An Anniversary and Conclusion
This past Sunday, 7 October, was the anniversary of the death of my Mother, LaNita Kaye (Holt) Gillespie. She’s been gone from our plain of reality for 12 years now. It’s been said that you’ll think of your loved one every day after they’re gone. As I’m sure those of you who have lost a loved one can testify, that’s a pretty true statement. As each anniversary approaches, the feelings of sadness and longing grows stronger. While Sunday was a good day on the one hand, it was bitter sweet on the other.
As this anniversary was approaching, I started thinking about Mom’s favorite Bible version, The Message. As I stated in a previous post, I used The Message as my primary Bible for a year in her honor. This coming Lectionary Reflection, 14 October, will be my last use of The Message as my primary Bible.
So what’s been my take away from using The Message for an entire year?
Much to my surprise, I’ve really enjoyed it! While it’s not technically a translation, it did something it was designed to do — shine a new light onto very familiar stories by using “contemporary language.” If you’ve grown up hearing, reading, and studying the Bible like I have, reading a familiar passage from a different version really helps one’s understanding of the text. This is the primary reason most people use different translations when studying a particular passage. For the most part, those different translations will be the same — varying a little here and there. But when one reads from The Message, one encounters a lot of differences. Sometimes, those differences can be quite jarring. For example:
The Message:1
1-2 The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him; nothing — not one thing! — came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.
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9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.
14 The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. |
The Common English Bible:2
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 2 The Word was with God in the beginning.
3 Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being 4 through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
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9 The true light that shines on all people was coming into the world. 10 The light was in the world, and the world came into being through the light, but the world didn’t recognize the light. 11 The light came to his own people, and his own people didn’t welcome him. 12 But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children, 13 born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
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As you can see, the essence of both passages is pretty clear but the Common English Bible is more inline with what we’re probably used to. And while we can get the same points made by The Message, they’re worded in such a way as to bring a freshness, and perhaps even a new understanding, to the text.
While I’ll be returning to the Common English Bible as my primary text, I’ll continue to compare it to The Message. For the most part, I’ve found The Message to be a very enjoyable Bible. A lot of the time, it’s unique turn of phrase (e.g., “Life-Light”) caused me to catch something I’ve missed before. It seems my Mom’s still teaching me even from the Otherworld.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
2. Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
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