Index - Posting 22 July Vol: 2.2
God, teach me lessons for living…Psalm 119:33 The Message
I’m not in the habit of losing things so when I do its quite traumatic. Last week I lost the watch I wear every day. I always keep it in the same place on my dressing table and only noticed it was missing when I was preparing for bed. Despite searching for several days - it remained lost and I was concerned I was experiencing early dementia. Such was my distress. I found it eventually, in a kitchen cupboard by the plastic containers up from the cooking pots. How it got there I have no idea. But it will not happen again. I had learnt in Jamaica, with the then regular power outages that it was important for things to have a place so they could be found in the dark. I have re-learnt that lesson. Then my antiquated but favourite notebook computer developed a serious mechanical fault that now makes it obsolete. But why was I still using it, when two years ago I bought a replacement which is much more efficient? Sometimes life makes the point of telling us its time to move on from some aspects of our behaviour that are driven purely by habit and not by their usefulness. Life also confirms those habits that work for us and provide comfort.
Take my Bibles for example, I have six translations. I was raised on the King James Version and often find myself, out of habit, thinking and quoting scriptures in Shakespearean English. For personal study, I use the Amplified Version as I like the expanded translation with explanatory notes. However I have to remember for academic theological study that all quotations must come from the New Revised Standard Version. In church I tend to preach from the New International Version as it’s the one favoured by the less structured and more evangelical churches. But when I visit more traditional black churches I have to take my King James Bible as it is the only one considered authentic. Ten years ago I bought a copy of The Message as I liked its contemporary translation and it reads well aloud. Yet whilst it sounds more natural and consistent with everyday speech, I rarely use it. My sixth translation is a recent acquisition – the Contemporary English Version used for the Poverty and Justice Bible. This version is straightforward and coherent as again it is meant to be read aloud. This enables a clear and unambiguous message to be heard by the listener and unlike The Message it includes the Old Testament. On Sunday, I gave my first Reflection in what will be my new MCC. To my surprise they use a translation completely unbeknown to me.
For awhile now I have been increasingly conscious of folk today, who have not been taught religious knowledge at school as I was or made familiar with the classic Bible stories at Sunday School as I was or who don’t consider the sermon and prayers to be the focal points of worship as I do. How can I honour my church past and continue to be relevant to my age group and yet include today’s generation with all their varied backgrounds? Perhaps only through learning from the lessons of the past, keeping good habits and dropping those that do not allow movement towards those goals. In doing this I become more open to being able to speak in the many languages of the Day of Pentecost and simultaneously to speak in the various dialects of 21 st century English. I see that being able to internalise the various translations and use their combined insights to demonstrate the timeless application of God’s love through Christ, is not an easy task but one worth striving towards. The apostle Paul spoke about the need to become all things to all people. Here is a contemporary understanding of that ability to be relevant and to speak clearly to today’s diverse populations.
Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view… I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! 1 Corinthians 9:21-23 The Message
May the Holy Spirit of God continue to provide you with a Gospel that speaks your language.