What is the most powerful thing we have created? You might think of the atomic bomb which has the power to destroy a city. But I would argue that an idea is more powerful. Allow me to illustrate. Yes, an atomic bomb unleashes enormous destructive energy, but the restraining idea of mutually assured destruction (appropriate acronym MAD) has meant that no nuclear weapons have been used in war for over 80 years. There is an academic discipline called the history of ideas which stresses the impact of an idea on human civilisation.

I would like to talk about some of the ideas introduced in the Judaeo-Chr tradition that has benefited our Western culture in the last 2000 years. Usually we don’t notice the difference because we are unfamiliar with the Roman world into which Christianity was born. As LP Hartly said, “The past is a foreign country.”

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Before the birth of Jesus, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:20)

There is nothing greater for Christians than the birth of the long-awaited messiah. And this was announced to Joseph in a dream. He was challenged to remain with Mary, to not shame her because of the pregnancy and to remain her husband (closer to our understanding of remaining engaged because he was not yet living with her. In the Bible dreams mark important events. So too in our lives, if we pay attention we can how important transitions are highlighted by significant dreams. 

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Paul in the book of Acts was doing missionary work and establishing the church in various places. He was in what we know now as Turkey, and we read, “During the night he had a vision: there was a man of Macedonia (now Greece) pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we (including Luke the physician) immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.” (Acts 16: 9-10)

It is interesting that Paul the Apostle and leader of a missionary team has a dream, and it becomes the way God directs them. They immediately respond to follow a new direction in ministry.

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The Bible is the most realistic of books. Human society is shown in all its complexity. Everything is there: wars, murder, sexual infidelity, political corruption, incurable diseases and idolatry with spiritual perversions. Ecclesiastes summarized it long ago: “The days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’.” (12:1) If you are old enough to be out of primary school, then you know something of what life ‘dishes out’. The Bible reflects life and has some surprisingly relevant insights.

How can we say something honest, real and of some practical benefit?  Facile is easy; tough minded is hard. But it is a task I will attempt in this brief sermon.

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Today I have brought in my bible, which I requested as a gift for graduating high school. It is embarrassingly underutilised, and I wish I could blame the accessibility of online translations. But I’ve brought it up here because it is a parallel bible, and shows each verse as both the NIV translation, which was the norm in my childhood, and the Message translation, which is known for being a tonal translation more than a literal one. This is something I requested because my mum’s bible is like this, and I really liked it.

Part of why I like having both is that I feel that being asked to sit with the imprecision of translation is good for us. Our protestant tradition is built on the legitimacy of translation, of access, and I would argue that that can be a graceful reminder of the complexity, of the historical context, of the living word.

As well as the value of being reminded that our holy text is very old and very alive, I think that the differences of translations can add something to the reading. Blue and red 3D glasses are low tech compared to whatever is going on in the cinema world nowadays. But I think we understand how they work: We have two offset versions of the same image – one visible through the blue lens, one through the red, and when wearing one on each eye we can see a depth that wasn’t there before.

All of that is the long way to say, I am going to read some of the verses we have already had today, but in two translations.

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