The fine people at
ACTA Publications have been gracious enough to offer a free copy of The Message Catholic/Ecumenical Edition to one of my readers. I received a review copy of one a week ago
and am very pleased with the overall quality of the volume.
Eugene Peterson's The Message® is a fresh, compelling, insightful, challenging, faith-filled paraphrase of the Bible into contemporary idiomatic American English and is first and foremost a reader's Bible. The Message®: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition features the deuteroncanonical books paraphrased by William Griffin, including the books of Judith, Tobit, Sirach, Wisdom, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and additions to Esther and Daniel, will make the Scriptures come alive again.
So here are the
rules:
1) If you have a blog, please advertise this contest on your site or mention this contest on Facebook (If you don't, you can still enter the contest.)
2) This contest is only for people who are in the USA.
3) To enter, please select your favorite rendering from The Message and explain in 1-3 sentences why you selected it. You can submit your entry in the comment section of this blog. (You can search The Message, minus the Deuterocanonicals here.)
4) The contest ends on Sunday, November 17th, at 11:59 PM. I'll announce the winner on Monday morning. At that time, the winner must contact me, via email, with their address within one week to receive their prize. I will then forward your contact information to ACTA who will send along your prize.
5) One entry per person. If you post anonymously, you must leave a name at the end of your comment entry.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFrom Psalm 63:1-10
ReplyDelete1 God—you’re my God! I can’t get enough of you! I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts.
2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory. In your generous love I am really living at last! My lips brim praises like fountains. I bless you every time I take a breath; My arms wave like banners of praise to you.
5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy; I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises! If I’m sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection. Because you’ve always stood up for me, I’m free to run and play. I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post.
I think the reason I enjoy this passage in The Message as much as I do is that every time I read it, it makes me laugh - in a good way. Eugene Peterson captures the desire and outpouring of praise that every believer should have while we worship our Lord. He captures what it means to be a child in God's presence.
Esther 4:12-14
ReplyDeleteWhen Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message: “Don’t think that just because you live in the king’s house you’re the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.”
I really enjoy the phrase "such a time as this" in the context of Esther. Her entire story hangs on this moment. The build-up to those words in this passage pack tight a raw potential energy, and then Mordecai brings the hammer down, making it undeniable that her purpose in God's plan is RIGHT NOW!
Such.
A time.
As THIS.
I picture him pounding his fist on the table with each full stop for dramatic emphasis. Everything in the story up to this moment, the whole arc of the epic saga of Israel, is sharply inhaled into THIS like a deep full-body breath.
Wait for it... Hold that breath...
And EXHALE as the full power of this packed phrase infuses every word and deed that comes after it with the divine will of God determined to save his people!
I really think The Message captures and conveys the sheer magnitude of this one moment better than any other translation. Sorry, I know that's more than 3 sentences, I couldn't contain it in any less than 7 ;)
ReplyDeleteSee, my Servant shall prosper; he shall be highly exalted. Yet many shall be amazed when they see him—yes, even far-off foreign nations and their kings; they shall stand dumbfounded, speechless in his presence. For they shall see and understand what they had not been told before. They shall see my Servant beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know it was a person standing there. So shall he cleanse many nations. Isaiah 52: 13-15
I must confess that I've never considered reading a translation like the Message.
However, after taking you up on your offer, I like how easy the above reads while conveying a sense of climax. Perhaps, a good translation for Lectio Divina.
Pax,
John McBryde
My selection is from John 15:9-15...
ReplyDelete“I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I've done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
“I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.
Other versions use the verb "abide," which I actually liked because it spoke to me. But then I read this translation and it speaks to me even more - "make yourself at home in my love" and "you'll remain intimately at home in my love." There's something about being at home with the Lord that really speaks to me on a much more personal level.
-Hans
Who won?
ReplyDeleteAfter consultation, the winner was Jason's entry. But do not be surprised if there will be another opportunity in the coming weeks.
Delete