Feels A Little Light
Stories
Contents
“Feels A Little Light” by Frank Ramirez
“Faithful in Much” by John Sumwalt
Feels A Little Light
by Frank Ramirez
Amos 8:4-7
Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, …buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals….The Lord has sworn….Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. (Amos 8:4-7)
Did you ever pick up a familiar product, maybe a box of cereal or a can of tuna, heft it, and think to yourself, “Feels a little light”?
We’re all aware that a lot of companies are combatting rising prices by selling us the same sized package with just a little bit less inside. That’s probably not dishonest, since we can read for ourselves the weight of the product if we choose.
But just imagine if someone handed you a Bible and it felt light. Now Bibles come in different formats, so they’re not the same shape and size. They don’t weigh the same. Even so, whether a Bible has lots of marginal notes and other helps, has a fancy leather cover, and lots of photographs and is illustrated with famous paintings, all of which add to the weight, or is just your basic King James Version with a paperback cover, the Bible is a substantial book. There’s a lot there.
Like 1,189 chapters worth of there.
So, suppose you took that Bible in your hands, the Bible a person you trust gave you in order to lead you to Jesus Christ, and you hefted it, and it just about flew out of your hand and hit the ceiling.
Because instead of 1,189 chapters, there were only 232.
Like four-fifths of the Bible was missing.
What would you think? And why would someone do something like that?
Maybe it’s because the Bible is filled with dangerous things, the kind of things that turn society upside down, that lets you know you’re worth something, a whole lot more than others value you.
Not that long ago the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. put a particular edition of the good book on display. There are only three copies of this version of the Bible known to exist. And people were so fascinated that the museum ended up building a whole exhibit around that Bible.
Such was the case recently when an extremely rare book called “Parts of the Holy Bible, selected for the use of Negro Slaves, in the British West India Islands” went on display. It was published by the “Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves.” Missionaries were sent to the British West Indies, hell holes where sugar and other crops were raised by Africans enslaved in miserable conditions. The purpose was to save their souls. They would be taught to read, but to read from a heavily abridged Bible. Because there was some stuff their masters didn’t want them to read.
Now Protestant Bibles have 66 books. Catholic Bibles have 73 books. Eastern Orthodox Bibles have 78 books.
This Bible has parts of only fourteen books.
Evidently the slave owners were afraid that if slaves could actually read the Bible, they’d discover plenty of verses that would give them the wrong idea.
Like the whole story of the Exodus, when the slaves were freed from Egypt and given a land of their own. Or Paul’s message in Galatians 3:28 that, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” What would a slave make of the letter to Philemon where Paul asks a slave owner to consider an escaped slave a brother in Christ?
Or these verses from today’s passage in Amos, where the prophet condemns the rich who can’t wait for the sabbath to end, so they can leave off looking holy and going back to taking advantage of the bitterly poor. “Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, …buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals….The Lord has sworn….Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” Driving the poor into slavery, buying and selling them for next to nothing, will not be forgotten by the Lord of Lords, warns Amos.
According to the curators of the exhibit, slaves were liberated in the British Empire in 1834, long before the American Civil War, and until that time they continued to rebel, whether or not their Bible told them they had value as God’s creation, so the abridged Bible did not accomplish its objective.
We may react with alarm to what was done in the past, but are we also devaluing some of God’s children? And are we cutting out verses from the Bible that condemn us, not by using a pair of scissors, but by focusing on those verses that please us and ignoring everything else?
* * *
Faithful in Much
by John Sumwalt
Luke 16:1-13
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” Luke 16:10
“Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress,the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.” Psalm 32:6
An old farm neighbor and friend passed away recently --- TOO SOON --- well before any of us who loved him were ready to let him go. Like my brother, Alan, who walked on a couple of years ago, Dennis Fuller was only sixty-seven. We were farm boys together in the sixties. We played softball with Denny during vacation Bible school behind our church in Loyd, Wisconsin. We hunted mushrooms, fished and swam in Willow Creek, picked black berries and apples, wrestled and played football for Ithaca High School.
Denny was more than pretty good. Brother Bob was on the wrestling team with him the year he went to state. In his message at Denny’s funeral on Sunday, Pastor Paul Fries said, “As an athlete he was very good, but not one of those who wanted to destroy the opponent, win yes, but not at any cost.”
The Fuller land adjoined our farm just north of the sandstone peak that overlooks Loyd, all the way to Skyview Road at the intersection with State HWY 58 and County Trunk D in Willow Township. Their main farm is over the hill in Smyth Hollow, but they also have land way up on the ridge at the end of Skyview. And though you can see their barn and house from the ridge, there is no access. This meant schlepping with farm equipment, often several times a day, down Smyth Hollow, then north on 58 through Loyd, and past our farm and up the long ascent to the fields up top. My sister, Ruth, dubbed it the “top of the world,” because you can see for miles around in every direction.
