reading the bible in spanish (for language lovers and others)

I teach Spanish at a Catholic school, and we start every period with prayer.  Since I teach Spanish 2, I teach the prayer or scripture in Spanish, but I then give a short devotion in English.  If you have never looked at scripture in a foreign language, you are missing out on a real eye-opening experience.  

English is limited. We have two tenses:  past and present.  We have various aspects, but only two tenses.  Spanish, on the other hand, has 14 different tenses:  present, imperfect, preterit, conditional, future, present perfect, pluperfect, subjunctive, to name just a few.  Greek, the language of the Bible (NT) has 15 tenses x 2 (don't ask me--that's what I was told, I'm not a Greek scholar)--making 30 tenses in all.  So in the New Testament, using Spanish might give you a clearer idea of what was actually being said.  For example,  this is John 1: 11-12 in English (NIV)

¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believedin his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

This is the same passage in Spanish:(NVI--same version, but in Spanish)

¹¹ Vino a lo que era suyo, pero los suyos no lo recibieron.¹² Mas a cuantos lo recibieron, a los que creen en su nombre, les dio el derecho de ser hijos de Dios. ¹³ Éstos no nacen de la sangre, ni por deseos *naturales, ni por voluntad humana, sino que nacen de Dios.

The version is similar, but with distinct differences:
Hi came to those who were his, bit his own did not receive him.  But to those who received him, to those who BELIEVE in his name, he gave them the right TO BE children of God. Those are not born of blood, nor of natural desire, nor of human will, but THEY ARE born of God.

So you see that in this version, the receiving and being born of God continues to this day (it could also be literary present, but I prefer to think of it this way :) )

The first thing that happens when you read in a foreign language is that you are immediately struck by language.  You are used to English--it's your mother tongue.  If you read in Spanish, words and tenses hit you.  Another example:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it. (John 1:5)
in Spanish:

Esta luz resplandece en las tinieblas, y las tinieblas no han podido extinguirla.

This light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not been able to extinguish it.

At first glance, there is little difference between the two verses; even the idea of "extinguish" also appears in the NIV as an option.  The difference is between "tinieblas" and "darkness" and "resplandece" and "shines"

Resplandece does mean shine, but it also means glimmers or gleams, and (I love this) it can also refer to a person.  Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness--he literally shimmers.

Tinieblas is a very dark word in Spanish.  It is a literary term and refers to both natural and MORAL darkness.  When I hear tinieblas, I think of a total absence of light, either natural or spiritual.  When I see La luz resplandece en las tinieblas, I get a picture of Christ himself shining in the total moral darkness of this earth.

So if you know two languages, get a Bible and try it out.  If you don't--hey, there's no time like the present to learn!!

on being happy: Mr. Kanamori

How was your home room?  Did you spend your days hearing announcements and then sleeping on your desk?  Did you dread the start to your day?  Did you even sleep in so that you could miss it?

Mr. Kanamori's class would never do such a thing.  They are a 4th-grade homeroom in Japan, and Mr. Kanamori has helped them set a goal for themselves:  to be happy.

To be happy?  Seems like a useless goal, doesn't it?  But this incredible teacher has thought of a way to bring meaning and understanding to this goal.  To be happy, they must share with others.  Only in revealing themselves can they help others understand that they are not alone.  Once they understand that they are not alone, the children let go of barriers that have stood for years, and the entire class grows in understanding, empathy, and love.

In the video that I saw, Mr. Kanamori's class writes notebook journals.  These journals are designed to be read tot the class.  In it, the students tell their stories, and the other students then write responses.  The responses pave the way for empathy, as well as give other students the ability to tell their own stories, bringing about the ability to heal.

One boy had been gone for several days.  His grandmother had died, and he wrote the class about the experience.  He wrote about it all, from the grandmother lying in bed upstairs to the family going on a bus to the crematorium to witness the grandmother's cremation.  Afterwards, many other students shared their sympathy; some also shared their own stories.  The children were not afraid to cry about their own experiences, and they also shed tears for the experiences of others.  One little boy had lost his grandfather recently; the tears were still fresh.

Then a little girl stood up.  She had lost her father when she was three, and she had never discussed his death with anyone.  She was afraid that she was the only one to have gone through this and thought that nobody would understand.  When her classmates shared their experiences, she realized for the first time that she was not alone and that it was safe to express her grief.  

A few days later, this same little girl brought a well-loved drawing to class. It had hung in her room since she was a tiny girl.  It was a drawing that her father, an engineer, had made of a machine that was going to be in a parade.  He died before it was completed, and even though the machine appeared, her mother was too afraid to see it.  For the first time, the little girl shared her treasure with her friends and smiled as she spoke of her father.  She was happy.

Happiness is a choice.  It is something that is given away.  It comes with sharing, and it usually comes when two or more are together.  I think that it's hard to be happy without sharing.  

Val, the older I get, the more I understand your wish.  I hope you are happy now--I'm pretty sure you are, since you're surrounded with God and his saints.  I know you made us happy.  I'm going to do my best to make others happy, too.

For a link to the video, press here:  .http://www.wimp.com/homeroomteacher/