The Day That Mom Took Home The Free Bible...

Dawn Eden Goldstein grew up Jewish, but her mother dabbled in a wide variety of spiritual practices. The day Dawn's mother took advantage of a free Bible offered by a stranger was a turning point in both their lives...

Please enjoy this excerpt from Sunday Will Never Be The Same: A Rock And Roll Journalist Opens Her Ears To God.

“Now that I’ve seen Livingston College,” I say to Mom, “I don’t think I’d want to go there. If I went to any college here, it would be Rutgers College.”

It was good of Mom to take the day off work so we could tour the various colleges on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University. If I’m not admitted into the music-business program at New York University, the state university of New Jersey is my second choice.

We are walking through the student center now. It is lined with convention-style tables where student groups promote their activities.

A young woman off to our right calls out, “Free Bibles!”

Mom and I turn to look at the table where the woman is trying to grab our attention. Hanging along its edge is a banner for Campus Crusade for Christ.

Atop the table are several neat small stacks of a paperback that I would not have recognized as a Bible. It has the words “Good News” on its cover, but instead of a cross or an image of Jesus, it has faces of men and women of different races and ages.

Mom picks a book off one of the stacks, holding it quizzically as she would if she were trying to assess the ripeness of a tomato.

“What do you think,” she asks me. “Should I take one? It’s free.”

Should she? It’s not like there’s any shortage of spiritual reading material at our apartment. Our living room is lined with religious and New Age books. When I was bored as a child, I would page through them, trying to keep track of the innumerable gods and goddesses in the Bhagavad-Gita or wondering how the Mormons could bear having a prophet named Moroni.

Do we need a New Testament? No. I know for a fact that we have a King James somewhere. But maybe it would be worthwhile for Mom to read the Good News Bible, if only to stop her seeking.

For years, Mom has carted me along with her to sit at the feet of different yogis, self-help gurus, and others claiming higher wisdom. I’m willing to go because I like being included in her life. It helps make up for Dad’s distance.

So I’m all right with Mom bringing me to her kundalini yoga classes and self-help conferences and Whole Life Expos. But I am starting to suspect that all this New Age stuff is pointless, because each teacher contradicts the last.

So, what do I say to Mom as she stands before me in the student center at Rutgers with a New Testament in her hand? What I really want to say to her is, please, Mom, find a spirituality that’s not flaky.

So, should she read the Bible? I look Mom in the eyes and raise my eyebrows the way I do when I am trying to sound authoritative. “Yes, Mom, you should. I read it in eighth grade and it was good.”

“Really? In eighth grade?”

I thought she knew. Normally I tell her everything. But I had a lot going on in eighth grade, so maybe I didn’t mention it.

“Yes. Mr. Snyder had us read the Gospels because he said they were important for understanding Western civilization.”

My endorsement has its desired effect upon Mom. She tucks the Good News Bible under her arm, graciously thanking the young woman behind the table, and we continue on our way.

Mom’s light is still on and her bedroom door is open a crack. I knock so I can come in to say good night. She doesn’t answer, so I take that to mean she is decent and I can walk in. These days she knows I don’t like to see her when she isn’t dressed.

Mom is awake in bed wearing her flannel nightgown, her head propped up on pillows. She is wearing her reading glasses and has the Good News Bible propped up on her chest. But unlike the smiling faces on its cover, her face is streaked with tears.

“Listen to this,” she says. “‘Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you…’”

Mom is a good reader. She reads the way she feels; the words come out strong and emotional: When people insult you! When they persecute you!

I try to seem appropriately impressed, but I don’t really understand what all the fuss is about.

What a great gift idea for Mother's Day! Buy one for mom and one for yourself!

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