The Bread Bible
Author: Abigail Robert
January 09, 2025
While visiting my fiancé’s family in Texas, I had the privilege of visiting his parents’ neighbors across the street, an elderly couple. The husband, a retired pastor, was recovering from a debilitating illness. Despite this, the couple kindly had invited my fiancé’s family and me to stop by.
At their front door, we knocked and began singing Away in a Manger. We were greeted by a lady with a beautiful smile who started singing with us. Her husband, who had lost sight in one eye, made his way to the door, too. All together we sang, “Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me I pray. Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.”
When the carol was over, the pastor said, “While you were singing, for a moment, I had clarity.” He pointed to his eye. This fleeting, miraculous moment pointed my heart to Jesus, who was drawing near to us just as we had requested in song.
This lovely couple welcomed us into their charming home. In the center of the room was an interesting coffee table with an encased Bible surrounded by seashells. We sat around this table as followers of Jesus, and we talked about many things, including the pastor’s health. Despite his many afflictions, the pastor reminded us of God’s grace and sovereignty.
Afterwards, his wife handed us gifts. I could sense her excitement as my fiancé and I unboxed a sparkly crystal cross for our future home. Both the pastor’s words and the cross were beautiful testaments to their faith. It was evident that they desired to share the love of Christ with those who entered their home.
To end the night, the pastor led us in Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. We sang, “veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity. Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel.” From this wonderful music, to the gleaming cross I received, I experienced several beautiful, visible, and tangible experiences of grace during this visit. There was nothing ordinary about this stop by a neighbor's house.
As we were leaving, the pastor said, “There’s something that I would like to show you.” He was holding what looked like an old wooden box. “It must be an antique travel communion box,” I thought. To my surprise, the pastor opened the object down its middle. I could now see frayed edges of paper and roasted sides. It was not a box at all, but an ancient, stiff book. It was a Bible.
The pastor explained that this Bible had been passed down for generations in the Czech Republic since the 1800s. However, when communist Russia invaded, protecting that Bible became vital if the family were to maintain access to God’s word. So the family folded the Bible inside bread dough and baked it in a furnace oven so that Russian soldiers wouldn’t see it. After the soldiers left, the family would break the golden loaf to read God’s word.
Goosebumps crawled up my arms, as the picture of breaking the “bread Bible” filled my mind. The Bible one with the bread is a beautiful representation of many abstract truths within the Christian faith: the Bible is the word of God, the Word of God made flesh is Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem, “the house of bread,” and Jesus is the Bread of Life (John 12:24). What was supposed to be a simple visit to a neighbor’s home became an experience of awe, beauty, and truth because Christ was both praised and present.
Christmas Day has passed, and the seemingly mundane has returned. Discarded trees line the curbs, lights are coming down, and stores no longer play holiday tunes. Ceramic baby Jesus is being wrapped up in tissue paper and stored in a shoebox. It’s time to return to work, school, everyday life.
Where do we store our treasure, our gift of Jesus? Is it in a box with the rest of the Christmas decorations? Or is He inside of us, like a Bible baked in bread, allowing us to exude joy and light to those around us and experience the fullness of His presence in our lives? Jesus transforms the ordinary, so let us allow Him to transform the mundane of our lives into something profound and beautiful.
Abigail Robert is a Classical Studies and Biosciences student at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She is the author of Forget Me Not: Memories of a Memory Caregiver.
Photo by Tom Nora on Unsplash.
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