Today people all around the world will be celebrating Christmas. They will be celebrating in different ways and of course in different languages. Has anyone ever heard or perhaps even sung ‘Silent Night’ in German? In Danish? Or how about Chinese? Arabic perhaps? I know some of you will be saying to yourselves, ‘I thought Arabs were Muslims’. Well actually there are millions of Arabs throughout the Middle East who are Christians; and there are millions and millions of Christians all around the world singing in different languages but sometimes exactly the same carols as we have been singing this Christmas. Why? Well, because although they live in different countries with different cultures and different languages, they are all worshipping the same Lord Jesus, remembering his first coming as a baby in the manger. And of course they will be listening to the bible – to the wonderful account of the birth of Jesus; and they will be listening to that in their own language – German, Danish, Chinese, Arabic; whatever tells them of that wonderful news - and it is full of wonder (awe, mystery, excitement) – that ‘good news’ or ‘gospel’ that ‘God so loved the world that he sent his only-begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ You were given a piece of paper with your service sheet this morning. I wonder if anyone knows what language is written on it, and perhaps even what it says? Well done, yes, it is Arabic. Can anyone tell me what it says? Well, actually it is also written on the arch above me here in the Chancel. It is John Chapter 3 verse 16.
In England we actually have a number of different translations of the bible. Can anyone name any of them?
Perhaps you have a favourite? (This year is the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible; William Tyndale – martyred!) NIV, RSV, Good News, The Message – all translations to help us learn of the ‘good news’ about Jesus. People like different translations but at the end of the day there is only one translation that really matters. Yes, Just the one. And it doesn’t really matter if you read the King James version or The RSV, or The Message or some other; or if you read the bible in German, Danish, Chinese, or Arabic. The one translation that matters is how the good news of Jesus which we read of in the bible TRANSLATES into your life and mine.
God speaks to us through the bible, through the different books, his message of saving love. Not just ‘love’ but ‘saving love’. A love that is able to ‘save’ us from sin and from ourselves and from separation from God. ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son – Jesus, who invites each one of us to respond to his ‘saving love’. And so the one translation that really matters is how we respond to his love, how we translate his saving love into our loves, our lives, our lifestyles. It is a great mistake to think that we do not need his love, nor need to respond to it. That, said St. John, is ‘to walk in darkness’.
So this Christmas, let us renew our desire to welcome Jesus into our lives to show us and to help us translate his message of love into our lives and the lives of those around us. And let us not be afraid or embarrassed to share the Good News of Jesus with others – for that is what he would want; it is what he calls each of us to do.
A Happy Christmas to you all.
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