PASTOR’S PEN
Trying to Read God’s Word…
“Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” - II Timothy 3:16
Some of you may know that earlier this year, I
asked a group of people from CUPC – different backgrounds, age and experience –
to help me be ‘Readability Consultants’ for an upcoming new Bible translation
called the Common English Bible. (The New Testament is already out, but the entire
Bible will be coming out sometime in 2011.) The Common English Bible has been
an ecumenical endeavor with biblical scholars, editors, and readability
consultants from various denominations, backgrounds and cultural perspectives
to offer a fresh translation that is relevant to English speakers of the 21st
century. Our group from CUPC was one of the 77 groups that took part in taking
the newly translated text. We gave feedback in regards to its ‘readability’ –
whether sentences made sense, the words being used were relevant, the
colloquialisms were easy to understand, etc.
As our group struggled with the minute details of
the second half of II Samuel (which was assigned to us), it also became a great
time of discussion in regards to how the original Hebrew text came to be, how
it became a part of the Bible, and all the politics surrounding it – not to
mention the difficulty of translating a foreign language with all its
complexities! I’m sure that those who know a foreign language can appreciate
how one word cannot fully translate equally to another word…let alone an entire
sentence or a book!
If anything, this process reinforced my
conviction that when we read anything, we need to realize that there are many
layers that come in between us and the text. When it comes to the Old
Testament, for example, there are the layers of the Hebrew language and ancient
culture, what the original intent of the text was, what social status the
person writing it had, along with the writer’s own experience and understanding
of God, to name a few.
On the reader’s side of the text, we have the
layers of own culture and context, our own experience of God that we
consciously or unconsciously read into the text.
This is not to say that we cannot ever understand
what the text is saying to us. It does mean, however, that we need to
acknowledge that there are many layers (or lenses) that are in between us and
the original text. And some layers are more difficult to permeate through than
others. It also does mean that we need to be open and humble enough to
acknowledge that our interpretations and understandings may not necessarily be
‘more correct’ than another’s.
The amazing thing is that God continues to choose
to speak to us from the Bible – with all the ‘layers’, our biases and complexities!
God has also given us the entire Christian Church (with the capital C, the
entire Body of Christ) in which to ‘check’ our interpretations and
understandings of the Scripture – challenging us to examine our own lenses
while learning from each others’ interpretations/understandings. We may not
always agree, we may not always be ‘right’ – but I believe that it is in that
journey that we find God truly speaking to us. But again, we need to stay open
and humble enough to acknowledge that God might indeed speak through someone
you completely disagree with. And that we might be transformed by their point
of view.
As in the passage above, “Every part of Scripture
is God-breathed and useful one way or another…for through the Word, we are put
together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” I pray that we will all
take to reading and studying the Bible seriously, and open to being transformed
– by both our reading and by others. I believe that our God of transformation,
who actually makes this happen, is waiting to do just that. So, please join me
- let’s dive on in!
Peace and blessings,
Pastor Grace Kaori Suzuki
DEACONS' REPORT
It’s October already, it seems like January was
just the other day. So, what have the Deacons been up to all these months? Well,
we are always busy every Sunday with Coffee Fellowship as we feed the physical
bodies of the congregation. During other months we focus on strengthening our
Faith Foundation through Spiritual Development and discerning where God wishes
us to use our gifts in His ministries. This is a process that goes on
constantly and we all need to be active in this during our lives.
Through the past few V.P. Deacons’ report, we
have been encouraging you to identify your gifts and discern what God wants you
to do with them.
For the Deacons, the next two big ministries are
the Thanksgiving Dinner on November 21, 2010, and working with the church to
make it more “Green”.
COFFEE FELLOWSHIP
The Deacons would like to thank the individuals
who have contributed to the coffee fellowship during the month of September.
The Deacon’s are aware there are others who do
not sign up on the list, but contribute. We at this time would like to thank
you all.
Take care and know that God is with you always!
ARTICLE OF INTEREST
We are once again offering a service of which you
may wish to take advantage. It was felt that many people may wish to send
Christmas Greetings to the members and friends of the church through the
Visiting Pastor in lieu of sending Christmas cards, thereby saving the cost of
postage and cards and allowing you the opportunity to use the money for some
other worthy cause, a cause which may be especially meaningful to you at
Christmas time.
What we are proposing is to make available
several sheets which will be the Christmas Greeting pages of a special edition
of the VP. There will be a large central Christmas Greeting message with little
boxes of space (2 ½ X 1 ½ inches) surrounding it. Within these little boxes of
space, you may place your Christmas Greeting message along with your name or
family names.
If you wish to take advantage of this service, we
ask that you contribute $10.00 for the space. The amount received will go
towards off-setting the cost of publishing the V.P. during the year, so you
will be helping the church also by participating in this Christmas Greetings
project of the V.P.
You will need to fill out a space reservation
form in order to participate in the Christmas Greetings Page. Please call the
church office for a copy of the form. WE MUST HAVE ALL RESERVATION FORMS AND
DONATIONS RETURNED TO THE CHURCH OFFICE BY SUNDAY, November 28th. The
Christmas edition of the V.P will be mailed on December 2nd in order to allow
time for delivery before Christmas.
