Thomas Jefferson and the Bible

President’s Day was just a few days ago.    Since the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are this time of year,  we normally think of them at Presidents Day.   I want to focus on another one of our presidents today:  Thomas Jefferson.  He was our third president and served in the office from 1801 to 1809 after having served as vice president.   Thomas Jefferson lived in the state of Virginia and has a beautiful home outside of Charlottesville, Virginia that is called Monticello.   

A few years ago, my wife Ann and I visited Monticello and its lovely grounds.   We took a walk down from the house to the cemetery where Thomas Jefferson is buried.    By Jefferson’s instructions, his gravestone notes that he founded the University of Virginia and was the writer of the Declaration of Independence but makes no mention to the fact that he was President of the United States.  After visiting the house, grounds, and grave site, Ann and I went into a small gift shop on the grounds.   Amid the post cards, shirts, and the like is the Jefferson Bible for sale.    What you might not know about Thomas Jefferson is that he wrote his own Bible.   It is a little different from the Bible you may have in your house in that Jefferson takes out parts of the Bible he does not like.  Technically, it is not a Bible as the official title is The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.    According to tradition, Jefferson took a razor to an actual Bible and pasted those parts of the Bible that he wanted to include in his work that was published in 1820.

I share this  because I suspect most of us  (like Thomas Jefferson) have parts of the Bible that we like better than others.   Our congregation this year is reading the Bible in its entirety.  In recent days, we have read books of the Bible such as Leviticus and Deuteronomy which perhaps are not in the “top ten” list of favorite books  of the Bible for most folks.       I encourage you to open your Bible and discover all of it.    It might surprise you.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall  

Prayer:   O God,  praise and glory be given to you for the Holy Scriptures, a light for our path and a lamp for our feet.  Give us the discipline to read your Word and study it.  Let your Spirit fall afresh on us to give us open hearts to what you would say to us; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.