Seeker

Psalm 23 is many people's favourite Psalm, especially in its various sung versions like 'The Lord's my Shepherd' . I like some of the paraphrases and other adaptions based on Psalm 23. They sometimes give a refreshing angle on familiar words.  Whoever wrote this version (below) probably did it for fun, rather than to shed light on old words. If you like using several long words where one simple one would do, then this complex version of Psalm 23 is the one for you. it isn't for me. What do you think? Psalm 23 The Lord and I are in a shepherd/sheep situation and I am in a position of negative need. He prostrates me in a greenbelt grazing area: he conducts me directionally parallel to non-torrential aqueous liquid. He switches me onto a positive behavioural format for the maximum prestige of his identity. It should be said that notwithstanding the fact that I make ambulatory progress through the inter-hill mortality slot, terror sensation...

You'd need to pay careful attention to detail to remove a thorn from the paw of a lion. St Jerome certainly had that ability in his scholarship and diligent work of Biblical translation and commentary.  It is probably not true that he applied this skill to befriending a lion and removing the thorn from its paw. The lion story is a rather charming legend and this 15th century painting by Colantonio of Jerome in his study is fascinating. I love the expression on the face of a lion - almost like that of a worried little boy. "Is this going to hurt? Better not look. Hope he doesn't take too long." Looking at Jerome's face and that of the lion, I am reminded of Jerome's words, "The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart." The painting is part of an altarpiece and all around Jerome are the tools of his trade as a scholar, linguist, theologian, translator and interpreter of Scripture. There is...

Some years ago in a conversation with someone I thought was well educated I was astonished to discover his belief that the Holy Bible was originally written in English (Shakespearean English at that.) Having spent a while helping him untangle that one I then found myself telling him that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish man and not an Englishman as he thought. That is the first thing that came to mind as I thought about St Jerome. Jerome is the one shown in this image busily working on a translation of scripture, or perhaps one of his many Biblical commentaries or letters. When the Christian church began the common language of the Roman Empire was Greek. That is why the books of the New Testament were originally written in Greek. As Jewish people were dispersed widely, many no longer understood Hebrew, so the books of the Old Testament were translated from their original Hebrew into Greek.  What is widely understandable in one generation soon becomes incomprehensible in another...

One of the reasons the Bible rings true is that all human life is there: the good, the bad, the ugly and the really horrible. It provides a mirror to humanity at its best, worst and even plain ordinary. It does much more, but that's for other posts. Today is the 'lesser festival' of 'The Beheading of John the Baptist'. It commemorates a truly horrible and sordid story. Caravaggio's painting shown here is one of the less gory depictions of the scene. I wrote about this story from the angle of the women involved over on the Bible Bible Project in 'Women Behaving Badly' and on this blog here . Today I'm thinking about the courage it took for John to fulfill God's call with passion for truth and justice. He was no crowd pleaser among those who held power. John the Baptist's beheading is recorded in the gospels in Matthew 14: 1 - 12 and Mark 6: 1 - 29 . what had John, son of Elizabeth and Zechariah done to deserve such a death and to hav...

What does God look like? An impossible question of course. The painter Van Eyck depicted God the Father like this for the altarpiece in Ghent. Superb art. It looks to me like a rather bored bishop or medieval king waiting for the pomp and ceremony to be over before he can go and find something more fun to do. Children often ask what God looks like Parents often reply 'I don't know' or 'what do you think'? A child was once busy drawing. Her mother asked what she was drawing. "I'm drawing a picture of God" the child replied. "But", said her mother, "we can't see God. No-one knows what God looks like". With supreme confidence her daughter responded, "they will know when I've finished my picture".  Moses wanted to see God When Moses asked God to be shown God's glory, the response was that Moses would see God's goodness and hear God's name but  God told him "...you cannot see my face; for...

There are some really horrible stories in the Bible. This is about one of them.  Today's name in the Anglican calendar is 'The Beheading of John the Baptist'. You get the picture? This is not going to be a fun post. Digitalnun has posted a reflection on this here that is well worth reading. Mine takes a different angle, a focus on the women involved.  What follows is what I wrote over on The Big Bible Project. It was published there  on 14 August 2012 under the title: Women Behaving Badly Will the inspiration of strong young women who achieve their goals be an enduring Olympic legacy? I hope so, but sadly, women who achieve what they want aren’t always positive examples.  Most women in the gospels provide positive inspiration. Their stories are good news, as are those of so many female athletes. But this is the post I’d rather not write in my ‘Women of the Gospels’ series – but here goes. Who gets the prize for ‘bad’ female role model in the gospels? ...

When I was a teenager I remember being able to identify the 'keen' Christians walking to church on a Sunday by the size of the Bibles they carried. It was the local Baptists who clutched the biggest black leather-bound King James Versions - big enough to be used as an offensive weapon if challenged. It is now rare in the UK to see someone carrying or reading a Bible in public - or for that matter a prayer book. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is the availability and convenience of digital versions. Why carry even a pocket-sized Bible in book form when travelling if you can access it easily on your smartphone? And make notes on it as you go if you want to? And link to commentaries? Why bother with finding the several places in a daily office book like Common Worship Daily Prayer when there's an app for it that includes all the prayers and readings in one easy to read stream that you can use on the train or wherever you happen to be? This post was tri...

Today is the feast of 'The Presentation of Christ in the Templ e'. This feast is also known as 'Candlemas'. Its about the story told by Luke in chapter 2: 22-40 of his gospel, featuring Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and 2 elderly people, Simon and Anna.  The old woman Anna is the one who often doesn't get remembered as much as the others, but she deserves to be.  In Tissot's painting (shown here) Anna's arms are raised in prayer and praise as she saw the sign of her deepest hope fulfilled. On 14th January 2012, my #digidisciple post at the  BigBible   project  'Anna: A Life of Prayer ' was published in my monthly series 'Blogging Women of the Gospels'. This series about women of the gospels is intended for individual or group Biblical reflection or discussion. So in case you might find that helpful, h ere is what I wrote in that post about Anna: Do you know who you are? What do others see in you? How do you think God sees you?...

2011 is the 400th anniversary of the translation of the Holy Bible known as the Authorized Version (AV) or more commonly the King James Bible (KJB). Some months into 2011 I thought it was about time a published a HAPPY BIRTHDAY post. For regularly reading, study and understanding I prefer to use more modern and more accurate translations. But for sheer beauty of the sound of its language when read aloud the King James Bible is hard to beat. One of the translators' intentions was that its phrases should sound well when read aloud in church. And they do. This book has greatly enriched our language both in literature and the spoken word. Some of its words and idioms are completely unintelligible to anyone not brought up on 16th/17th century English. But many phrases in common use now in everyday English originate from the King James Bible. If you want examples of such phrases, have a quick listen to Glen Scrivener's cleverly contrived 3 minute poem in which he uses 100 of the...