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.
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.
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks looking for Advent. Not the season, the four Sundays, and the weeks before Christmas (This year actually from December 1 to 24) celebrated in the orthodox churches or the older but less celebrated Celtic Advent, the 40 days before Christmas (which I am celebrating this year). What I have been looking for was an Advent Calendar.
The first I remember seeing was when I was a young teen, in 1965. It was a large, flat, cardboard picture of the Bethlehem Christmas scene with 28 little “windows” that you would open, one each day up until Christmas Day. There would be a Scripture reference in the window, and I would have to look it up to read it. They would be prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures and verses from the Christian Scriptures leading up to the birth of Jesus. It was a way of telling the story slowly, so I remembered it better as time passed. Each day my mother would ask me (and sometimes my younger sister Paula) to tell the story so far, and we would, as best as we could remember. Then we would open the next window and learn the next part. By the time we got to Christmas, we knew the story and could tell it to anyone who wanted to hear us. As a bonus, it helped us to learn to read some harder words since many of the Biblical words were not usual ones for us.
The next one I remember had an additional treat. Each window opened to a section of a larger picture on the backing piece of cardboard. So we learned the verses and began to see the picture, one piece at a time.
It wasn’t too many years later that I began to see Advent calendars where the window was more of a door, opening to a little box that had something in it in addition to the Scripture. Most often it was a piece of candy. Occasionally it would have a tiny toy. It wasn’t long before kids were looking for the candy and toys and skipping the Scripture.
This year I decided to give the children in my churches Advent Calendars. I wanted the kind that would tell the story of the birth of Jesus. Maybe help them learn the story.
I could not find any! I did find all kinds of “Advent” calendars. I found some that had candy and verses from A Visit from St. Nicholas (The Night Before Christmas). I found them with Sponge Bob and Patrick. There were some with various kinds of chocolate and instead of a verse, there was description of the chocolate (and where you could order more). There were at least four different Taylor Swift ones, with a trinket from her various world tours in each window. My favorite spice store in Minnesota had one with sample packs of various spices and recipes for each day. (I was tempted to get that one for me!) Another had chocolates filled with various kinds of liqueurs. Then there was one that skipped the chocolate and had 25 mini bottles of various liquors, with a goblet style glass safely ensconced in the middle. And there was the literary one where you unwrapped a book each day (another one I was tempted to buy for me).
But not one with the Christmas story.
I went online to Hobby Lobby, that bastion of conservative Christian capitalism, knowing that they would have one. Nope. At least, not online. Disney and others, sure. Jesus? Nope. But I took a chance and went to their store. Sure enough, they had some. Only one style, same picture on the outside, small chocolates in the windows. But the Scriptures are there. And the price was good. So, I bought enough for my kids and headed out.
I’ve been thinking about this. Christmas used to be about the birth of Jesus. Jesus is just sort of a side story, now. Same with Easter. Even secular holidays have gone the way of consumerism. Memorial Day used to be a day of remembering people who died in the various and never-ending wars we have. Now, it’s a great time to go shopping. By new mattresses and sofas. Veteran’s Day- great time to buy a new car, and veterans get an additional discount. Independence Day? Celebrate your freedom to buy new grills and deck furniture. Now, Advent seems to be gone for the most part. I guess we still have Lent. But watch out! As long as you’re practicing self-discipline, it would be a great time to join a gym and work on that beach body!
Meanwhile, I’ll look out my real window each morning during this Celtic Advent season, and hope to see signs of Jesus in this world today.
As many of you may know, Cathy and I rarely miss a Sunday worshipping in a church somewhere. Most of the time- almost all of the time- it’s at whatever church I am currently serving as pastor (currently Brown’s Chapel and Vox Memorial United Methodist Churches). But if we go off on vacation, we try to find a church to attend, usually a UMC if there’s one nearby. Lots of my friends who are clergy do not do this. This is not to cast dispersions on them. Most say “I never get a break, a chance to slowly enter Sunday, to drink my coffee, read the news or listen to good music. Just to relax. I worship in my own way. Just not in a church.” Even more after retiring do not attend a church in person (they may occasionally watch online). I understand that, too. They have seen the dark underbelly of the church. Most entered the church with the idea that it would be a community of people seeking to follow Christ and make a difference in the world in his name. Too often what they found was a group of people intent on having their way with the “blessings of Christ” given to their already determined values and actions. And many of my clergy friends have been beaten up “in the name of Jesus” by so-called Christians. Especially lately. So I understand that, too.
But Cathy and I love corporate, in-person worship. We love the singing, the quiet times, the caring for each other, the prayers, hearing the Scriptures, and most of the sermons. But being a pastor makes it hard for me to have that each week. It’s hard to get “lost in wonder, love, and praise” when you are wondering if the musicians are ready or if the temperature will ever reach that point where no one will tell you it was too hot or too cold that day. So, when we are away, we look for a place where we can just join in with everyone else.
