Oysterville Church, 2014
Yesterday’s program at the Oysterville Church was the perfect way to begin the Christmas week. Friends and neighbors (and strangers, too) packed the church to raise their voices in familiar carols; there were reminiscences about past Christmases in the village; and we heard again the story of the first Christmas as presented in the book of Luke, Chapter Two, Verses 1 through 20.
I think it was the first time I had ever heard the Christmas story read from the New International Version of the Bible. “What happened to the swaddling clothes?” I whispered to my neighbor. “I don’t think they thought we could understand the King James Version,” she said. And I was sore amazed.
Oysterville Christmas Program, 2014
Meanwhile, the shepherds were “frightened” in this version and, though my interpretation may be way off, I always thought that “sore afraid” conveyed a healthy amount of awe and reverence in addition to the fear aspect. The story was all there. It was straightforward and, on the face of it, easy to understand. But then why would anyone want to make a miraculous event into a modern-day news report?
Oysterville Christmas Program Some More, 2014
I guess it was the poetry that I missed. And the chance to let my imagination soar while the words transported me back to my childhood remembrances of Christmas pageants and crèches and ‘wise men’ dressed in their father’s bathrobes. I missed the familiar phrases – “And it came to pass” and “good tidings” and the aforementioned “swaddling clothes.”
Mostly, I felt a little guilty – guilty that I had not been more specific when asked for my suggestions for the Christmas Program. In my mind, “the Christmas Story according to St. Luke” did not take into account the vernacular translation. I console myself that I was probably the only one bothered by that modern touch. No doubt it’s yet another of those picky old age things… Surely I’m not turning into a Bah Humbug Grinchy Scrooge? Surely.
It was a wonderful way to spend the Sunday before Christmas, but I’ve never been a fan of any of the “good news” translations of scripture. Raised an Episcopalian, I, too, like the poetry of the King James version. It was good enough for Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas so no, you were not the only one bothered. I’m bothered by the updated liturgies of all the churches. Beyond that, the stories yesterday were trasporting as is so much having to do with Oysterville.