CEB Women's Bible

I don't like the color pink. I cut my own hair and don't wear makeup or get manicures. There are few things more unpleasant for me than shoe shopping. In general, I shy away from anything marketed specifically to women. But I ordered a Common English Bible about a year ago, and I am greatly enjoying the translation. So when the opportunity arose to preview a copy of the new CEB Women's Bible, I responded with guarded enthusiasm. And after several weeks of studying this Bible and using it for sermon and Bible study prep, my enthusiasm has only grown!

This Bible is much more than your stereotypical “Christian princess” Bible. For starters, the cover is not pink! Not even purple! It is maroon, with gold lettering. The text inside is black, with maroon headings. This color scheme matters greatly to women like me, who are inherently suspicious of anything pink.

On a more substantial note, every woman in the Bible, named and unnamed, is listed in an index along with references to the chapters and verses that tell her story. Many of these women are also described in portraits that show up near the story of the woman in question. These portraits are thoughtful, scholarly, and faithful to history and Scripture. The authors take into account how the women have been described throughout the history of the church (is Mary really “meek and mild”?) and how they have been treated in non-Christian scholarship (Ruth was compared to Abraham in ancient rabbinic scholarship). Descriptions of these women help to bring their stories to life, and can inspire additional themes of study, preaching and teaching. The portraits of biblical women are perhaps the strongest and most unique aspect of this Bible.

The CEB Women’s Bible includes a number of other helpful features. The preface gives important background information about the translation process. The CEB is a very good translation, easy to understand and faithful to the original text, but tends to sound more colloquial and less formal than many familiar translations. This can be both an asset and a drawback. Introductions to each book and chapter provide good summaries of the content to come, though they do include opinions and interpretation, as any summary of Scripture does. This book also includes reading plans for folks looking to read the entire Bible, as well as several full-color maps.

The sidebar articles throughout the book address timely topics that are relevant to Christians today, particularly to women. For example, topics of the articles in 1 Corinthians include love and spiritual gifts, and also head coverings and singleness. An article on race in Esther seems to give a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement. The sidebars are helpful for anyone looking for more information about particular topics and passages, and an index lists them all for anyone seeking what the Bible might say on a particular topic.

One appendix includes a discussion question for each week in the Revised Common Lectionary cycle. These questions are good for personal reflection, or as a conversation starter. They are not substantial enough to be the basis of a full Bible study, but the questions provide a good resource for people who attend churches that follow the RCL to tie their personal study of Scripture more directly to what they experience in worship.

The CEB Women’s Bile has many great aspects, but of course it cannot be all things to all people. If you are the kind of person who likes to write notes in the margins of your Bible, this book is probably not the best choice for you. If you are hoping to study any of the books from the Apocrypha, you won’t find them in this Bible. There are other versions of the CEB that could meet these needs, but they would be missing the valuable biographies of biblical women, and the topical articles and discussion questions. Overall, this version of the Bible is refreshing. If you can live without space for margin notes, and you are looking for some progressive interpretations of the women of the Bible, this book is definitely worth checking out. I hope you enjoy it as I have!  

Waters of Destruction and New Life

Water is powerful.

Anyone who has caught even a glimpse of the news of recent storms has learned something about the destructive power of water.

As the southeast coast of the US recovers from hurricane Matthew, we have seen flooding and power outages, destruction of property and casualties. The damage experienced on the mainland, however, is minimal compared to the devastation of island communities. Nearly 900 are confirmed dead in Haiti, and communities there will take years to rebuild – this is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, which has been struck by disaster after disaster in recent years.

Yes, water is powerful.

That power can be used for destruction.

And that power can also be used for restoration.

What Haiti actually needs most right now is more water – clean water for drinking and washing, to prevent the spread of disease.

Water can hurt, and water can heal.

During dry seasons, all that is needed is a light rain to turn the grass from brown to green, and to save the crops that can feed a family.

Water brings life.

It can restore what is close to death.

When firefighters are called to respond to a burning building, powerful streams of water gush out from hydrants and hoses to extinguish the fires.

            Water saves life and property.

            It restores safety to a community.

In the movie Hotel Rwanda, there is a scene right when the fighting begins to break out in the community, between the Hutus and the Tutsis. A young boy, the son of the main character, is found hiding in the bushes, covered in blood. The family panics, carries him inside, washes him off and gets ready to bandage his wounds.

That’s when they discover that the blood isn’t his.

The water reveals a physically whole child, in need not of first aid, but of kind human touch and comfort.

Water washed away the fear and brought hope.

In the church, we believe that water can do amazing things. The waters of baptism can bring about forgiveness of sins, redeem from death and the devil, and give eternal salvation (from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism). The sacrament of baptism is incredibly powerful.