October 13, 2024 was a Sunday. Our seventeenth anniversary. We were in Bar Harbor, Maine, visiting Acadia National Park and the surrounding areas. We started the day with will Maine blueberry pancakes at the Jordan Restaurant (highly recommended!) and then made our way over to the Bar Harbor Congregational Church. (There was not a UMC in the area.) We had seen a lot of Congregational Churches in the towns as we traveled up the coast of Maine, and I was not very familiar with them. Turns out they are part of the UCC, United Church of Christ. Their building was an old historic building in the village and we looked forward to seeing inside. But when we arrived there was a sign saying they would be meeting at Reel Pizza next door.
Reel Pizza is a pizza parlor there in Bar Harbor where you sit in a small movie theatre. There are theatre seats with a small table in front of you for your pizza. I assume you watch movies while you munch on the pepperoni and mushrooms. A nice couple of women greeted us as we walked in, gave us a bulletin, and we found our way to a couple of seats. We all found out later that the water sprinkler in the sanctuary had gone off for some reason in the night and the sanctuary could not be used. The good people at Reel Pizza offered their place. Before the service everyone was talking with their friends around them about being there. I leaned forward and told the guy in front of me “I bet the communion today will be different.” He said, “Popcorn and soft drinks coming soon.” The theatre was about half full, with people of all ages scattered about.
In their bulletin Bar Harbor Congregational stated that they were an “Open and Affirming Christian community within the United Church of Christ, actively expressing Jesus’ inclusive embrace of all people. We welcome those who seek to follow Jesus including persons of every age, gender, race, national origin, faith background, marital status and family structure, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, mental and physical ability, economic and social status, and educational background to share in the life, leadership, employment, ministry, fellowship, worship, sacraments, rites, responsibilities, blessings and joys of our church family.” I looked around and it seemed to be an eclectic group of folks. Some looked like homeless folks who might have wandered in looking for free pizza. Others looked like wealthy people who owned some of the mansions along the shore. Some covered in tattoos, others dressed very casually, some dressed in hiking clothes, and others in boat gear. They all seemed to get along and were happy to see each other. And we felt welcomed but not overwhelmed, which was good.
A young woman stood up at the front and picked up a violin. She started playing a medley of Scottish fiddle tunes. I immediately thought, “This is where I am supposed to be.” There was a welcome from one of the lay leaders, then a time of silent reflection. A poem by Mary Oliver, West Wind #2, was in the bulletin if you wanted to use it for your reflection. The congregation then rose and sang the traditional hymn, From All That Dwell Below The Skies. A responsive call to worship, with emphasis on Christ choosing us (not the other way around), then singing a version of the Hispanic song De Colores. It was not the version I had learned in the Walk to Emmaus, but it was good and brought back good memories. There were prayers of all sorts- some responsive, some led by the pastor, some by the lay leader. The Gloria Patri, with a few adjustments to the words making it more inclusive, was sung. There was a children’s sermon. The leader taught the children and the congregation to sing the chorus to Leonard Cohen’s Anthem Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering,
There is a crack, a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen in a children’s sermon, a first for me.
The pastor brought a very good sermon on the Mark 10 story of the rich young man asking Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Rather than point to what most of us preachers do with that story- say we need to put our riches in their proper place- Rev. Rob Benson said the question itself was wrong. He remined us that there is nothing that we can do. That eternal life is a gift, given to us freely. (Romans 6:23) There is nothing we can do. It’s a gift.
There was more music. A flutist played Mozart’s Exuberance, the traditional hymn Be Thou My Vision was sung by the congregation, and the service ended with the singing of a South African hymn “Thuma Mina” (Zulu for “Send Me, Lord”).
Somewhere in there things broke open for me. I don’t know whether it was the music, being in a beautiful place in the country, being with my wife of seventeen years, seeing a church that expresses what I know is true of God’s kingdom, or being reminded that God loves me freely. Whatever it was, I had a sense of being in the presence of the Divine, and tears just started flowing.
Celtic spirituality has a term called “thin places.” Those are places where the dividing line between heaven and earth is very thin. Most people think of it as a particular place. Iona in the Scottish isles, the rim of the Grand Canyon, or the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Mine was Reel Pizza that day. Seeing something of what church could be, being reminded of God’s gift to us all, and having the beauty of the music of all sorts made the line between heaven and earth very thin.
Everyday I have people tell me that this idea of a church where all are welcomed and accepted as they are is not Christian and will not last. But I know better. Because I was in Reel Pizza, and saw it there.
