Translating Worship Songs

Many of our favorite worship songs and hymns were originally composed in languages other than English. Martin Luther penned the words to A Mighty Fortress is Our God in German. How Great Thou Art is based on a Swedish poem and folk song, translated into English by a British missionary. Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah is Welsh hymn. These translations are so well done that very few English speakers are aware that they came from a foreign language.

Churches in many other language communities are not as fortunate. It takes time and resources to develop hymns, which many churches lack. When the Christian faith is initially introduced to a society, or a new church gets started in a community, the church planters often teach the new church members their own songs. If the songs are in a foreign language, then many leaders assume that the lyrics can just be translated into the native language of the worshipers. As we saw in the examples above, this can indeed be done. However, translating a song is not as easy as it appears.

Image from trentdejong.com

Matching the syllables of lyrics with the notes of a tune can be very tricky. For instance, many Welsh hymns (other than Guide Me) have never made it into English in spite of the close relationship between speakers of both languages. Welsh poetry has certain features that make translation difficult: words are repeated often, and the syllables are structured in a way that not many melodies can fit.

We encountered these same difficulties during our time in the Philippines. English has many one-syllable words, but Filipino languages tend to have much longer ones. For instance, "faith" in English is mananampalataya in Tagalog. (That's seven syllables, in case you are counting.) So a hymn or chorus in Tagalog would need many notes to translate a word that would take just one note in an English song.

Besides the difficulties of matching notes and syllables, there are other difficulties in translating songs from one language to another. Tunes themselves carry meaning, and hearers can have emotional reactions to a melody that don't fit with the message of the lyrics. One missionary shared with me a striking story about mixed messages in hymns. After she had been working with her churches for some time, she started asking the worshipers how they felt about their hymns, most of which were translations from English songs. She found that about 1 out of 3 songs actually sounded like funeral dirges to the people who sang them. Songs like Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee! Even though someone had struggled to fit the original English words into the people's language, the meanings of the songs were not coming through clearly.

On Sunday when you sing together in your worship service, take a minute to consider if you can understand the words. You probably do, and you take that for granted. Not every church in the world has that privilege.

Which Bible Translation?

As far as I know, reading the scriptures out loud is a part of the worship service in every church around the world. English-speaking churches have an overwhelming number of translations to choose from. I'm not even going to attempt to say how many different versions there are, because that number will change in the time that it takes to write this post.

Photo from livingchurch.org

Of course your church tradition will probably limit the choices to some extent. In spite of its 400 year-old wording, the King James Version (KJV) is still the most frequently read translation in the US, and some churches still use this as their main version for reading in worship. Other denominations and traditions have their own preferences. (For instance, Roman Catholic churches use the New American Bible during mass.) And that's not to mention all the churches in the world who still do not have the full Old and New Testaments available in their main language. Every week they have to read the scriptures in a foreign language, hoping the hearers can understand enough to strengthen their faith. (Check out www.wycliffe.org if you are interested in learning or doing more to help communities that do not have adequate scriptures. You can also read my previous post about a language group in the Philippines who will be receiving the New Testament for the first time later this year.)

Just this month we bought new pew Bibles for one of my United Methodist congregations. As a pastor, I prefer the New Living Translation for most public and private scripture reading. However, if we wanted a denominational version with the logo on the front, then we had only two choices: the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) or the Common English Bible (CEB). We chose the NRSV for two reasons: it is the same version that our sister congregation uses, and its wording and sentence structure is closer to the KJV.

Reading the scriptures well during the worship service is not just about picking the right translation. Any version can sound good if the reader pays attention to pacing, volume, and pitch. But if you are in the position to choose a version to read, either out loud or privately, you may find the following tips helpful.

Think of all translations falling more closely to one of two styles: literal or dynamic. A literal translation tries to follow the word order of the original language. Most of the Bible is translated from Greek (New Testament) and Hebrew (Old Testament). Sentences in both of those languages are set up differently than typical English sentences. A literal translation tries to make understandable English out of those original wordings. The KJV is quite literal, which is one reason that it sounds so formal or "churchy." By contrast, a dynamic translation tries to communicate the main ideas (not the individual words) of the original language as clearly as possible. The New Living Translation (NLT) is a good example of a dynamic translation.

No translation is "purely" literal or dynamic. Each one falls a little bit closer to one style, or intentionally tries to mix the two methods. Here are some examples of the differences, showing Ephesians 2:10 in several versions. The first example is my attempt to translate the Greek as literally as possible. Then each version that follows gets slightly less literal and more dynamic, ending with a very dynamic translation, The Message.

Greek (my version):

For we are becoming that which God makes, formed/shaped in Christ Jesus for works that are good, already-made by God so that in them we could make our way.

King James Version:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

New Revised Standard Version:

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

New International Version:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

New Living Translation:

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

The Message:

He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

The names of each version above is a link to the website www.biblegateway.com. This is a great site to use when comparing different translations. It may be time for you to choose a new Bible to read, or to give one as a gift. Bible Gateway can help you read several different translations so you can find  the one that is most meaningful for you or your congregation.

