“New lord prayer debut” was Larry’s text message that vibrated my phone during church. A smile stretched across my face as my imagination closed the 600 kilometer gap between Addis Ababa’s International Evangelical Church, where I sat, and the Gmz church at Gesas where believers had gathered for this morning’s service. I checked out of the English sermon for a bit and shot back a response – “That’s great” My attempts at tuning back into the message on Psalm 40 were soon interrupted by a second vibration of an incoming text message - “They were so excited and six stood up front to recite and teach everyone sorry you missed it”
Well, with these few details to feed my imagination and thought processes, I knew I would never be able return to Psalm 40 that morning. How exciting to think of what had taken place these past few days, or rather, these past few months. We began translation four months ago and by divine providence April was also the month that the Gesas church leadership was being handed over to the Gmz believers. You see, up until then, the general church leadership (including the teaching/preaching) had always been done by non-Gmz, non-local people (mostly the highland Ethiopians who worked with the education project on our station). Until then, the Scripture reading had always been in Amharic with the sermon consisting of a free, on-the-spot translation of the passage. But all that was changing last April as Bible translation began as well as young Gmz started being trained and given opportunities to preach.
Apart from the normal hesitation before stepping out into something new, the young Gmz believers are eager to take the reins of church leadership. Week after week, a group of 6-10 Gmz would meet with me on Tuesday afternoons to study the Scripture passage for that week’s sermon and then talk through its applications. Every Friday, this same group of young leaders attends a “review committee” where we check the accuracy and communicability of the newly translated Scripture. This exposure to Scripture is a great teaching opportunity through which they grow in their Biblical literacy. Then, week after week on Sundays, one Gmz man leads a time of singing, another then stands to read the selected passage out loud, a third delivers a message (often in Q&A style), while a fourth leads the children in a time not unlike what we call Sunday School. So, by the time we left for Addis in early August, we were quite pleased with the leadership we saw developing in the Gesas church and their ability to direct every aspect of the Sunday service.
As the arrival of my visiting parents was approaching, I began to think about how the work might continue in my absence. I had been preparing my three co-translators for some time by giving them computer training and practice translation experience, but I was curious about what should be done with the Friday review committee. The review committee really cannot function without me there, so should I just cancel it during my absence? Or, is there something else they can do? My answer came when we got to Luke 11 as Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray. “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come…” Now, I had heard the Lord’s Prayer recited in the Gmz church service many times, but I was always disturbed by some down-right errors and how all the difficult terms (holy, kingdom, temptation, etc.) were just borrowed from Amharic. An earlier blog lamented the disadvantages of borrowed words, as they rarely develop the correct meaning, if they develop any meaning at all. And so, on the final review committee before our departure for Addis Ababa, I asked the group two questions. First, “Are you happy with the text of the Lord’s Prayer that you recite most Sundays or do you want a retranslation of it?” As expected, their response was in favor of a retranslation. So my second question, “Do you want to take off next week in my absence, or do you want to meet and do the retranslation yourselves?” The response was unanimous and their immediate excitement was contagious. Oh, how I wished I could be a fly on that wall.
A phone call from our co-worker (Larry) that next Friday described the scene when he stopped by to encourage the team. “They had writing all over the table-top (which is made of white board material), and had made several copies of their new translation on papers and even on the computer. Oh and they were all really excited about it!” Enough said, I couldn’t wait to get back.
Now, here I was, I was physically present at the English-speaking church with Andrea, Micah and my parents, but for a good 20 minutes or so, my mind was 600 kilometers down the road. Imagining six of my co-workers in translation standing in front of the congregation and sharing their new and improved translation of the Lord’s Prayer, it brought tears to my eyes. How I would have loved to be there, but then again… After some reflection and praise to God for all that He is doing, I texted Larry back: “maybe it’s better that i’m not there, the gmz are leading their church!”
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