Holy Crap!
APU just added a huge new piece to it’s library collection. The Dead Sea Scrolls! This is, like, huge. Massive. Like, on the national map in a big way. Anybody wanna sneak in to the library holding room and check them out with me? I totally have a faculty key!
Remember the story of David and Goliath from Sunday School? It was yesterday’s reading from The Bible Podcast. It had been a while since I’d read the actual text.
Um, who decided this was a children’s story? Beheadings, corpses lying in fields, rivers running with blood, deceit, cowardice, birds pecking out eyes. Yeah, it’s your basic Sandra Boynton rhyming silly kids story.
Anyway, if you haven’t listened to it in a while, it’s a great story. Click here for the direct link:
On a related tangent, the podcast passed a significant milestone a few weeks ago. We added a listener at a research station in Antarctica, which makes people on all 7 continents who listen to the thing. How cool is that?
It’s super cool. (The Antarctica listener, not the rivers running with blood and all.)
“Beheadings, corpses lying in fields, rivers running with blood, deceit, cowardice, birds pecking out eyes.”
Yikes. Sounds pretty brutal. We should take a moment to consider the impact this type of imagery might have on our society.
Better yet, someone get Eli Roth on the phone. I smell a summer blockbuster.
I take it you’ve never read the original Grimm’s Fairy Tale’s. I especially like Cinderella where her evil step-sister’s have their eyes pecked out.
The story of David and Goliath will always remind me a great preacher’s sermon on the 5 smooth stones; 1 for Goliath and the other 4 for his brothers. After so many years of speculation from so many preachers and writers it was good to hear about a reason that fit David and the situation that he was entering into. David had no illusions that the Philistines would honor the agreement and if they sent someone it was likely to be Goliath’s equally impressive and ugly brothers.
This is really significant, Michael. Congrats on achieving something both geektastic and, ya know… sanctified and s**t.
[quote comment="93769"]I take it you’ve never read the original Grimm’s Fairy Tale’s. I especially like Cinderella where her evil step-sister’s have their eyes pecked out.[/quote]
Took the words right outta my mouth. Did you also catch the section BEFORE that, where each sister (at the encouragement of the stepmother, who insists that once they’re queen, they’ll never have to walk anywhere again) slices off either a toe or a heel to fit into the slipper? The Prince takes one away, in turn, but as they pass Cindy’s mother’s magic tree, the birds start singing about the blood in the shoe.
Never mind that the Princie-poo just couldn’t see that IT WASN’T THE RIGHT FRIGGIN’ GIRL. Seriously, the Charming’s are pretty effin’ stupid most of the time.
OMG I committed an apostrophe error! I must pay! “Charmings.” Charmings that are plural, not possessive! AAAUUUGGH! The apostrophe fuhrer will be so upset with me!
Carrie dear, try decaf.
Decaf is for those who have given up on life and are waiting for sweet death to take them.
I’m in the middle of reading 1 Corinthians right now for The Bible Podcast. This morning I recorded myself reading 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul smacks the church in Corinth upside the head for their mishandling of, well, pretty much everything. But in this chapter, mostly communion.
It’s the chapter that the famous “Words of Institution” come from …
The Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For every time you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
In the middle of recording myself reading that chapter, I had a sudden vivid memory of the last time I had said those words out loud.
Our pastor Doug was out of town, it was toward the end of summer, I think, and he had asked me to preach. It wasn’t the first time I had given the message, but it was the first time that it had landed on Communion Sunday, which we celebrate on the first Sunday of every month.
I come from the low church tradition, Baptist and later Evangelical Free. We didn’t have much in the way of ritual, or liturgy. We believed strongly in the priesthood of all believers, in the personal dimension of each person’s relationship with Christ, in the primacy of the preached word, and our corporate worship was constructed along those lines. We celebrated baptisms with great fervor, because baptism meant conversion. We observed communion, but it seemed more out of obligation than any great sense of purpose or meaning.
That might be too harsh. Let me leave it this way – we were never taught to understand the value of ritual itself, how to find meaning in the repetition of words or actions.
When Pope John Paul II died, the funeral was televised live in the middle of the night here in LA. I was just coming home from a gig, and flipped on the TV to unwind. I watched, transfixed, as the BBC newsperson explained the meaning of every movement, every word, each act in the unfolding drama. Everything had purpose, everything was a symbol and a reenactment. As the choir sang songs composed 800 years ago, as the cardinals recited prayers written 1600 years ago, I had a profound sense of standing in the stream of history.
