“I felt hopeless. I felt worthless and had panic attacks. I thought that things would get worse. I had very bad and destructive habits and thoughts. I was lost.” That sounds like an American young person, but no. Let’s call her “Elena,” a 22-year-old woman who grew up in extreme poverty in Macedonia. Her family had lost their jobs and had no wherewithal for themselves, let alone to help her. What would I do? What do you do in your hopeless times?
“Elena” went to church. That’s saying something. She felt she could go to church, but do people in America who are outside the church feel they can come check us out? Or have we, unintentionally to be sure, sent the message that this place is not for you? Martin Franzmann once preached a sermon titled, “The Man who Went Home with Only a Word in His Pocket.” “Elena” went to a church and they gave her a Bible. “Every word touched my heart. I felt indescribably peace and relief.”
We need encouraging stories! Thanks to the American Bible Society for the story of “Elena” and many others. Their mission is “making the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford, so all people may experience its life-changing message.” It makes me wonder, what might happen if churches gave everyone in their neighborhood a Bible or Bible portion, with simple directions for reading?
Imagine living on $3.00 a day. I can’t. When we complain about how bad things are, there are billions of people around the world who would rise up to condemn us, if they could. $3.00 a day. That was daily life for Francisco and Maria, again, fictitious names. “But you wouldn’t know it from the radiant smiles on their faces. Their lives are full of joy because you help bring them the Bible.” “Every morning, they awaken to the strains of what Francisco calls their ‘radio.’ It’s actually an audio Bible… ‘We don’t know how to read because we are illiterate,’ Francisco says. ‘For us, it is very important to have this audio Bible.’” (American Bible Society, “Good News,” September).
“To hope grown dim, to hearts turned cold / Speak tongues of fire and make us bold
To shine Your Word of saving grace / Into each dark and loveless place.”
(Lutheran Service Book, 585:3)
Comments