Bibles

By Victoria Mort

When we first came to live in Oxford in 1978 it was a time of spiritual change for us, as well as all the other sorts of change we were experiencing after years of army life. We seemed to have quite a number of different bibles in our household and I became struck by the knowledge that for many people in the world owning even one bible is way beyond their reach. So I started to subscribe to the Bible Society, funding a Bible a Month across the world. You get a leaflet every month giving you information and prayer pointers for the country that is the focus of that month.

A young Welsh girl called Mary Jones saved for six years and then trudged 26 miles to buy a bible in Welsh. The pastor she reached was so touched that he sold her three for the price of one and then began to think, with other Welsh clergy, if in Welsh why not in every world language? William Wilberforce got hold of the story and gathered people together to think it through. Thus the British and Foreign Bible Society (now just the Bible Society) was founded in 1804.

The Bible Society’s main work centres on translating the bible into every language in the world. So far they’ve managed 200 and they often report the delight with which smallish language communities greet a bible in their own “heart language”. If you think about it, it would be wonderful to receive the bible in English if you had only ever been able to read it in, say, Latin. They must have found it so when the Wycliffe Bible appeared, although probably those who could read were also pretty good at Latin, but ordinary people could hear it read in English. The Bible Society also produce cassettes for a project called Faith Comes by Hearing, which is targeted towards people unable to read or congregations who can come together to hear the word of God when a bible each is beyond their means.

Other things are provided to meet need, for example after natural disasters essential things like food and water as well as bibles. Around Christmas and Easter the Bible Society usually provides youth club projects for Palestinian children, a few of whom may be Christian but they are open to all. They never seem to push Christianity at people and they are strictly ecumenical. They often report on the amazing difference receiving a bible may make on someone in prison, both in this country and elsewhere in the world. It’s one of the things I love best about it: the magazine they produce three or four times a year is full of good news stories, and amongst the monthly list of prayer pointers there are always exhortations to give thanks for various positive things.

One of the Bible Society’s initiatives is Open the Book. People in a local church or church group get together to present bible stories in primary school assemblies, dressing up and acting the stories out. I wonder if any St Mary’s people would like to get involved with that? Whether anyone is interested in that or not, I do recommend the Bible Society.

You can find out more about it at www.biblesociety.org.uk.