I had been raised in a tradition that viewed ritual as “dead acts”, a lifeless repetition of habit in the place of real worship, by people who didn’t have the Holy Spirit in them. But there was nothing lifeless about what I saw that night. It was made alive in the people who reenacted it, step for step. It had the breath of the Holy Spirit in it, from first note to final prayer.
I watched the whole thing. When I finally shut off the TV and crawled into bed, I lay awake for a while, thinking about what it means to be connected to 2,000 years of Christ’s People.
Rituals are reenactments of the sacred themes of life. Placing the ring on the finger, going under the water, eating the bread and wine, reciting the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed, they are all reenactments of true themes.
And in each ritual, there is a part to play. The bride and groom play the roles of Christ and Church, the child in soaking white robes is Good Friday and Easter, the leader and the congregation reciting the creeds become Prophet and Israel.
And on Sunday morning, when I raised the bread, and broke it, and spoke out loud the words of institution, “This is my body, and it is for you,” I become suddenly, manifestly aware of my role in the ritual.
It is Christ who lifts bread, and breaks it. It is Christ who drinks the wine. It is Christ who feeds his people, and who proclaims their unity. And in this reenactment, this remembrance, I was standing in his place for that congregation, that day, in that place.
The words caught in my throat that morning. I’m glad that they did. I would not like to be the sort of person who suddenly pictures himself in Christ’s sandals, and keeps right on going. The words caught in my throat, and I felt tears gathering in my eyes. I felt the crushing weight of my own dark soul, made evident in the glare of that moment.
It can be a beautiful thing to have such clarity right before you eat at the Lord’s table.
I finished the words of institution, and the elders distributed the bread and cup throughout the congregation. They returned, and knelt on the front step of the platform to receive their own portion. I handed bread and wine to these men and women, years ahead of me in faith and dignity, any one of whom would have been a more fitting representative of Christ that morning.
But the ritual doesn’t depend on the worth of the players. The proclamation of Christ’s death and resurrection, the power of grace, the unity of all believers, these are the beautiful truths that the ritual proclaims. Maybe it’s better to have someone in the role at the head of the table who no one would mistake for the real thing.
And so, when I ate the bread, and when I drank the cup, the entire congregation did too. And I was with them, again, eating at the same table, receiving the same grace.
That morning, as I moved through the scenes of the play, and followed the motions, as I spoke the words of Christ by way of Paul, and played the part of Christ to his people in that place, I was doing two things.
I was remembering Christ.
And I was remembering his people, that great cloud of witnesses who, for 2000 years, have used this ritual to make present the mystery of grace.
I was raised pentecostal. My father was ordained in the Four Square Church and pastored one for most of my childhood. Because of this, I can definitely relate to the whole “low church tradition” that you spoke about. Nowadays, my family and I are very much involved in a church that is very liturgical, my dad was re-ordained in the Anglican church ( AMIA to be exact ) and what you said in this blog has definitely summed up my feelings exactly. There’s a reason you have degrees and I’m only working on one right now. But it really is incredible to be immersed in the tradition of liturgy. I know a lot of people consider any form of a structured service to be a spiritual cop out, but for me at least, it has the respect and honor that a lot of times a “regular” church service might lack. Maybe it’s just me, but I think you’re spot on.
What a beautiful reminder Michael! It brought tears to my eyes as I read.
Wow, Michael. It’s been a while since I’ve truly been able to say “I never thought of it that way before”. Your humility gave me pause.
Cerise
Well said, Michael. As a lay person in the Anglican tradition, I cannot serve the Eucharist, but I have served the wine many times, and often found a similar sense of wonder.
Right now, I serve at most services at my little church. Every week, I offer the Blood of Christ to my friends and my pastor. It is such sweet service – often the best part of Sunday for me. I am freed from my own worries and grievances as I offer Christ to my friends. Jesus, in my hands, enters my heart through their trusting, kind eyes and I am blessed even as I offer a blessing to them.
This is beautiful, Michael. Thanks for sharing it.
Richard Foster teaches about these ‘streams’ and how the church has several. I think when streams lap over you get some interesting outcomes. Great storytelling, powerful message.
Wonderfully told. We need more storytelling like this in the Church.