Remembering "Saint" Patrick

Icon of Patrick from stpatrickrocor.com

Unlike St. Valentine, the saint we remember every March 17th was a real person in history. However, not all the legends about Patrick are true—for instance, there were never any snakes in Ireland for him to drive out. Also, Patrick has never been officially canonized, so he's not really a "Saint" with a capital S. He was a remarkable person nonetheless, returning as a missionary to the island where he had been previously enslaved for six years. By 405 AD he was not the first missionary to arrive in Ireland, but his ministry was the first to make much of an impact there. His mission strategy was carried on for centuries to come; by converting the influential leaders in society, he trusted that their influence would then cause people of lower social classes to follow.

St. Patrick's Day is more of a cultural celebration than a religious one. (We never marked it in 12 years of living in a Roman Catholic country. Not many Irish folks in the Philippines, I guess.) Here in the US we recognize the day by wearing green, but it is seldom an occasion for worship. Unless your church is named after Patrick, you probably will not do anything special in his memory as part of your service this Sunday.

Falling in mid-March, this holiday almost always coincides with Lent. This famous prayer by Patrick fits with John 3:1-17, a passage that comes up every few years during this season. It makes a great benediction:

Christ be with us, Christ before us, Christ behind us,

Christ in us, Christ beneath us, Christ above us,

Christ on our right, Christ on our left,

Christ where we lie, Christ where we sit, Christ where we arise,

Christ in the heart of every one who thinks of us,

Christ in every eye that sees us, 

Christ in every ear that hears us.

Salvation is of the Lord,

Salvation is of the Christ,

May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

Christ and the Work of the Artist

What is the role of the artist? Priest-poet Malcolm Guite uses some lines from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream to explain. (See the quoted section below from Act V, Scene 1, lines 5-18.) He shared these thoughts at a recent seminar at Duke Divinity School.

Good art should move us between between mystery and understanding. The artist's job is to place us between apprehension and comprehension. If we cannot apprehend a work of art at all, meaning that it lies completely beyond our grasp of understanding, then it is meaningless to us. However, if we fully understand a poem, song, or painting -- that is, we totally comprehend it -- then it is dull, trite, or banal. (Pick up a greeting card and read it's poetry. Probably not very mysterious.)

Jacob's Ladder, a sculpture in iron

The artist is called to shuttle us between understanding and mystery -- from comprehension to apprehension and back again. Or in the words of Shakespeare below, from heaven to earth, and earth to heaven. Each artist uses a form (such as poem, a film, a piece of music, or a sculpture) to take us from something we can understand so that we can be drawn to mystery that sits beyond our grasp.

What person in history "bodies forth" this bridge between heaven and earth?

Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”  - John 1:51

Christ is the living, enfleshed bridge between earth and heaven. He allows allows us to glance toward God by linking heavenly mysteries to earthly realities that we can comprehend. By coming in human-ness he started with something that is comprehensible -- a living, breathing, talking person. Then through his death and resurrection he drew us to try to apprehend the amazing mysteries of God.

**********************

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,

That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

Lent: Who needs it?

Here is a blurb that I prepared for our church bulletins about the season of Lent, borrowed from the United Methodist Book of Worship:

Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. It comes from an old word that originally meant “spring.” Historically, Lent began as a period of fasting and preparing for baptism. Then it grew to include a time of penance for all Christians. In these days we try to focus on the season’s original meaning as preparation for baptism and for Easter, living out the baptismal covenant more faithfully. It’s not primarily about penitence, and Ash Wednesday is the only day when we focus on that aspect. The rest of the Sundays and weekdays in Lent are about living as those who are baptized, and what it means to be forgiven for our sins.

As you can see, in the Methodist tradition Lent is more about looking ahead than looking back. Repentance and penance are important, but only inasmuch as those attitudes free the worshipper to pursue their identity in Christ's own sacrificial work on our behalf.

An early Methodist class meeting
Photo from unitedmethodistreporter.com

Apparently, John Wesley was no big fan of Lenten observances. A fascinating blog post by Taylor Burton-Edwards shows that Wesley's first prayer book for the American Methodists did not even mention the season of Lent at all. That's because Wesley's movement was centered around regular small groups that met for encouragement and accountability. These 'classes' or 'bands' required their members to confess their sins to each other every week. Doing so during a special season would have seemed redundant, and much too infrequent for Wesley's taste.


To Wesley confession was not an end in itself. It was just a necessary step toward recognizing the grace that God grants through forgiveness. If you are fasting or abstaining from something this season, make sure that practice is freeing you to experience Christ's power. If you miss a meal, then fill that time with prayer and worship. Rather than watching your favorite TV show, spend that time writing or calling someone who needs encouragement. Lent is not about feeling sorry for yourself. It's about 'leaning forward' into the new life that was given to us on Easter Sunday.