Church

Review of ‘The NIV Beautiful Word Bible: Updated Version’

www.goodreads.com/book/show/45734929

First and foremost, I need to clear the air: this is NOT a gendered book. The only place where the editors hint at a particular presentation is when the editor’s note only mentions biblical figures Hannah and Esther. And to that, I say “come on editors, do better. Resist the idolatry of capitalism and gendered marketing, please. It harms all of us who cannot fit your false expectations of hyper masculinity and feminism.” We need to resist the consumer world that says a Bible designed to highlight the beauty of scripture does NOT mean that it should be primarily marketed to girls. Boys MUST learn to see the beauty of scripture, too. If you get this version for a girl, get it for a boy, too. The Bible is for all people, so let’s stop boxing ourselves in with gendered stereotypes. Thank you and I will now step off my soap box.

This Zondervan NIV 2011 updated translation, written in Zondervan NIV typeface, is a WONDERFUL version of the Bible that is highly engaging. First of all, it does what many versions cannot: it meets the needs of visual learners. The editors of this version worked with BibleGateway to find the most searched scriptures and balanced them with scriptures that are lesser known to present 600 scriptures in colorful artistic presentations through the entirety of the Bible! 9 different artists took charge of illuminating the 600 different scriptures. They also did a fantastic job of making the chosen scriptures memorizable so that folks can engage with their Scripture reading for memorization as well.

Each page of the Bible has a couple of inches on the edge with lines for note-taking. Every few pages has this space taken up with the artistic presentation of scripture. These illustrations are gorgeous and reflect the essence of each individual scripture.

The Bible also comes with sticker tabs for each book of the Bible, if you want to have the books of the Bible marked in this way. All this to say, this version of the Bible is meant to be engaged: written on, highlighted, and covered in stickers. Have at it! Mark it up and make it your own!

The Bible also comes with a sturdy box carrying case which is helpful for being mobile. It is also small enough to carry around with you! The cover itself is a gorgeous felt floral pattern with a woody brown felt binding. Visually appealing without being obnoxious.

The back of the Bible has a table for understanding biblical weights and measures in comparison with our modern weights and measures, an index of the 9 scripture artists and which scriptures illustrations they created, and 5 pages of lines for note-taking.

It has been a joy engaging with this visually stimulating and artistic version of the NIV translation Bible and I look forward to utilizing it and learning from it in the months/years to come!

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The Bible is not a guidebook to manhood or womanhood. It is a guidebook to personhood in Christ: Love God and Love your Neighbor (all people & Creation) as yourself. Anyone trying to package the Bible as a guidebook for gender presentation is on a slippery slope to idolatry.

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Where You Lead, Oh Lord, I Follow (Based on Psalm 138:1-8)

I rejoice in You, my Provider;

my heart beats with praise.

I raise my palms and lift my eyes

toward Your glory and wholeness,

in thankful exultation

of Your steadfast love

and faithful word.

At a young age, You called me;

I heard and followed.

But the Church and the world

conspired to silence Your voice

and extinguish my call

by moralizing away my belovedness

as Your child, oh God,

as a condemned and unworthy queer.

But, amidst these trials of human

malevolence and lies,

You journeyed with me,

never leaving nor forsaking,

waiting for a receptive heart

to remind me of my call –

not despite of my sexuality,

but because of it –

the experiences of expansive and just-filled love.

And now,

through my approval for Ordination

as a Deacon in the UMC,

You have brought Your Purpose to further fruition in me,

proving that Your radically inclusive love endures,

and expands,

forever.

Where You lead, oh Lord, I follow.

Amen.

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Triune God,

The sculpted pediment (white marble) – representing the Holy Trinity - surmounting the main altar in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. This house of worship is the largest Gothic building in the Netherlands.

You call us to wholeness, not brokenness –

as a Spirit of three-persons in one substance –

demanding that we speak truths

to one another:

our friends, our foes, ourselves.

That we must not rely on worldly comforts

and temporal ease,

instead finding rest and strength

in You

with community:

the good, the bad, the real.

Because you created us for wholeness,

not brokenness.

Amen.

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Hope [Inspired by Rabia’s ‘The Way the Forest Shelters’]

I have confidence
in God’s miraculous love
amidst this time of terror –
through signs and symbols
from Mother Earth.

In the serotinous cones of the lodgepole pines –
resins dripping and releasing seeds
after consumed by rampant wildfires –
bringing a new generation of life
amidst death.

In the interdependent relationships of plants –
the trinity of beans, corn, and squash –
Holy Sisters, mutually sharing life-giving
minerals, nitrogen, fertilizer, and water –
amidst times of depletion and scarcity.

In the ecstatic ecstasy of human touch and companionship –
the wells of physical interconnection
and soul-expanding depths of conversation
amidst the valleys of shadow and despair.

There is a tremendous constancy of
Possibility,
hope and New Life,
all plainly modeled for us from
our Holy Mother, Earth –
and embedded in our incarnate bodies –
if we only listen
and follow.

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Inspired by ‘Love (III)’ by George Herbert

adult and child hands holding red heart on aqua background, heart health, donation, CSR concept, world heart day, world health day, family day

God’s love is an open-armed greeting,

but teachings of sin caused me to pull away:

Unworthy.

God stood saddened still, but not stunned,

knowing from the human evil it came:

Control.

God sent an Advocate before I was formed

to be ever-present with me, reminding me:

Love.

God demonstrated to my heart, helping me

to see the wrong in ecclessial espoused self-hate:

Healing.

God extended means of Grace, and I retreated

drowning in family, culture, and church:

Tradition.

God persisted, loving without condition

and inviting me into the Love abundance:

Experience.

God led me to encounter texts and people

with different messages and teachings

coaxing my brain where my heart wasn’t ready:

Reason.

God opened my eyes to read and interpret

in holistic and healing ways:

Scripture.

God encountered my in God’s love through

self-love, neighborly love, and love of enemy –

a least-of-these love:

Calling.

And God’s call was to teach and to love

as a conduit of God’s love in the world:

Disciple.

Amen.

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Sin [Inspired by George Herbert’s ‘Sinne’]

Familial God, you have formed us in a world of care,
parents grow us, teachers educate us,
the law directs us, the world defines us.
We become fixed in binding rules and expectations
of who we are and who we can become.
The Church and its members are tasked
with disrupting this terrifying trap.
But all too often, the ecclesial body
becomes a co-conspirator in the maintenance
of power and domination.
When we gather to worship and praise,
interpret and learn God’s love in scripture,
and sharpen our skills of discernment and justice,
God can operate world transformation through us.
But when we cast our cares and sites on
the power and principalities, and privileges,
of the world, we sin against the divine purpose
of Love that God has tasked us with.
Sin is the alignment with power and domination.
Alignment with God casts out all sin.
May we evermore align with God’s Love.
Amen.

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