Whether I have meant to do so or not, I have been collecting Bibles (an occupational hazard for pastors, I think). I have Bibles in a variety of languages (many of which I cannot read) and more English translations than most of us knew existed. But there is one Bible that is especially meaningful to me. This particular Bible was given to me when I was in the eighth grade and after our family’s house burned to the ground. It got me through high school, college, seminary, and the first decade-plus of “the real world.” Unfortunately about four or five years ago, some of the pages started to come loose from the cover. This problem, coupled with tattering of frequently read pages, meant that something needed to be done. One of my colleagues gave me the name of a Bible bindery, a repair shop that would be able to take this well-loved and well-used book and make it into something new.
Ever since I received my repaired Bible, I have loved the thought that what a little shop in Greenwood, Mississippi, did with my Bible is what God can do with us. We are finite creatures whose bodies will one day wear out. Yet we know the story does not end there. Given my particular area of ministry, I spend much of my time walking with people in the days on either side of a family member’s death. As hard as it is to face the loss of someone we love, the great blessing is that God makes all of us new through the promise of resurrection. We can and we should mourn when we must say goodbye to those who are dear to us. But we also can and should rejoice that they have been “clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling.”
Each day as I turn through the pages of my Bible, I am reminded by both the words of Scripture and the physical book itself of the ways through which our Creator seeks to make all things new. We need this reminder in our lives. Perhaps you will see this reassurance in the everyday flight of a bird across your backyard or in a rock formation shaped like a cross. But for me, I see this promise in the rebound pages of Scripture on my desk.