Translation is difficult as language lives within a context and culture. Translators often find themselves inside the tension between literally accurate and dynamic equivalency. There is a wonderful story about translating the Bible into one of the many indigenous, tribal, languages of Mexico. To communicate “grace” as a “gift of life,” the translators used a literal translation of “living gift.” Unknown to the translators was that the only “living gift” the tribal members could image, as they did exchange them, were chickens. Thus, the gospel writer John proclaimed, “the Word was full of chicken and truth.”
The doctrine of the Trinity was emerged as the good news of Jesus was being translated out of its Hebraic context and culture and into the contexts and cultures of many. For many people the doctrine of the Trinity is esoteric, brass encrusted and dusty which then hides this energizing, dynamic, and relational way of understanding God.
Join us on Sunday as we celebrate God who can be known simultaneously as the lover, the beloved and the love.
Congregational Church of Weston, UCC 