The Message

I bought a copy of The Message after I stumbled across a Youtube video of a meeting between Bono, the lead singer of U2, and the late Eugene Peterson. The latter was a preacher who developed The Message, a modern rendition of the Bible. Parts of The Message was published in earlier years, but the full version became available in 2002. I have come across abstracts of it every now and then, but have never taken interest to it because it didn't seem to have the authoritative ring and punchiness of the New International Version (NIV). The Message paraphrases the Bible by using modern words and context.

In the youtube video, there was a segment where Bono reads from Psalm 40:

"I waited and waited and waited for God.
    At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
    pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
    to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song..."
Psalm 40: 1-3 (The Message)

That piqued my interest in The Message. "I waited and waited and waited..." resonated with me because I often feel like I am waiting and waiting and waiting for something or other!  I was conscious that I already have a few copies of the Bible at home and wondered if this was a impulse purchase. Will it make me love reading the Bible more? Can it help me understand the Bible better? Is it going to make Jesus sound like a hippie? Well why not buy a copy to find out - so I gave in to my impulse.

This is its rendition of Isaiah 1:13-17

Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless.

This is like God walking into a busy church today. "Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out!" You have no excuse for thinking that those words were just for the Jews of the Old Testaments. The paraphrase takes the essence of the message and serves it to you piping hot. The picture in my head wasn't religious leaders in white garbs putting up a pious performance, but of men and women like ourselves treating church like weekly "religious games". 

I read its rendition of John 3 where Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader meets with Jesus to speak to him alone. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needed to be "born again". And quite honestly, there a some portions of some verses in that chapter which aren't so easy to understand. But the elaboration in the The Message helped me to understand it better:

"Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit." ~ John 3:5-6 (The Message)


So, I am enjoying myself reading The Message. And it is helping me to better understand some verses. I gave my copy to my son today and I pray that he will hear God speaking into his life. I am going to get myself a replacement copy tomorrow, perhaps a NIV - The Message parallel Bible.

Prayer

One of the more difficult things to get my head around is prayer. What is it for if God knows my every thought, even before I think it. And in Romans, it even says that God would teach you what you ought to pray: 

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our heartsknows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God." Romans 8: 26-27 (NIV)

What is prayer actually for?  I remember reading 2 books on prayer. One explained the different things that prayer is but it didn't give me that 1-minute explanation that I needed. If something is going to be of use to me, it has got to be simple enough for my goldfish memory to remember. I didn't manage to finish the other book - perhaps the 1-minute answer is at the end of that book. It bugs me to do something that I don't fully understand. 

I think I got the answer I was looking for today. Let me qualify this by saying that this is my view of prayer. There isn't a Bible verse that describes it this way. I am not entirely sure a pastor or theologian would agree with my illustration of what prayer is. All it is is a 1-minute explanation to myself, which helps me to pray with the greater conviction.

So for me, prayer is sticking my brain into God's realm. The rest of the body is here - the eyes, ears, mouth, the whole body, but the brain is with God. The brain off-loads everything to God, and takes wisdom from Him. The brain receives the power to believe and directs the body to take the right action. When the brain is tired and confused, it finds rest and peace. The brain is in conversation with God, offering God the open door to our lives. Our brain has an opportunity to see God's perspective, and can see how God is involved in a situation. Our brain understands that God is always in charge.

When someone mistreat you, the body may feel all the human sensations, but the brain who is connected to the heavenly realm releases it to God. It is able to focus on God's beauty rather that the temporal nuisance of this life. We see the God-possibilities rather that be limited by our human capabilities. We pray for miracles and what seems impossible because we know that our God is able.

To stick our brains into God's realm, we need to allow His Holy Spirit to put our head in the right position. It is not a matter of us trying and trying harder. Even when Jesus was with his disciples, they didn't know how to pray for healing. And they fell asleep when they ought to be praying for the challenging times ahead. But when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they began to pray boldly. The book of Acts tells us this over and over again - it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that the miraculous happens. 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ~ Philippians 4:6