In my mind’s eye, I can still see Denny on one of their big Farmall tractors, coming down the steepest part of the hill past Johnny Ironmonger’s old place, pulling a wagon with hay bales stacked eight or nine high. The tractor back fires as it slows to make the turn onto 58. Behind Denny comes his brothers, Billy and Milford and Larry, with another load stacked even higher. And behind them I see the pickup with Bill and Valda, Denny’s folks, and sister Linda. I wave and they wave back as we have done a million times over the years.
In recent years, after Jo and I retired to the farm, we used to walk up Skyview Road every day, forty minutes up and back. We often met Dennis and Janet coming down from feeding their beef cattle or combining beans. They would pull over and we would visit in the farmer way, standing and talking sometimes for over an hour. There were stories about hunting deer and coyotes and rabbits and the latest shenanigans of the grandchildren. We always meant to have them over for supper, but we didn’t need to. We could always talk on the hill.
Denny was a farmer’s farmer. In fact, Janet shared they once traveled to Europe to visit her brother, but paid money to get tickets back to the states two days early…he missed the farm!
Denny exuded joy in all that he did and took great pleasure in milking cows, working the land and telling stories about all the crazy things that can happen on a farm. I will remember his smile and the twinkle in his eye as he prepared to tell another one.
Pastor Paul Fries reminded everyone, “Denny loved to hunt, to just sit out under a couple of pine trees in the woods, ponder life and reflect with God.”
Paul concluded: “As I reflect, I believe the most important thing we can remember is Denny was a baptized believer in Jesus Christ. Because of that, even in death, he had hope. Romans 15:13 says, ‘Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ His favorite quote made to family, friends and many others over the years was, just take it “ONE DAY AT A TIME.” That reflects a very biblical view of life. Jesus said, ‘Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.’”
Dennis’s neighbor and longtime friend, Clyde Mueller, posted a valedictory on Facebook:
“Close the gate
For this has been struggle enough, Put the tractor in the shed
Years were not easy, many down right hard, but your faith transcends
Put away your tools and sleep in peace, the fences have all been mended
You raised a fine family, worked the land well and always follow the sun
Hang up your shovel inside the barn; your work here on earth is done
The sun is setting the cattle are bedded, and here now is the end of your day
Wash off your boots in the puddle left by the rain one final time
Take off your gloves and put them down, no more sweat and worry for you now
Your labor is done your home is heaven; no more must you wait
Your legacy lives on, your love of the land and we will close the gate
You will be greatly missed Dennis.”
*****************************************
StoryShare, September 18, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
“Feels A Little Light” by Frank Ramirez
“Faithful in Much” by John Sumwalt
Feels A Little Light
by Frank Ramirez
Amos 8:4-7
Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, …buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals….The Lord has sworn….Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. (Amos 8:4-7)
Did you ever pick up a familiar product, maybe a box of cereal or a can of tuna, heft it, and think to yourself, “Feels a little light”?
We’re all aware that a lot of companies are combatting rising prices by selling us the same sized package with just a little bit less inside. That’s probably not dishonest, since we can read for ourselves the weight of the product if we choose.
But just imagine if someone handed you a Bible and it felt light. Now Bibles come in different formats, so they’re not the same shape and size. They don’t weigh the same. Even so, whether a Bible has lots of marginal notes and other helps, has a fancy leather cover, and lots of photographs and is illustrated with famous paintings, all of which add to the weight, or is just your basic King James Version with a paperback cover, the Bible is a substantial book. There’s a lot there.
Like 1,189 chapters worth of there.
So, suppose you took that Bible in your hands, the Bible a person you trust gave you in order to lead you to Jesus Christ, and you hefted it, and it just about flew out of your hand and hit the ceiling.
Because instead of 1,189 chapters, there were only 232.
Like four-fifths of the Bible was missing.
What would you think? And why would someone do something like that?
Maybe it’s because the Bible is filled with dangerous things, the kind of things that turn society upside down, that lets you know you’re worth something, a whole lot more than others value you.
Not that long ago the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. put a particular edition of the good book on display. There are only three copies of this version of the Bible known to exist. And people were so fascinated that the museum ended up building a whole exhibit around that Bible.
Such was the case recently when an extremely rare book called “Parts of the Holy Bible, selected for the use of Negro Slaves, in the British West India Islands” went on display. It was published by the “Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves.” Missionaries were sent to the British West Indies, hell holes where sugar and other crops were raised by Africans enslaved in miserable conditions. The purpose was to save their souls. They would be taught to read, but to read from a heavily abridged Bible. Because there was some stuff their masters didn’t want them to read.
Now Protestant Bibles have 66 books. Catholic Bibles have 73 books. Eastern Orthodox Bibles have 78 books.
This Bible has parts of only fourteen books.
Evidently the slave owners were afraid that if slaves could actually read the Bible, they’d discover plenty of verses that would give them the wrong idea.
