Our theme this month centres around gifts at
Christmas. We shop for family and friends. We donate to charities in lieu of
gifts to friends and family. We give to the needy and homeless. We give and
receive gifts of Christmas music, warm hospitality, family times.
Going back to the beginning, we think of the
gifts of the Magi to the Christ Child. And we are awed by the mystery of God’s
greatest gift—Jesus who came to earth to bring us salvation.
The Gift of Bible Translation
If you talk to a man in a language he understands,
that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his
heart. Nelson Mandela
A few days ago I received
a Christmas card from Wycliffe Bible Translators. It tells the story of the
Bambalang people of Cameroon receiving the newly-translated book of Luke. When
the people read it together in church, they burst out laughing.
The translator was
shocked. “Oh, man,” he thought. “We’ve messed up…something’s wrong.”
He asked the pastor what
happened. The pastor assured him that the laughter wasn’t from incorrect
translation. Rather, in the verse where Joseph and Mary put baby Jesus in a manger, the translators now used the
Bambalang word to describe a feeding trough for sheep.
“They laughed because
they understood it,” said the translator. For years they had been hearing the
equivalent of the word manger and
didn’t know what it was.
“For the first time,
really, the Scripture was theirs.”
They now
own the words that give them life.
The
Bible is the life-changing Word of God and is a cause for celebration as this
language group and many others are now receiving it in their heart language.
Sometimes the heart language
is a specific dialect of a major
language and needs its own translation.
Take the First Nations
Version (FNV). It is for the 90% of native peoples on Turtle Island (their word
for North America) whose first language is now English, but who retain much of
their vocabulary and unique world view. An English translation is being drafted
for them.
Here is part of their
Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke. (The traditional First Nations names
for Biblical characters and places are adapted from the original Hebrew and
Greek.)[i]
1-2
When the time drew close for Bitter Tears (Mary) to have her child the
government of the People of Iron ordered that the people be numbered and put
on government rolls. 3 All the tribal members were required to travel to
their ancestral homeland to register. 4-5 He Gives Sons (Joseph) and Bitter
Tears (Mary) set out on a long journey to House of Bread (Bethlehem), the
village of their ancestor the great chief Much Loved One (David)… 6 The time
for Bitter Tears (Mary) to have her child was upon her! 7 But no place could
be found in the lodging house, so He Gives Sons (Joseph) found a sheep cave
where it was warm and dry. There she gave birth to her son. They wrapped him
in a warm soft blanket and laid him on a baby board. Then they placed him on
a bed of straw in a feeding trough.
The translation goes on to tell how
spirit-messenger from the Creator came to the shepherds and told them about
the baby, the Chosen One, who would set his people free.
13
Suddenly, next to the messenger, a great number of spirit warriors from the
world above appeared giving thanks to Creator saying, 14 “All honor to the
One Above Us All, and let peace and good will follow all who walk upon the
earth.”
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Jesus said, “The Spirit
gives life…The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and
life” (John 6:63 NIV).
Bibles in major
languages, dialects, Braille Bibles, even Bibles in sign languages are now
available to many of the world’s peoples.
And still
more peoples are waiting for their own Bibles. So desirous of God’s Word that
years ago Chinese Christians created a prayer song.
Lord,
send a Bible for that’s your gracious light.
True
love and teaching and the bread of life.
I
know for sure that your Word will lead me on,
Brighten
the way all through my journey home.[ii]
Pray
this Christmas that through this gift—this present of
translation—God’s presence would become present to all the world’s people.
[i]Adapted from Larry and Sharon Fjeldstrom http://b5d29352f4cbb4f36764-64716aaac85f98c90d1d9176c94b76d6.r70.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/g/0e2203317_1456949710_gm-newsletter-fjeldstrom.pdf
[ii] Paul Estabrooks and
Jim Cunningham, Compilers. Standing
Strong through the Storm. Santa Ana, CA: Open Doors International. 2004.
P.127.