One of the strongest senses of calling over the last 10 years of my life has been, over and over, as I participate in the celebration of the Eucharist. From the time I was a teenager, it’s always been a pull towards ordination for me. What a blessing that you have been able to serve. Perhaps someday I’ll have a similar humbling experience.
Very nice reflection. Ritual really does matter, doesn’t it? Especially if you know what you’re doing :-)
Cliff, I experienced the best, if shortest, moments during the Eucharist when I attended an Episcopalian church. Those moments were the smiles I shared with the people serving the host and wine – especially the wine people, since there’s a measure of trust and humor and cooperation that goes along with both of you levering the big cup towards your mouth whilst NOT spilling it down your front.
The moment when I looked into their eyes and smiled was a split second where it was just me, them, and, you know, god. I do miss that.
Cerise
I wonder if the value of ritual as a teaching tool is coming back into use more widely – I’ve heard people say we’re moving to a post-literate culture, and in those waters we might find that reenactment is a powerful tool for communicating and teaching.
Michael, I appreciate your insight and ability to communicate so well. I’ve thought long about this very thing as I grew up in a church tradition similar to what you described growing up in and at times I intensely long for more church liturgy/structure/meaning/less flip-flops. I have several friends who are in their 50′s and 60′s who did indeed grow up with liturgy and structure and an annual calendar of ‘do this on this day at church for this historical/biblical reason’ who would never, ever, ever go back to any of it because what they experience in the “low church” setting is, basically, what you described thinking and experiencing through watching the Pope’s funeral: everything had a purpose. I’ve heard said friends talk about the freeing experience of not being held to an ancient calendar and liturgy and how it opened the way for them to think and feel and relate to God in a personal way and how then they were able to figure out if they actually believed in God at all and what that meant. I know what I’m saying is obvious and has been better said, but nonetheless, I’m sayig it. (Every class needs it’s C average student!) It is interesting how a person such as I can just ache for more ritual (or whatever you want to call it) as the casual, evangelical free, everybody grab a geetar and let’s love on Jesus style sometimes seems almost profane or at least not nearly meaningful enough given what Christianity has been/is/will be while the person right next to me can be thinking “Oh thank God…at THIS church they are actually REAL and we’re not just all faking it with a bunch of meaningless rituals!”
I’m just saying.
[quote comment="74603"]It is interesting how a person such as I can just ache for more ritual (or whatever you want to call it) as the casual, evangelical free, everybody grab a geetar and let’s love on Jesus style sometimes seems almost profane or at least not nearly meaningful enough given what Christianity has been/is/will be while the person right next to me can be thinking “Oh thank God…at THIS church they are actually REAL and we’re not just all faking it with a bunch of meaningless rituals!”
I’m just saying.[/quote]
That’s very true. I’m a big fan of variety in the church, I think we need a wide range of spiritual expressions, for exactly this reason.
I think it’s also important, though, that the church give people the tools to participate in worship experiences that are outside of their own comfort zone. People who are at home in an Evangelical style of worship should be given the instruction and means to understand the power and significance of liturgy, and likewise those in ritualized traditions should be taught to understand the value of freedom in worship.
If for no other reason, then because it’s a good basis for charitable understanding of our brothers and sisters, and how they pursue life with God.
[quote post="1351"]People who are at home in an Evangelical style of worship should be given the instruction and means to understand the power and significance of liturgy,[/quote]
…Indeed. I think this is where the baby was thrown out with the bath water…I’m convinced that the key to meaningful liturgy making a lasting and meaningful resurgence in evangelical churches is for pastors, Sunday School teachers and most importantly, parents to make a point of explaining the reasons/meaning behind liturgy/rituals/reenactments to the up and coming generation. I tend to think that people not doing this is why, in part, such things became meaningless and stale and then abandoned by some. Most kids are simply not going to ‘get it’ unless It is explained to them. Repeatedly.
Yesterday was story time. Today is the technical study. I thought it might be cool to look at some of the things that helped propel The Bible Podcast forward, presented in no particular order, as a guide to anyone else who might think about launching a podcast.
This has got to be the single biggest factor in moving the site up through search engine rankings. The name of the site is the name of the podcast is the 3-word description of exactly what it’s all about. If you launch a podcast about how awesome bunny slippers are, and title it “The Mr. T Show”, and host it at http://www.crazy4u.net/mrtpodshow, people have no idea what it is you’re doing. There are packs of raving bunny slipper fans out there searching Google for a podcast that meets their needs, but all they can tell from your page hit is that you’re a confused, possible psychopathic teenage girl. This doesn’t work to your advantage.
