Noticings - The Good Road

If you are someone who is connected to the congregation I serve, you have likely heard me talk about a new Bible translation a lot recently.  A new translation/paraphrase of the New Testament was released about a year ago called The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament.  It is a very unique translation as it seeks to tell the story and teachings of the New Testament “following the tradition of Native storytellers’ oral cultures.”  It is a collaboration of many individuals from different Native American communities and is beautifully unique in the way that it tells the story of Jesus and his followers.  It is currently my primary devotional Bible that I am using as it is helping me hear the teachings in new ways.  There’s a lot more I could say about it but one thing in particular that has resonated deeply with me is the language that it uses to describe what is traditionally translated as the “Kingdom of God.”  In place of that language, the FNV says, “the good road” rather than “Kingdom of God.” 

So, for example where the NRSV translates Matthew 6:33 as “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”, the FNV says, “If you will make Creator’s good road your first aim, representing his right ways, he will make sure you have all you need for each day.”

What I love about this is that it helps to emphasize that this work of God is one of a movement first and foremost and not a destination.  It is the way that we live, the direction of our lives, and what (and who) we seek to follow rather than just something out there, somewhere, at some future time. 

I understand that this is not literally accurate to the text of the New Testament, but I love the spirit and sense of it.  As I’ve just about finished reading the first Gospel (Matthew), I have seen this phrase used over and over (and not just in place of Kingdom of God, but many other places).  It is one of those things that, now that I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it.

So this week, I decided to be attentive to the roads and paths that I have walked this week.  One of the things that I noticed about all of these roads this week is that I only can see a little ways ahead of me. I cannot see the end of the path but instead only what is ahead of me.  That’s the life of faith - we want to know the destination, we want to get to the place that is promised, but what we have is right now, this step, this road, this path.  I am grateful for the good roads I’ve walked this week.

And of course, Scout has been beside me on most of these…Here she is resting after walking those good roads…