Holy Bible: Mosaic

Around a year and a half ago, I was approached by David Sanford, founder of Sanford Communications¹ out of Portland.  David was working on a project with Tyndale, a New Living Translation of the Bible that would feature art and book excerpts from throughout the history of Christianity, as well as a series of reflections on Bible passages from present-day writers.  David asked if I would like to be involved as a consultant, and if I had any recommendations for contributing writers.

I was skeptical, as I am with most Christian endeavors, but I was also extremely flattered.  Flattery won out.

My role in the process was to read the submitted meditations and provide a quick opinion on if they worked or not, and how I would improve them, which is exactly the sort of work I love to do.  I also had the opportunity to submit a piece.  A few other Burnside folks (or friends of the site) contributed as well, including Penny Carothers, Bryan Catherman, Sarah Cunningham (Zondervan author), Mike Morrell (of the prolific zoecarnate), Beyth Hogue, and David Sanford himself.

Besides Penny and Bryan, I had no idea who was involved.  I asked that all the submissions sent to me be anonymously numbered so I wouldn’t feel bad tearing them to pieces when criticism was called for.  The process went smoothly.  Of the 40 or so meditations I read, most were solid and needed varying levels of editing to fix.  There were about 5% I couldn’t stand.

There were only one or two I sent back saying they were perfect.  Here was the message I sent back to Beyth Hogue (who was sending me the pieces) for my favorite one:

“A BIG thumbs up.  Huge.  This is a great piece.  It reminded me, as you’ll probably remember, of the passages at Mt Tabor Presbyterian², where the pastor would read and the congregation would follow.”

“Anyway, this is a beautiful piece.  No criticism warranted.”

When I was finished, she gave me a list of which contributor wrote each piece.  It turned out my favorite mediation was Penny’s.

(I wasn’t sent Bryan’s to review, though his is excellent as well.)

Holy Bible: Mosaic went on sale this week.  I received my copies yesterday.  It turned out fantastic.

The book is laid out with the art, passages, and meditations in the front, and an NLT Bible in the latter 2/3rds.  I was worried they wouldn’t pull the design off, but the final product is gorgeous.  Without going overboard in promotion here (none of us get a nickel of royalties), Holy Bible: Mosaic would make an excellent addition to your library.  It’d make an excellent gift, too.

But, in the words of the immortal Levar Burton, you don’t have to take my word for it.  Here’s how the book looks.

If that has your attention, you can purchase the book through Amazon.com.  I’d opt for the deluxe version, though.

Moses in a flash of triumph, shortly before God informs him he'll never see the Promised Land.

I have no idea if I’m okay to do this (I’ve emailed David, but haven’t heard back yet), so I’ll just go ahead and yank it if I get in trouble.

This was the meditation I submitted, which was on the topic of following God’s instruction.  This is not how the meditation appears in the final copy.  Most of the time, when I write, I’ll look back at something I wrote, even a month back, and cringe.  I’m still proud of this one, though, which is good, since it’s now printed in a Bible, for pete’s sake.

(Note: This is not how my mediation appears in the final copy.  The edits Tyndale made were definitely warranted.)

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The Bible starts out strong.  BLAM!  God creates the universe.  KAPOW!  Man sins.  There’s the first murder, a flood that washes the earth clean, the Tower of Babel.  In Exodus, Moses keeps that momentum with the villainous Pharaoh, the gore of the plagues and the splitting of a sea.

But then, toward the end of Exodus, just when you’re wondering how things could get any crazier, there’s an instruction manual on temple building.

It doesn’t get any better for a long time.  Page after page of endless genealogies…the excruciating minutiae of rules and laws and codes and commandments…on and on and on and on.  It all might be bearable if there was something other to eat than manna.

And it’s right around the Chapter 2 of Leviticus where I realize how much I need my sweet Lord Jesus, because there’s absolutely no way I would’ve made it in the Old Testament.

Not because of belief.  I can see myself whining for some meat after a week of manna, but I like to think I’d remember the violence of Passover.  Or recall dipping a finger in a sheer wall of saltwater.  I want to hope the reminder of those last days in Egypt would’ve kept me from chipping in my wife’s bracelets for a gaudy gold bull.

My downfall would’ve been the furious, mind-numbing attention to detail.

Take, for instance, Numbers 20.  The Israelites are again complaining: “We don’t have water…it’s hot here…there aren’t any figs or pomegranates…mew mew…” So God tells Moses, “Take the staff…Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water…”  And Moses gets his staff, and he gets Aaron, and he gathers the assembly.  He lays into them a bit, which always seemed to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of Moses’ job.

And here I think he must’ve hesitated.  It’s what I would’ve done.  “Okay, so…I got my staff…and the assembly is here…and Aaron’s right over there.  What was next?  Uh…hit it?  Yeah, it probably has something to do with hitting the rock with my staff.  I’ll hit it twice, just in case.” He must have been relieved to see it work.

But Moses didn’t do it right.  He didn’t follow the instructions perfectly.  And because of that slight deviation, God tells Moses he’ll never see the Promised Land.

Here’s the thing, though.  It DID work.  Water DID come out.  So even though Moses paid the consequence by not reaching Israel, God still gave his people water.

Later, the water is living, His Son.  Our sins are forgiven. The staggering minutiae and wilderness of detail replaced by the sweet slake of grace.  And while there may still be earthly consequences to pay, unorganized minds like mine find peace in something we can wrap our minds around: our relationship with our God.