Bible Translation

The first Friday we were there we visited the Lassin literacy center, and Noni translation room. Wycliffe Bible Traslation focuses on the work of providing a written language to people groups who don't have their language written, and in the process, they also translate the scriptures into that language. The literacy center is the place in the village where language training happens--where teachers are taught how to teach in their own language, where books are kept (both in English, and in the native language), and where the Bible translation happens. On this particular Friday, we had gotten a tour of the literacy center, and were getting ready to "watch" how Bible translation happens. We all filed into a back room. In it three men sat behind laptops around 3 tables. Each had 7 or 8 translations of the bible open. A small bookshelf held a variety of dictionaries, commentaries, and other assorted references. They were working through the book of John, they said, and the current verse was John 8:54: Jesus replied: "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me." They read it to us in English, then spoke to each other in Noni, discussing the verse. This was just an example for us to watch. Normally they have a forth person in the room--a scribe, who records not only the final translation, but the course of the conversation in getting there. If there is disagreement on how something should be translated, it is recorded (i.e. Jonah thought this word would be best, Alfred thought this word); the scribe records it all. After a few minutes, they had come up with the Noni translation, and they read back the translation to us in English: Jesus replied: "If I give myself a big head, my big head means nothing. My Father is the One who gives me a big head, the One whom you claim as your God."
As I stood watching and listening, I realized again that I was in sacred space. What does it mean to say that the Holy Scriptures are the inspired words of God? What does it mean to say that the Holy Spirit wrote these words? This was history playing out in front of us--the words of scripture that the Holy Spirit would use to transform Noni lives long into the future--these were being decided on here in a small mud house deep in the mountains of West Africa, by men we had eaten lunch with and hiked with and talked with. The incredible mystery of a partnership between Holy God and earthy people played out before our eyes. Perhaps hearing me describe it this way makes you nervous. For me, it makes me realize that maybe I have more in common with Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, Isaiah, Noah, Moses, and David, Esther, Ruth, Rebecca, and Paul than I once thought. Perhaps these were real, normal, everyday, Spirit-filled people too.