Two memes

I've been tagged by Paul and Sam on two different memes, so here are my responses:

1. What translation of the Bible do you like best?

I agree with Paul on this one. Having read the Bible throughout my life and, therefore, having a familiarity with many passages that can be dulling, I find that The Message often brings passages alive in new ways.

2. Old or New Testament?

Both! I love the counter-story in the OT which then emerges in the NT as the story of God's kingdom in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. My favourite quote on this is from Josipovici: “It’s a magnificent conception, spread over thousands of pages and encompassing the entire history of the universe. There is both perfect correspondence between Old and New Testaments and a continuous forward drive from Creation to the end of time: ‘It begins where time begins, with the creation of the world; it ends where time ends, with the Apocalypse, and it surveys human history in between, or the aspect of history it is interested in, under the symbolic names of Adam and Israel’. Earlier ages had no difficulty in grasping this design, though our own, more bookish age, obsessed with both history and immediacy, has tended to lose sight of it. Neither theologians nor biblical scholars have stood back enough to see it as a whole. Yet it is a whole and quite unlike any other book.”

3. Favorite Book of the Bible?

John's Gospel - which I read together with Stephen Verney's Water into Wine commentary.

4. Favorite Chapter?

Ephesians 4 - which I hope is what characterises my ministry. It has certainly been my inspiration for ministry.

5. Favorite Verse? (feel free to explain yourself if you have to

Romans 5. 8 - the verse that, as a teenager and still today, assures me that I am loved and accepted by God as I am.

6. Bible character you think you’re most like?

Like Paul, I want to be like Jesus (although I don't kid myself that I am!). My gut answer to this question would be Luke.

7. One thing from the Bible that confuses you?

Revelation - the Book of!

8. Moses or Paul?

I identify strongly with Moses in his reticence and arguing with God but plump for Paul at his inclusive height - no difference between Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, men and women, all are one in union with Christ!

9. A teaching from the Bible that you struggle with or don’t get?

Those sections that commend/condone exclusion.

10. Coolest name in the Bible?

Jonathan.

I tag Huw, Jim and Philip with this thread.

Sam's meme was this:

Rule 1) List three reasons for your blogging.
Rule 2) List these rules.
Rule 3) Tag three others with the thread.

Reason 1 - I want to share discoveries of people and things that inspire me to live creatively in the tension of the now and the not yet. Reason 2 - I need to write and therefore also need an outlet for the writing I do. Reason 3 - As Sam says, blogging is a conversational activity that invites response and debate.

I tag Painter of Blue, Paul and Huw with this thread.

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Bob Dylan - Blind Willie McTell.