Manna Books

If I ever I change my occupation from pastor, my next preference would be to run a Christian book shop. As well as distributing good literature, one could sit back and read all those tomes in-between the customers’ visits. Sadly, these once common little institutions which were found in every town (there was even one in Barnoldswick just a few doors down from where I live) have mainly closed down. Whether the Christian public reads less (which would not surprise me, preferring to watch questionable YouTube videos, instead) or whether they have just suffered from web-based competition like every other bookshop, I cannot say.

At Bala this month, I found an actual one. It was run by a rather delightful older lady, who was keen to enquire if I was a student (how flattering) or a pastor (the early grey hair perhaps giving it away) that she might award a discount on my choice of book (a biography of C.H. Spurgeon's successor). I felt like offering to pay her more so the shop might stay open, but I suspect she would have refused. The shop was called Manna, which is the name of the miracle food given to Israel in the wilderness, and it was decorated with a rainbow, evidently dating from more innocent times.

The age of the typical Christian bookshop is all but over, but I hope the culture of Christian readership is not. People who say they only read the Bible may mean well, though it may be an expression of pride. Reading a good book is like hearing a sermon, but usually by a better preacher and one you can stop, pause, underline and all the rest. The Bible is our meat and veg, but even this fine meal can benefit from a slice of buttered bread or splash of gravy. May the Lord send us manna: not wafers, but printed pages.