Almost every Sunday I ask if there are any “prayer concerns” from the congregation. (I can do that because my congregations are small. Larger churches do it but in other areas- small groups, Sunday school classes, etc. And, like most places, people mention others- friends, families, community members who have special needs. Healing, comfort, peace. Occasionally reconciliation. They also mention larger issues. The need for rain in our communities in South Carolina, too much rain in the Midwest and Florida. War in Ukraine and Israel and Gaza. Gun violence…well…everywhere.
Rarely do they ask for prayer for themselves, but it does happen from time to time. “I’m having surgery…. I need a job…. My child is travelling off to college….” I’m not a fan of “unspoken prayer requests.” You do not know how to pray, what to pray. It reminds me of someone who may be hurting or mad but will not tell you why. It also reminds me of seeing people years ago on the “Christian TV” shows where they would have a huge pile of written prayer requests on a desk or table, the preacher would lay his hand on them and say something like “Lord, you know all these requests. Meet the needs of these brothers and sisters.” Later they would say, we prayed for 1200 people today. To me, that is like putting my hands on a globe and saying, “Lord, fix this place,” and then proclaiming that I have prayed for over eight billion people. (And I did it without mentioning a single name.)
I have been in smaller groups where people did pray for themselves. Most often it was for “things”- healing, comfort, guidance, peace. All good gifts from the Giver of Good Gifts. But after a while, it seems we do not go any further. Our prayers become a “shopping list” at the Divine Supermarket. (By the way, years ago Larry Bryant wrote a song with that title. Others have recorded it, but his version is the best. It will make you laugh, and probably make you uncomfortable, too. Here’s a link.)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) Most people see that as Jesus saying the same thing three times- that is, ask, seek, and knock are all the same. Andrew Murray, in his classic With Christ in the School of Prayer, says that they are three different things.
Asking is requesting something- a gift. Healing, food, comfort, peace. The emphasis is on the gift. Seeking is looking for a person. Most of the instances of the word seek in the Bible refers to seeking God (“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.”- Jeremiah 29:13; “Seek the Lord while he may be found.”- Isaiah 55:6; etc.). Seeking moves towards the Divine Being rather than the gift. I believe even Jesus’ teaching to “seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness” refers to being in relationship with God. And knocking, according to Murray, is a form of entering into a dwelling with another. You knock on the door, it is opened, and you go in. It is dwelling or living with the one you have sought.
It seems to me that these three point towards a movement towards intimacy. We move from the gift to the giver, to being in a relationship with the giver.
For many of us, our prayer life has stayed at the ask phase. Maybe it is time for us to move a little closer.
Do you remember the advertising slogan “Only (fill in the number) shopping days until Christmas”? It pretty much went out of fashion in the early 1970s. It was then that stores started opening on Sunday afternoon. Now, except for Hobby Lobby and Chic-Fil-A and a few others, most stores are open every day, all day. And with online shopping with overnight delivery à la Amazon, there are almost no times when you can’t get what you want immediately.
But it used to not be that way. You had to wait and plan and work and hope. And then, one not so surprising morning, you would wake up and there would be a new world for you, just waiting to be unwrapped.
By the way, that slogan was first used by Harry Gordon Selfridge, a manager at Marshall Field’s in Chicago and the founder of Selfridge’s in London. The television series Mr. Selfridge is a great show about him.
So…what does that have to do with June 24? June 24 is the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist. It is considered to be his birth date. Most of the saints have their Feast Day on the day of their death (the day they entered Heaven), but John the Baptist and Mary the Mother of Jesus are the only two who are celebrated on their birth day.
June 24 happens to be 6 months before Christmas Eve. Though the actual day of John’s birth is unknown, it is celebrated on this day because it foretells the coming of one who would introduce a new world later. John came before Jesus to get people ready. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the prophet Isaiah says
“A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)
In the Christian Scriptures, John is baptizing people in the Jordan and the Jewish leaders come to find out who he was. The apostle John (don’t confuse the two) records this in John 1-
This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ” as the prophet Isaiah said. (John 1:19-23)
Not many places or people celebrate this Feast Day, but in those places where they do, they often build fires in the evening, sing, dance, eat, and share things with the needy. In some places, people go to worship, then come out, find a nearby body of water (river, lake, pool, ocean), and jump in, fully clothed. It is reminiscent of John’s baptism of people.
I have a suggestion- do things that show a new world is coming, and parts of it can be seen now. Do what John told people to do- share what you have with those in need. “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” It’s a little too hot to build fires where I am now, and I don’t want to jump in anything fully clothed. But you know, I can share what I do have. So can you.
And, by the way, don’t just give away what you don’t want or what is worn out. After all, if your brother or sister needed a shirt, would you give them one with a hole in it?
Then, take some time to dance, sing, eat, pray, and look forward to a day in the near future when a new world will be waiting for you to unwrap it.
Michael Henderson 