A merry christmas to all - and to all a good year.

Merry Christmas; and may this be a year of peace and joy for us all.

May all good things be yours today. Me, I'm holding out for roast potatoes, bread sauce, chestnut casserole, and maybe a sugar mouse.

*Or, where applicable, Happy Hanukkah. And to those who observe neither, have a nice day just on general principles.

...and safe travels to those who have to be on the roads today.

I saw the mayor of Bethlehem being interviewed on CNN. He said he had heard that all the hotels were booked. It's remarkable how little things change in two thousand years...

My very first online journal entry was a salute to Charles Schultz, who had just passed that day, and I recalled how moved I was I first saw that moment in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" where Linus steps out onto the bare wooden-planked stage and recites that simple passage.

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

(The genius of that scene, however, is that before he begins, Linus says, "Lights, please," and a spotlight magically appears on him. Now that's show business.)

We human folk are sure slow learners, aren't we?

Blessings to all this day, and peace to those of good will.

Thank you, Goddess, for blessing us, sustaining us, and keeping us alive to reach this joyous season once again.

And pity us poor travellers that trudges through the mire

God rest your friends, your kindred that lives both far and near

God send you a happy Christmas and a bright new year

Teresa, Patrick, thank you.

Merry Christmas you guys.

Happy Whatever! (Wonderful thought: if it's a solstice festival, do we get to have it twice a year?)

The KJV, with its archaic flow of language, was and still is a masterpiece.
I've read the New Century Version (based on the Bible for the Deaf), which is simplified, and it certainly sacrificed a great deal of the beauty of the language for simplicity.

I love the Authorized Version as well, and have never thought it as bad a translation as some say, even though I prefer others for study. That familiarity and rhythm make it a great liturgical translation. The problem, often, with using the KJV in teaching or preaching is that very fact that it is so familiar, it feels "wired in" to our minds. Sometimes, it is much too pretty, which makes it easy to to listen to whithout hearing. The original Greek of, say, the Gospel of Mark, is much more rough, immediate, and in some ways shocking than the KJV. It is possible to love the words so much that what they mean can just flow by.

My preference, as a Catholic, when teaching is the New American Version, which is nothing if not plain, and even clumsy in places. But it is different while being faithful to the text, and more jarring to the ear. It can have more of an impact, sounding new and unfamiliar, making people pay a little more attention to what is being said, and less to how.

At least that is my experience. For my own reading I would prefer either the Jerusalem or NRSV.

And may 2006 be a better year!

I enjoy reading the KJV, but am experienced enough with it to know what the more complex sentences mean. For anyone not familiar with the text, it can be horribly confusing.

I wrote a story in which the phrase
'create in me a clean heart' appeared. One of my critiqers did write in and tell me that the sentence structure was odd, and I might want to rewrite it because it was confusing...(only 1 out of 16, though).

My favorite for a good long while has been http://unbound.biola.edu/ - it has served me well when trying to find mistranslations.

It has a frequently happened that a bible quote appeared in an English text and the translator translates it verbatim into Hebrew - rather than quoting from the source. This can be tricky to catch!

Peace on earth.

*in the C sense, not the footnote sense.

Psalm 51, right? I set that to music one time. That part is the first line of a round, and set to very tame stepwise-motion music, with "and put a new and right spirit within me" harmonizing with all the leaps and strange intervals.

Other highlights of that piece include the men singing in Latin while the women sing the corresponding line in English, to different (but harmonizing) music.

(I always thought Maddy Prior had it right - her "Year" song cycle has songs for Spring, Summer, Fall, Christmas, then Winter. This time really is its own Season. I observe it as Christmas, but I sometimes do think that using that as the catchall for the whole of the "dark time of the year" is a mite misleading. Anyhow, good wishes to all who've helped drive out the darkness of this time with joy, family, friendship and faith. And probably candles or little sparkly electric lights.)