Since the very beginning, The Bible Podcast committed to iTunes as its primary distribution channel. I started with the assumption that most of my listeners wouldn’t be podcast people – they would be people venturing out into the world looking for this specific sort of thing (in the same way that most Addison Road readers aren’t really blog people, they’re people who come to this one specific blog). I assumed that most of our listeners would find our blog either through a Google search, or by flipping open iTunes and using the podcast directory search function. The iTunes search results are weighted in favor of popularity (number of subscribers).
Armed with this knowledge, I push iTunes as the sole distribution channel for the podcast. If you look at the first page of the site, you’ll see what I mean. I stole this idea from Scribe Music Show (thanks, Trevor), and about 40% of the first-time visitors go directly to iTunes without ever having to visit the site itself. If they do click through to the website, they’ll see a link to iTunes prominently displayed, should they decide to subscribe. If they poke around the site a bit, they’ll find a “How do I listen?” page which, again, directs them to use iTunes to subscribe.
There are many, many good podcast aggregators out there, like Odeo.com, and the podcast is listen in most of these, but these sites are still, by and large, only used by the Nerd Herd. If you walk up to 100 people on the street and ask them about podcasting, they’ll beat you up and take your iPod away. This is LA, after all. But if you were to do it in someplace nice, like Boise, most people, if they knew anything at all about it, would say, “Oh yeah, that’s the button on my iTunes where I can listen to shows people do.”
By committing early to a distribution channel that would be most popular with my average listener, I made my popularity within iTunes artificially high. Instead of a few hundred subscribers scattered across dozens of distribution channels, I had a few hundred subscribers all listening through iTunes. Within the first 6 months, The Bible Podcast was in the top 4 results for the search term “Bible”, which in iTunes means getting banner placement on the search results page.
So, you’ve signed up for a fancy new hosting plan with Jim’s Big House of Web Hosting, and you’ve started to do the math. You realize pretty quickly that by the time you hit 100 daily subscribers, at 20 MB per podcast episode, you’re going to rip through your bandwidth in about 8 seconds. What do you do? Well, don’t host the files! OurMedia.org will host your audio and video files for free, and you can directly link them into your site. In other words, your listeners don’t have to click through to Our Media to listen, the files can be embedded directly into your site. There are two advantages to hosting your files off-site. The first is that you don’t have to pay for as much bandwidth. The second, you will pick up some drive-by traffic from people searching through the Our Media site looking for the things your podcast is about. I get about 20 hits a day from people who searched Our Media for the title of a specific book of the bible, and then following the links over to the podcast site.
I should mention that the Our Media servers have been pretty bloaty since the very beginning, and if an episode hasn’t been downloaded in a while, it seems to take forever for the server to actually find it. I eventually switched back over to hosting the audio files myself, instead of using Our Media. Still, I think they were an important part of getting up off the ground.
So, those are some of the early choices that I made with the podcast, that I think contributed to it getting up off the ground. I don’t think they were the biggest factor in the podcast’s success, though. The inescapable truth is that “Content is King”. People come because they want the content. They want to hear the bible read by someone with a clear speaking voice, recorded with good equipment. Everything else is just lipstick, pointing people in the right direction.
I’m curious – anybody else out there in The Roadhouse running a podcast, or thinking of starting one? I’d love to hear your experiences.
[pictures Michael podcasting whilst wearing lipstick, and wonders what color it would be]
Dig it, Terri.
Cerise
I think often of doing a podcast, or a blog. And then I realize that I lack engaging content. With the Bible, you have a substantial audience: people who want to hear the word in spoken word.
I have a feeling that my podcast would be a redundant extension of what I use Addison Road for- awkwardly sharing intimate details of my life and psychology under the ignorant assumption that only a half dozen people will read it and find me to be a deeper, more likeable individual.
See?
Hey! Me, too!
(Sharolyn does a spit take at the thought of herself starting a podcast.)
I don’t know about distribution channels, bandwidth, or bloaty servers… but if you want to feel more successful you could change “One Thousand Sets of Ears” to “Two Thousand Ears”.
