Bread and Bibles
By Buckner Fanning, San Antonio, TX
Note: This article is excerpted from the author`s book, God Drives A Pickup, and it may be acquired by contacting Buckner Fanning Ministries at www.bucknerfanning.org .
Almost every day for over thirty years, I have thought of a woman I met three decades ago. She exemplifies the power of one person to make a difference in the lives of thousands. Whenever I read of wars, destruction, poverty, mayhem, tragedy, and man`s inhumanity to man-I think of her. The memory of her heroic deed encourages me.
On a beautiful spring Sunday morning in 1969, in Communist Poland I was speaking in the Warsaw Baptist Church. Their gifted pastor, Reverend Pawlik, who spoke fluent English, hosted my visit and interpreted my message to his congregation that day.
During the service, Reverend Pawlik acknowledged the return of Mrs. Kamila Michowski, who had been gravely ill for a long while. Her first Sunday back in church coincided with her ninetieth birthday. The congregation, delighted to have Mrs. Michowski worshipping in her usual second row seat, greeted this beloved woman by singing a robust Polish rendition of Happy Birthday. Later, Reverend Pawlik shared Mrs. Michowski`s story with me.
On September 28, 1939, Warsaw fell to Hitler`s storming Nazi army. Conquest was only the beginning of the city`s anguish. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Jews, many of whom were deported from regions throughout Western Europe, found themselves penned behind the walls of the Warsaw ghetto. Approximately 40,000 people lived in that area prior to the Nazi offensive. Hitler`s demonic plan forced a half-million Jews behind the walls where they vegetated under dreadful conditions, tormented by hunger and disease. Fifty thousand Jews died within the first month.
Hitler`s Schultzstaffel, or protected squad, better known-and dreaded-by the initials SS, had been commanded to shoot any Pole considered to be rebellious or politically undesirable. Anyone discovered carrying an item that could be interpreted as a weapon or concealing any sort of anti-Nazi paraphernalia was executed without a trial-often on the spot. Occasionally SS men would leap from a staff car to snatch a suspect. Abrupt arrests by such roaming squads became a prevalent and horrifying event.
During those horrible days of Nazi occupation, Mrs. Michowski, a Christian, would identify herself as a Jew by placing a Star of David armband around her bulky coat. Can you imagine?-a Christian disguising herself as a Jew at a time when any slight provocation could cause a dissident to be summarily shot or deported to a place worse than death!
Under her bulky clothing, Mrs. Michowski hid loaves of bread and numerous Bibles; then, armband in place, she would march past the Nazi guarded entrance into the Jewish ghetto. Mrs. Michowski jeopardized her life to take bread and Bibles to those who were physically and spiritually starving. After she had delivered the Bibles, her Jewish friends smuggled her out of the ghetto into the underground sewers from where she made her way back home. On and on she went, week after week, identifying herself publicly as a Jew so she could bring spiritual and physical food to her Jewish neighbors and friends.
After the war the Baptist church was reconstructed on the edge of the Warsaw ghetto where it once stood. As construction workers were digging the foundation for the new church, they discovered bones of Jews who had been killed or starved by the Nazi invaders. At the dedication of the church the pastor stood on the reconstructed steps, and with bones in hand, declared, "Our church has been built on the bones of martyrs."
We have martyrs today. Sadly, unlike Mrs. Michowski, we turn our heads and walk the other way, ignoring the thousands of people hungering for both physical and spiritual food.
Mrs. Michowski, who never took just Bibles nor just bread, but always, bread and Bibles, personifies what the ministry and work of the church must be in today`s world. With thousands of people, most of them children, dying each day of hunger, our churches must be willing to supply both physical and spiritual bread to those in need. We can no longer sit smugly in our pews. We must put on our arm bands and, with bread and Bibles in hand, confront danger by ministering to those in need. The example of Mrs. Michowski and the bones of the martyrs demand action.
Jesus gave both physical and spiritual bread to the multitudes in His day, and He expects us to be carrying out the same dual ministry in our day (Mt 9:36-37).
Ignoring the Bible`s command and the example of Jesus, pastors and members of our country`s urban churches continue to cover their eyes, failing to see the poverty and hunger all around them, neglecting the needs of the physically and spiritually hungry of our great cities.
Here is a suggestion: Whenever you read of atrocities or hear of mistreatments or see examples of inhumanity, think of Mrs. Michowski. Remembering her will remind us that we can all make a difference.
What can we do to reduce suffering in the world? Pray for those in distress? Yes. Encourage those whose profession involves assisting others-preachers, teachers, physicians, counselors, police, firemen, social workers? Yes.
But no matter how hopeless things may appear; no matter how unjust the world seems; no matter how violent, destructive, chaotic, desperate, noisy, frantic, or grave the world appears-remember that nothing can change the ultimate outcome of Christ`s victory of love!
My life has been blessed by the experience of meeting and talking with Mrs. Michowski, an angel of God camouflaged as a Baptist woman, wearing a Star of David, carrying bread and Bibles beneath her clothing, walking boldly past Nazi guards into the horrifying ghetto, and returning to her home through sewers of Warsaw. She reminds me of the power of one. That power becomes atomic when ignited by the light and love of Jesus Christ.
Remember Mrs. Michowski-and the power of one. You can make a difference!
