Month: January 2025

“I swear on a stack of Bibles…”

Having watched the inauguration and seeing Mrs. Trump hold two Bibles for her husband (one given to him by his mother, the other belonging to Abraham Lincoln), but Mr. Trump not putting his hand on either of them while he was being sworn in as President, I’ve been thinking about Bibles and how we use them in public settings.

There is no requirement to use Bibles for anything in public life. George Washington used one, but Thomas Jefferson did not. Neither did Teddy Roosevelt or Calvin Coolidge. John Quincy Adams used a book of law. Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, George H. W. Bush, and Obama each swore the oath on two Bibles. Biden’s Bible had been in his family since 1893.

Members of Congress do not use a Bible for their official swearing in, which they do en masse. However, many of them have a second, unofficial swearing in while holding a Bible, mostly as a photo op. Same goes for members of the Supreme Court. If you are called to give testimony in a court you are not required to place your hand on a Bible, though some do give you that option.

We all remember June 1, 2020, when Trump gave a speech from the Rose Garden encouraging governors to use National Guards to rule the streets and quiet protest, or else he would send in military power to do it, then walked to St. John Episcopal Church and held up a Bible for people to take photos. He did not make a speech there. He just stood and held the Bible.

And, we also remember how during the last campaign, he sold a special edition of the Bible as a fundraising tool. By the way, he had those Bibles printed in China at about $3 each and sold them for $59.99. Reported production and shipping costs for the Bibles was $342,000. He hoped to make $7 million but ended up with just around $300,000 for a loss of about $42,000. (You can buy one on eBay autographed by Mr. Trump for $4,700. Or you can get a Bible for free at just about any church you visit.)

It has always seemed odd to me that people would think placing your hand on a Bible would make you more likely to keep your oath or tell the truth. As far as I know, there has never been anyone struck down (“smote” in the King James vernacular) for lying or breaking an oath after swearing on a Bible. And almost all of us can list in great detail the number of people who actually preach from it, declare it to be God’s Word, and swear by it who have not done the simplest things it proclaims.

I have never had the opportunity to ask any of the leaders of our country who have used Bibles in their publicity shots which part of it they believe. The part about stoning adulterers (Leviticus 20:10-12)? Or the part about all debts being forgiven every seven years (Deuteronomy 15:1-2)? How about the part about welcoming foreigners to your land (Matthew 25:31-40)? Or selling all you have and giving the money to the poor (Matthew 19:21-24)?

I have an idea. Let’s do the one thing Jesus said about it. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Jesus, Matthew 5:37)

I swear on a stack of Bibles that this would be best.

Baby It’s Cold Outside….

Okay, I’m about to lose more friends, because today I’m going to say something that will really tick people off. And that is- I like the cold weather!

There. I said it and I’m sticking to it. A lot of you…okay…well…all of you…are complaining about the cold. Except for my friend Jeff. He’s from Erie, PA. He says, “You call this cold? You don’t know cold!” Many of them are longing for the blistering heat of summer. And that’s okay. It will come around soon enough.

But I like the cold. And here’s why.

  • It gives me an excuse, if I need one, to put on sweats, make a pot of coffee or mug of hot chocolate, sit around the house, and read books, do some writing, maybe watch a movie. Note- I do that anyway, but I don’t feel near as bad about it when it’s cold outside.
  • If I do decide to go outside, I breath in and am reminded that I am alive. I feel the cold air enter my lungs, and sometimes I see it come back out. I like bundling up in layers of clothing until I resemble the Michelin Man. And I like making eye contact with those other brave souls who are out walking dogs, checking the mail, getting some exercise. We all know who are the hardy ones in the neighborhood.
  • And you can always put on more clothes in the cold, while you can only take off a certain amount in the heat.
  • And it gives me the chance to check in with my friends via text to make sure they are okay. I know I could do that anyway anytime, but it seems less weird for me to check in on them when it’s cold. This in itself is good and warming to me because it reminds me of how many friends I have.

I pray for those who have problems with cold weather- the homeless, people without adequate warmth, the sick. And for those with no one to cuddle up to. I try to do things to help them- donating coats, gloves, hats, small heaters, electric blankets. Except for the cuddling. They are on their own.

So, pardon me while I bundle up and go out for a short walk. I love it! Baby, it’s cold outside!

January 20, 2025

Well, it’s time for me to tick off a few people, disappoint a few, and most likely lose a few “friendships.” I put that in quotes very intentionally. After listening to today’s inauguration speech, I am more convinced than ever that Trump is president of the United States, but he is not my leader.

I do not say this because of his speech, which, by the way, was the most frightening I have ever heard. I say it because I am a follower of Jesus, one who accepts him as Lord of my life. And for the last 44 years I have become increasingly convinced that you cannot be a person who calls Jesus Lord and serve anyone or anything else.

Let me take you back to my early teen years, when I first decided to follow Jesus.

A side note: you will notice that I rarely, if ever, refer to myself as Christian. That term, which was originally used as a mocking term to describe followers of “The Way” who were being persecuted, has been co-opted by the right-wing political groups in America. “Christian” and “Follower of Jesus” seem to have two different meanings these days. I go with the second.

In my early teens I was pretty much lost in this world and a young ministerial student told me about Jesus. I fell in love with Jesus and decided I would follow him. I remember Jesus saying that you could not serve two gods, that there could only be one. So I took him literally at that and for years I would not say the Pledge of Allegiance. After all, after all, if I pledge allegiance to one thing, it takes precedence over all else. My allegiance was to Jesus.

Then there came a time when people began to convince me that you could have more than one god. That it would be like flags on a flagpole- which one was on top. (Oddly enough, most of those people would say that the national flag should always be on top, with the Christian flag underneath.) I tried that for a while, thinking that I could love Jesus and country, just as long as I loved Jesus just a little bit more.

But a few decades ago, I began to see disturbing things happening in the name of Christianity. It built up to  today when those things showed themselves in the awful prayers that were said at the inauguration. There was hardly anything said in them about what Jesus said was important. And the inaugural speech actually spoke against the very things Jesus said was crucial. “…I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me…” (Jesus, Matthew 25). It became clear again to me that you cannot partly follow Jesus. He said that in many ways.

I do think that today we saw what will be the end of democracy in America. The good news is that followers of Jesus have lived (and suffered) through times like this many times over the centuries. But the faith continues on. Many great nations, and a few empires, have come and gone in the last two millennia. And as much as I hate to see it, it appears that ours is on the way out. But the people of God, the followers of Jesus, will continue on.

So, while the speech was frightening and the prayers appalling, it has made me more committed to my leader than ever before.