In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther asks, “how can water do such great things?”

Here’s the answer:

“Clearly the water does not do it, but the word of God, which is with and alongside the water, and faith, which trusts this word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled water of life.”

Water is powerful.

And the Word of God is even more powerful.

Naaman, the Aramean army general suffering from leprosy, discovered the power of water and of the Word of God. As a military foe of Israel, Naaman had an Israelite slave girl serving his household, who had been captured as a prisoner of war. When she learned of his leprosy, she shared her certainty that the prophet Elisha could heal him. The whole story can be found in 2 Kings 5:1-19 – but the short version is that Naaman’s leprosy is healed once he is convinced to wash seven times in the River Jordan, per a message from Elisha.

The waters of the rivers of Aram were powerful, beautiful, and life-giving. By comparison, the River Jordan was a muddy stream.

But thanks to the word of God, spoken by Elisha, and conveyed through a servant, the waters of the Jordan gained miraculous power and cured Naaman from his leprosy.

Water healed Naaman.

As did the words of Elisha’s servant.

Water and word.

Just like a baptism, ordinary water has the power to heal and restore. God speaks to us in many ways. Even when we are reeling from the effects of destructive waters, it is worth remembering that God can also use water to create life. The story of Naaman, and our own baptism, assure of us of the healing that awaits all those who trust in God, and the promise of new life that God can bring through water and the Word.

Lost in Idolatry, Found by God

Fifteen years ago, I was in my senior year at a liberal arts college, headed to the physical education class I needed for a graduation requirement. I arrived at the gym ready for ballroom dancing. But no one danced that day. Everyone in the building was huddled around the small computer screen at the front desk, in awe at the events unfolding in New York City. As we watched, a plane flew in to the second tower of the World Trade Center and disappeared, while the building began to collapse. That’s when the professor said, class is cancelled. Go somewhere and find a TV and watch the news.

Do you remember where you were the morning of September 11^th, 2001? Many of you do. Some of you don’t. You were in the wilderness or living abroad, you slept late or were sick that day, or perhaps you weren’t born yet. Maybe you have a hard time remembering anything these days, and where you happened to be on an early fall day 15 years ago just doesn’t make the cut for your precious memory bank.

An event like the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, can be an identity-forming moment. In fact, identity-forming moments don’t have to be public and dramatic – the same phenomenon can happen when we witness a car accident or a friend endures cancer or a relative passes away. Even if we don’t or can’t remember where we were that morning 15 years ago – there have been identity-shaping events in everyone’s life.

In times like those, people suddenly know or discover who they are – someone who dives into the fray to help, who sends money to support those diving in to the fray, who prays hard from where they are, who brings laughter or music or a comforting touch to those who can’t find those things on their own. While we don’t always know how to react to intense situations, our instincts kick in and we react anyway. And we discover who we are.

These identity-forming moments can be the times in which we see most clearly how to use our God-given gifts. We remember where we were and who we were when something important happened. In a sense, we were found, like that coin that was found by the woman sweeping her whole house until it was unearthed and rediscovered to be something precious.

Like the Israelites. The Israelites thought they had found themselves after they had escaped from slavery in Egypt, and they had discovered that they were important enough for God to protect them, and provide them with miraculous food on their journey. They had their identity – they knew who God wanted them to be.

But the Israelites took it too far. In Exodus 32, we hear about how a people’s sense of being found – of knowing who God wanted them to be – eventually became lost to the power of their own sin, which showed up in the form of a golden calf. Instead of continuing to listen to God’s guidance, and draw into closer relationship with God, the Israelites allowed the good of self-identity to deteriorate into the sin of idolatry. Instead of continuing to form themselves as a nation guided by the word of God, the Israelites started worshipping their own pride and self-sufficiency.

Having a national identity is good. Worshipping that identity in place of God is sin.

The Israelites are not the only people susceptible to such sin. Our own nation has been embroiled in this battle, particularly for the past 15 years. We might have a solid memory of being found, like the coin in the woman’s hand. But after a while, our identity is put to the test, and either we lose it or we start to worship it in place of God.

We are lost.

Milestones might give us a sense of self-identity. The challenge is to remember where and who we were when our identities were formed, and keep from losing ourselves to the sin of pride. The good news is that God will keep helping us to find ourselves again, until we finally know who we truly were created to be as children of God. God will seek us until we are as secure as that found coin in the woman’s hand and until our idolatry is destroyed. Thanks be to God.

Adapted from a sermon preached on September 11, 2016. See Lake Edge Lutheran Church for the full sermon text.