Taking the Bible Seriously

As a progressive community of faith, we recognize the dangers inherent in taking the Bible literally; this does not mean, however, that we do not take the Bible VERY seriously.  The Bible is the library of our faith; it tells the stories of the men and women of antiquity who sought to understand God in new and radical ways and struggled to live out that new understanding.  Like any compendium of family stories the Bible contains some narratives that we would rather forget, like King David murdering for lust or Ananias dropping dead when confronted with his prevarication.

Even though the canon of the Bible is complete, we in the UCC believe that God is Still Speaking, which means that there are many more stories of our faith.  Let me share with you one story about some folks in the French village of Le Chambon taking the Bible seriously.  For as long as anyone could remember, the Huguenots in the region had gathered every week for worship; the congregation was small, unknown, and overlooked by man but prayers were said and songs were sung among these French Reformed Protestants from one season to the next.

The years passed in quietness but that changed in 1940. Children – Jewish children - began arriving at the railroad station. They were fleeing the crucible to the east in search of refuge from the Cerberus known as Nazism and the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”.  At first the communities in and around Le Chambon did not know what to do with them because it was against the law to receive a Jewish child and as good citizens they sought to obey the law. But as Christians they decided to break the law.

It is said that from 1940 to 1943, there was not a hay stack, a wine cellar or an attic in all of Le Chambon, in which was not hidden a Jewish child.  At the time of the month when the moon grew dark, the consistory and other members of the community would gather together all the Jewish children place them in their hay wagons, and transport them across the frontier to sanctuaries in Switzerland, to freedom and to life. In this manner the lives of several thousand Jewish children were saved.  After the war, when the people of Le Chambon were asked why they helped at such risk, they simply responded “Don’t call us good.  They needed help.  What else could we do?

In 1943, Pastor Andre Trocmé and leading elders of the community were arrested. Spirited off to a concentration camp, the first night the pastor took out the toilet paper (I know it sounds mundane, but these items were worth their weight in gold in such places) and began unrolling it to share with other prisoners.  As he unrolled it he found written verses of consolation from the Bible.  They reminded him that wherever he went, however far from home, he was still a member of Le Chambon and a member of a community dedicated to Christ.

We often struggle not because we know the Bible so well, but because we do not know the Bible well enough; we struggle not because we take the Bible so seriously, but because we do not take the Bible seriously enough.

See you in church,

Kevin