|
Translation Sunday
September 30, 2007
As I sit in my office to type, I am surrounded by bibles, bibles in English but
different translations and bibles in different languages, bibles, bibles
everywhere. We often don’t appreciate the time, the work, the struggle that it
takes to get a bible translated. We just put it on our shelves.
With many brothers and sisters at All Saints who are working as part of Wycliffe
Bible Translators, and today being a day when we thank God for bible translators
then we need to be reminded of their hard work and be thankful to God for them
and what they produce – the word of God in our heart language. The heart
language is the best way in which we hear God speak to us.
We should be thankful to God for the way that He preserved the documents of the
Old and New Testament. We don’t have the originals but we do have copies that
were wide spread throughout the world yet are very similar to each other and so
we thank God that we can have great confidence in the accuracy of those texts
and confidence of their translation.
We can thank God for those who risked their lives in the middle ages to
translate the bible into the language of everyday people. Some translators were
executed for their work.
Our God is a God who is not silent. He speaks. He has spoken and he continues to
speak. And the clearest way that he speaks to us is in the words of the bible.
Bible readings in church are more important than sermons – for here is God
speaking to us directly. Listen to God. Sermons should help us to understand the
bible and how to apply what God is saying. Do what God says. Listening and doing
what God says will encourage those who have and are translating.
For if it is the word of God then let us treat it that way – for God wants our
lives to be different when he speaks to us. Take your bible off your shelf, dust
it off and read it, bring it to church and use it, gather with others to read
it. Read it with your family, your friends, your staff. And read it by yourself
and for yourself. You will be better for it, you will be more godly for it.
Today, the 30th September is a day when we remember translators and those who
are still in the work of translating. Thank you God for translations and for
translators! Thank you God!
Ian
Comments
Post a comment
Comments are submitted on the understanding that they may be edited.
Comments that are off topic, offensive or contain errors of fact will be
rejected. All posts are moderated. The
*necessary fields are for verification -
not for publication. Include your screen name in your Comment.
|
