On a perfectly beautiful autumn day, I visited a dear friend in Salem. Shirley had been a pastor’s wife at Hinson Baptist Church and, in the early 2000’s, the founder of a women’s group modeled on the Red Hat phenomenon.

She introduced me to the Passion Translation by presenting me with its New Testament and Psalms. Copyright in 2020 by Brian Simmons and his translating team, it brings God’s eternal truth into a highly readable heart-level expression that causes truth and love to jump out of the text and lodge inside our hearts.

Shirley suggested that I begin reading this translation with Psalms. I’ve been reading a Psalm or two since that day, and I understand Shirley’s enthusiasm about this rendering of God’s Word.

Here’s the 76^th Psalm, verses 10 and 11, from both the Passion Translation (2020) and the King James Version (1611).

You are the one and only God. What miracles! What wonders! What greatness belongs to you! Teach me more about you, how you work and how you move, so that I can walk onward in your truth until everything within me brings honor to your name. can walk onward in your truth until everything within me brings honor to your name.

For thou art great, and doest wondrous things:  thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart:  and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

How would you compare these two translations which are parted by 409 years? Which did you find most meaningful?

As I have been reading the Psalms from a modern translation, I have also been reading Do I Stay Christian? by Brian D. MacLaren. The essence behind this provocative title is expressed on page 154: Can we “relax our death grip on the past and reach forward into the future with eyes and hearts wide open”?

“Loosening our death grip on the past” is definitely seen in the popular series, The Chosen. Much could be cited as evidence of this statement. I hope to do so in the coming weeks. Will you join me by sharing your perspectives on this series?