and ethnic group) of Burma. I learned that they only had the New Testament in their language. Their language is beautifully written in a non-Latin script that many of their people did not even know how to read or write because for centuries it had been an oral language. The depth and magnitude of the work of Bible translation began to settle on me. If I wanted to, I could buy one of these New Testaments on Amazon today for $79.99 plus shipping. It is not very “stylish,” but it is definitely sacred.
A couple of years ago, one of the young Karen men I work with got himself in trouble and was sitting in jail. I would go and visit him and we would talk about different Bible stories. I would make copies of the stories from a Bible in his language and I would hold it up to the screen so that he could read it while we were talking. One day he asked me if I could bring him the Bible in his language. The next day I called the jail and asked about the protocol for this. I was told that the Bible would have to be purchased and delivered through Amazon. Of course it wasn’t available on Amazon. So after I did the research, I called the chaplain at the jail and explained the situation. He made arrangements for me to hand-deliver the Bible to one of the guards who would go through the Bible for security and then give it to my friend.
Now the task was to find a Bible! The younger people have an app with this particular Bible, but my friend could not have his phone in the jail. Most of the families have only one copy of the Bible that the whole family shares. So I went to his mother’s house and told her his request. She went to the bedroom and came back with a book that you could tell she had faithfully used. It had places on the cover that were worn smooth by her hands. It was tattered around the edges and a little dirty letting me know that this Bible had probably travelled with them as they fled Burma. One thing I knew for sure…she was giving me a treasure and it was a sacrifice… for her son.
I drove to the jail that night with the Bible riding in the seat beside me. As I was walking the 1000 feet from my car to the door of the jail that Bible felt like it weighed 100 pounds in my hands. I wept as they called for the guard and I handed over that Bible. It wasn’t “stylish” but it certainly was sacred.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I really have nothing against pretty Bibles. I do believe that we may have lost sight of the marvelous truth that this sacred book has been passed down to us through the centuries…through famine and plagues and desolation and war. And as I think of those around the world who still do not have the Bible in their language, I am inclined to hold mine a little more carefully, a little more tenderly, a little more like a sacred treasure than a “stylish” book.