Like the whole story of the Exodus, when the slaves were freed from Egypt and given a land of their own. Or Paul’s message in Galatians 3:28 that, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” What would a slave make of the letter to Philemon where Paul asks a slave owner to consider an escaped slave a brother in Christ?
Or these verses from today’s passage in Amos, where the prophet condemns the rich who can’t wait for the sabbath to end, so they can leave off looking holy and going back to taking advantage of the bitterly poor. “Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, …buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals….The Lord has sworn….Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” Driving the poor into slavery, buying and selling them for next to nothing, will not be forgotten by the Lord of Lords, warns Amos.
According to the curators of the exhibit, slaves were liberated in the British Empire in 1834, long before the American Civil War, and until that time they continued to rebel, whether or not their Bible told them they had value as God’s creation, so the abridged Bible did not accomplish its objective.
We may react with alarm to what was done in the past, but are we also devaluing some of God’s children? And are we cutting out verses from the Bible that condemn us, not by using a pair of scissors, but by focusing on those verses that please us and ignoring everything else?
* * *
Faithful in Much
by John Sumwalt
Luke 16:1-13
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” Luke 16:10
“Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress,the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.” Psalm 32:6
An old farm neighbor and friend passed away recently --- TOO SOON --- well before any of us who loved him were ready to let him go. Like my brother, Alan, who walked on a couple of years ago, Dennis Fuller was only sixty-seven. We were farm boys together in the sixties. We played softball with Denny during vacation Bible school behind our church in Loyd, Wisconsin. We hunted mushrooms, fished and swam in Willow Creek, picked black berries and apples, wrestled and played football for Ithaca High School.
Denny was more than pretty good. Brother Bob was on the wrestling team with him the year he went to state. In his message at Denny’s funeral on Sunday, Pastor Paul Fries said, “As an athlete he was very good, but not one of those who wanted to destroy the opponent, win yes, but not at any cost.”
The Fuller land adjoined our farm just north of the sandstone peak that overlooks Loyd, all the way to Skyview Road at the intersection with State HWY 58 and County Trunk D in Willow Township. Their main farm is over the hill in Smyth Hollow, but they also have land way up on the ridge at the end of Skyview. And though you can see their barn and house from the ridge, there is no access. This meant schlepping with farm equipment, often several times a day, down Smyth Hollow, then north on 58 through Loyd, and past our farm and up the long ascent to the fields up top. My sister, Ruth, dubbed it the “top of the world,” because you can see for miles around in every direction.
In my mind’s eye, I can still see Denny on one of their big Farmall tractors, coming down the steepest part of the hill past Johnny Ironmonger’s old place, pulling a wagon with hay bales stacked eight or nine high. The tractor back fires as it slows to make the turn onto 58. Behind Denny comes his brothers, Billy and Milford and Larry, with another load stacked even higher. And behind them I see the pickup with Bill and Valda, Denny’s folks, and sister Linda. I wave and they wave back as we have done a million times over the years.
In recent years, after Jo and I retired to the farm, we used to walk up Skyview Road every day, forty minutes up and back. We often met Dennis and Janet coming down from feeding their beef cattle or combining beans. They would pull over and we would visit in the farmer way, standing and talking sometimes for over an hour. There were stories about hunting deer and coyotes and rabbits and the latest shenanigans of the grandchildren. We always meant to have them over for supper, but we didn’t need to. We could always talk on the hill.
Denny was a farmer’s farmer. In fact, Janet shared they once traveled to Europe to visit her brother, but paid money to get tickets back to the states two days early…he missed the farm!
Denny exuded joy in all that he did and took great pleasure in milking cows, working the land and telling stories about all the crazy things that can happen on a farm. I will remember his smile and the twinkle in his eye as he prepared to tell another one.
Pastor Paul Fries reminded everyone, “Denny loved to hunt, to just sit out under a couple of pine trees in the woods, ponder life and reflect with God.”
Paul concluded: “As I reflect, I believe the most important thing we can remember is Denny was a baptized believer in Jesus Christ. Because of that, even in death, he had hope. Romans 15:13 says, ‘Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ His favorite quote made to family, friends and many others over the years was, just take it “ONE DAY AT A TIME.” That reflects a very biblical view of life. Jesus said, ‘Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.’”
Dennis’s neighbor and longtime friend, Clyde Mueller, posted a valedictory on Facebook:
“Close the gate
For this has been struggle enough, Put the tractor in the shed
Years were not easy, many down right hard, but your faith transcends
Put away your tools and sleep in peace, the fences have all been mended
You raised a fine family, worked the land well and always follow the sun
Hang up your shovel inside the barn; your work here on earth is done
The sun is setting the cattle are bedded, and here now is the end of your day
Wash off your boots in the puddle left by the rain one final time
Take off your gloves and put them down, no more sweat and worry for you now
Your labor is done your home is heaven; no more must you wait
Your legacy lives on, your love of the land and we will close the gate
You will be greatly missed Dennis.”
*****************************************
StoryShare, September 18, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
