I was on the freeway in a taxicab when I saw the sign. It said: "Christian Supplies."
I knew what it really meant. It meant that there was a store there that had books and tapes and other items that would be of special interest to people who proclaim themselves as Christians.
My mind went off down that track for a bit. I've worked with several large corporations that sell "logo" merchandise, jackets and hats and coffee mugs and key chains and such with the corporate logo on them. One marketer I know calls that "trash and trinkets."
Well, I knew that the Christian Supply store had those, too, except they would be Christian "trash and trinkets." It was a funny thought, at least to me.
But then my mind was pulled elsewhere. What about spiritual supplies? What are the supplies you have to have to be a Christian and a disciple in today's world?
I think we need two things. I think we need a Bible. And I think we need other Christians.
The Bible is the most important tool for daily life. It's a lens that we use to concentrate our prayer and our meditation.
It's the Bible that tells the story of the most remarkable belief in the world -- the Christian God who loved us enough to sacrifice Himself for us. God took on our flesh and our weaknesses, the kinds of things that make us uncomfortable and ill and tired and sore. God did that for no reason except love.
It is the Bible that proclaims the majesty and the glory of that sacrifice, the Bible that reminds us how little we deserve it. It is the Bible that tells us what we must do, now that we know what God has done for us.
So, it seems that one of the supplies that a Christian must have would be a Bible. Having a Bible is not enough, though. No tool is worth anything unless you use it.
There are two times when we can use the Bible as our great Christian tool. The first time is every day.
No, that's not a misprint. I mean that we need to read the Bible every day. Some folks work their way through the Bible, reading it completely every year or two. Others follow a program of readings laid out by someone else. How you do it is not as important as making Bible reading and study a regular part of your life.
My own way is to follow someone else's program and to supplement that with special study. My denomination offers to email anyone a scriptural selection every day. That's part of my plan.
Every morning my email box includes the reading for the day. It's all right there for me, the verses printed out. That takes away my excuses. I read my verses as a part of my daily ritual for starting the day. I follow the reading with prayer.
I also conduct little mini-Bible studies from time to time as a question or detail catches my interest. Usually something in the daily reading puzzles me. Then I take the time to find other verses on the same topic.
In addition to every day, you should read your Bible when you need to. And when might that be?
I need to read my Bible when I'm confused or scared or curious. I may be confused about what I should do with some part of my life or about how to deal with a friend or an issue. I get scared sometimes because, as an old prayer says, 'the sea is so vast and my boat is so small." I get confused about what God wants me to do. And so I read my Bible to find the answers.
When I was a lot younger I expected to find a verse that would tell me, explicitly, what to do. I expected it to say something like, "Go thee to thy friend and apologize for punching him." I'd still like to find direction like that, but I never do.
Instead I find verses that start off a train of thought that leads me to a course of action or belief. I've found that if I read several different verses, my different thought trails start to converge on an answer. One of the wonderful things about the Bible for me is that this has happened for me my whole life.
When I was young I understood some things and as I have grown older I find more and more, often in the same passages. I find guidance and wisdom that helps me with issues and situations I could never have imagined back when I was starting out on life's journey. The Bible is essential.
The Bible is not enough, though. We need other Christians as well. We need to come together in worship. We need to come together in study and in prayer. We need to come together for support and for understanding and sometimes for chastisement.
I know it is possible to believe in Jesus Christ and the saving grace of His coming, death and resurrection without other people around. A Bible is enough for that. But I don't believe we can be the sort of Christian that we're called to be in that Bible, without other Christians to mingle with and test our faith against.
I am by choice and by birth a Lutheran Christian. So, for me, the expression of that community occurs in regular worship and in communion, where I can feel God's presence in the Christians around me and where I can hear God's voice.
At communion that voice whispers in my ear, "Here. See what I did, just for you. No matter that you are a vessel of clay, you are forgiven because of what I did." The Most Beautiful Woman in the World helped me understand an especially rich way to achieve this understanding.
In most of the churches that I attend you kneel at the altar rail to receive communion. Bread and wine are brought around. As you receive each you hear the words, "Body of Christ, given for you. Blood of Christ, shed for you."
What The Most Beautiful Woman in the World taught me was to listen as I kneel at the rail. As each person ahead of me receives communion those same words are intoned. "Body of Christ, given for you. Blood of Christ, shed for you." Slowly the words come closer. "Body of Christ, given for you. Blood of Christ, shed for you."
As I listen I understand that God did not just do these wonderful things for me alone. His coming, his sacrifice are for all of us. We are bound together by it as much as we are blessed individually.
I dictate most of my columns and articles and meditations. This morning I'm dictating this in the chancel of a Lutheran church that is far from my home and the people I hold most dear. In a few moments the service will begin.
In moments after that we will raise our voices, all of our voices in song and praise. We will, together, hear the Miracle of Christ proclaimed. We will join in confession of our sins and in prayer.
Then I will rise and go to the Table. I will kneel amidst other Christians and take the bread and the wine in remembrance of Him.
As I do that I am at one with those I love in distant places, with those I love who have passed from this life, and with those I love whom I have yet to meet or may never meet.
Together this Sunday morning we will proclaim Christ crucified and risen. We will acknowledge our human frailty and failings. And together we will receive the wonder of God's grace and absolution.
Christian supplies? There are two. There is the Bible that tells the story on which we base our faith. There are the other Christians whom we join in worship, praise, confession.
There are other ways to do this communal, Christian thing. There are others for whom communion is a different experience, and for some it's not an important experience at all. But for me, in my faith and my life, it is communion where I am most likely to feel that I am a Christian and most likely to experience the soaring wonder of God's forgiveness.