In September of 2005, I started a little side project called The Bible Podcast. The idea is pretty simple. I flip on a microphone, and record myself reading a chapter a day from the bible. Then, I upload it to a website where people can download it and listen. Then, sometimes, other people record themselves reading chapters, and I upload them. The website is http://www.thebiblepodcast.org, if you want to check it out.
Today, this little side project passed a major milestone. It passed 1,000 daily subscribers – people who set iTunes to go fetch the podcasts every single day. In fact, it pretty much blew right through that number, from 800 or so on Monday, to 900 on Tuesday, and today, I logged on to see this:
I’m a numbers guy. I love seeing the numbers creep higher and higher, and to break them down in as many ways as possible. Things like:
get me all fancy up with my bad self. I go to the site and refresh the statistics every few hours to see how much bandwidth people are burning through. In December, the server spit out 300 gigs of data. In January, it’s been burning at a rate of about 30 gigs per day. Matthew 11, which was just posted yesterday, has been downloaded 1500 times.
I know that these kinds of numbers are hardly a blip on the radar for the big dogs in the new media, but in the little world of podcasts about the bible, it’s a pretty big deal.
If you search for the words “Bible” and “Podcast”, the site comes up as #1 on Yahoo, and #3 on Google. It you search the iTunes podcast directory for the word “bible”, it’s the first podcast listed.
Gretchen has a theory about the rapid acceleration of subscribers. She thinks everybody got an iPod for Christmas, and then they made a New Year’s resolution to read the bible more. So, they go poking around in iTunes for a way to get their daily bread in tastee little no-hassle packages, like a Twinkee. I think Gretchen is pretty smart.
So, I’m a numbers guy, but I love reading emails from people who listen. There’s a Catholic priest who lives in the northern most tip of Japan, who sat around listening to the Gospel of John with a family who had just lost their young wife and mother. They just put it on repeat and listened over and over again.
There are students in South America who get together to listen to the podcast, and read along with the text, in order to improve their English. Thing about how scary that is, for just a second. You might be walking through Brazil someday and bump into some kid who speaks English with a Mike Lee accent.
There’s a guy who is fairly agnostic about God, but was curious about the bible, so he subscribed to see what all the fuss was about. His email was hilarious. He just wanted to let me know that he enjoyed it, and concluded by saying, “Please don’t send me any tracts or religious crap.” I was tempted to forward him every Chick tract in one ginormous email, but I restrained myself.
There are the people who want to argue about the translation that I’m using (New English Translation, pretty good, in my humble opinion), or they take issue with the fact that I let Catholics into the club (sheesh), or they are upset that I’m reading the Bible “Out of Order” (I’m guessing they think the thing was handed down out of Heaven in a neatly stacked set of galleys, ready for publishing). I get an equal number of emails from people who love the bumper music, and can’t stand the bumper music. I smile a little bit, because I think there are people who just love to pick a fight, and they like it even more if they can call it “contending for the faith once delivered”. Mostly, I just hit “delete” on those. Life’s too short.
A few have just floored me. There are people in countries that block access to sites having anything to do with the bible, but they are able to subscribe to a podcast feed. They listen. Two people have approached me about expanding the podcast into other languages that will reach areas where it is dangerous to distribute bibles. One wants to do a version in Farsi, the language spoken in parts of Iran and Afghanistan. Another wants to do a version in Mandarin Chinese. We’re still working through the logistics, but I’m hopeful that this will come together.
So, the Story of God advances. 500 years ago, they burned the bones of those who suggested that the Bible could be read and understood by the common people in their own language. Today, a 12-year-old kid in Taiwan can log on to iTunes, and download it.
That is amazing! It makes me want to cry just knowing that people across the globe are being touched.
You have put a smile on my face and tears in my eyes.
All I can say is…..Amen!
This is amazing.
This is maybe slightly off-topic, but I had a pretty intense conversation with one of the lovely ladies in our housechurch last night. She grew up in a fairly fundamentalist home and has spent the last several years trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus without the baggage that was left for her to drag around. She’s on a good road, but something that’s been nagging at her is that she can’t yet read the Bible in a fresh way — when she cracks it open, all it says is the same stuff that was crammed down her throat for 20 years.
