It’s officially the middle of the summer vacation. Independence Day has come and gone. At the Bible Chair, we are beginning to think in earnest about incoming students and activities for the fall semester. One of our “important” tasks is to decide what to do with “the arc of the covenant.”

The “arc” is a sturdy, well-built, large piece of furniture that graced the pulpit at College Hill when we Becky and I first moved to town in 1999. It is around eight feet long and perhaps two and a half feet wide. It houses two large shelves that will basically accommodate two of each kind of clean animal (...