I gave her advice that will probably get me burned at the stake: Don’t read it. At least, not for awhile. Read other people’s thoughts about, and get in good, long conversations about it over a bottle (or five) of Grenache. For awhile, at least. At some point, I said, maybe in a few months or a year, you’ll get this overwhelming craving to open it up again, probably to the Old Testament prophets. You’ll wolf down some Isaiah appetizers and follow it up with some hearty Amos soup, and you won’t be able to stop until you’ve feasted on Romans, and even then you’ll still be hungry enough to have a smoky, spicy Hebrews cognac. You may even consider the cheese plate of 1, 2 and 3 John because even after all that gorging, you’ll still be hungry — which will be great, because the table’s always full. People who’ve been force fed need time to get hungry again.
What I didn’t say was that I think when she finally feels those pangs of hunger, she’ll need to eat in a different way than the way she ate growing up…maybe by switching up translations (The Message or the TNIV would be a good start) or by listening instead of reading. I read somewhere that sometimes recovering anorexics learn to eat again by trying different foods than they ate (or avoided eating) when they were in the throes of their illness. I think the same might be true of recovering fundamentalists. I’m glad the podcast option is on the menu for her. It may be the thing that hits the spot.
mike,
as we all know there are millions out there starving. not only are they starving for food but they are starving for the love, protection, grace, and relevance of God’s word.
Jesus feed a crowd of 5000 with fish and bread, you are feeding your own crowd (with twinkies) of over 1000. you bring them food that will nourish their souls.
Thank you
as for the young Brazilian lad speaking with a Mike Lee accent, if he has half the talent and love for our Lord that you do, it will do the world great good.
(Did I just say “great Good?)
What a fantastic, inspired project. You are an excellent reader, and I haven’t spent much time with the New English Version. I’m in.
May God bring forth a huge amount of fruit from this wonderfully simple idea.
Is this a completely exciting and possible subversive project, Michael? I LOVE it! Plus, you kind of turn me on with your reading voice. Do you do other bedtime stories? (I’m just asking…sheesh, Gretchen!)
yeah, Terri. Except now we have this wonderful book “My Lover is Mine” to read to each other. Woo-hoo!
Speaking of which, what does a girl have to do to get a book review around here…give away free books?
Amazing, Michael. You are officially a Man of History.
Cerise
Aly, no book review as of yet, but I did put the shill on for you guys. How’s that for promotion?
This is, by far, my favorite thing I’ve learned about/read on Addison Road. And, Gretchen is right on the mark…I received an ipod for Christmas…make that 1,217.
Mike, this is amazing! Wow.
Do you have a super-human power that allows you more hours in the day than the rest of us?
Aly, I can’t wait to read the book. As much as I’d love to give you the gift of a respectable review, it’d probably come out as: “It was real good.”
Sharolyn, I think I’ve given away my secret here before, but just in case you missed it …
The secret to doing many things is to do them all in a very half-assed manner.
You can put that on a t-shirt, if you’d like. It would make a great tagline, if I had the energy to reinstate the taglines.
I’d settle for some half-assed taglines.
Oh, Aly, this book doesn’t need a review. Every person who has ever had, continues to have, and hopes to have a sensual neuron fire in any part of his or her body during any part of his or her lifetime should just sit down and drink this thing in…S L O W L Y. I haven’t shown it to Paul yet. I intend to piece it out bit by bit. I intend to have him screaming for the next installment. But then that’s my idea of a lovely date…
Teri
Holy cow!
Dude, you’re King of the Audio Bible. King, I say.
Cerise
Once we get to 2,000 listeners, I plan to switch to the Book of Mormon, just to watch the heads asploding.
I was the kind of kid who stomped on anthills.
That reminds me. Anybody send you any Apocryphal stuff yet?
Cerise
Linda, 
Carrie, 
Bobby 7:20 am on 4 September 2009 Permalink
I think there’s a treasure map on the back. Just need some lemon juice…
Daniel Semsen 8:48 am on 4 September 2009 Permalink
Did you say treasure map?
Quick, call Nicolas Cage!
michael 8:56 am on 4 September 2009 Permalink
More info here.
aly hawkins 9:03 am on 4 September 2009 Permalink
That is incredible! Almost makes a person want to go to seminary.
Linda 9:29 pm on 4 September 2009 Permalink
Princeton, Univ. of Chicago & APU. Cool.
Leonard 9:39 pm on 4 September 2009 Permalink
I got my Dead Sea Scrolls in my Lucky Charms. Magically Delicious.