Paraphrases

Ten Positive Commandments

vabutsy Paraphrases, ponderings

After a quiet time today (a time that bore some passing resemblance to centering prayer 😁), I was struck by how negative and restrictive what many of us know as the 10 Commandments are. So, undaunted by generations of scholars, interpreters, and translators who have tackled the challenge with far greater qualifications than I have, I used an English Protestant translation of the 10 Commandments that I was taught God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, to write my own 10 Positive Commandments. (Phew! that turned into quite a sentence.)

Thou shalt:

  1. First and foremost, honor the divine wherever you find it.
  2. Live in truth and wisdom
  3. Speak gently
  4. Step outside of chronos time to practice kairos time regularly
  5. Honor your ancestors and wisdom teachers
  6. Nourish life
  7. Guard the sacredness of life commitments
  8. Be satisfied with your own possessions
  9. Be truthful and generous when speaking of others
  10. Be satisfied with your own self

Ecological Paraphrase of 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20

vabutsy Paraphrases 
Brothers and sisters:
The earth is not for immorality, but for God,
and God is for the earth;
God created the earth and also created us to care for the earth.

Do you not know that all creation are members of the Christ?
And so all joined to the Christ become one Spirit with God.
Avoid being immoral to the earth.
Every other sin a person commits does not dishonor the earth,
but the immoral person sins against our own earth.
Do you not know that our earth
is a temple of the Holy Spirit for us,
the home we have from God, so that we do not own the earth?
Do not sell the earth for any price.
Rather glorify God in how you care for the earth, God’s creation.



Jonah’s Lament

vabutsy Paraphrases, poems 
Three days!

THREE DAYS! I spent
In the belly
Of that goddamn whale

Three days! Because You 
YOU
Were so determined 
to have me 
in Nineveh 

Three days! All dark and slimy 
Belched up
Finally
On Nineveh’s beach

So I told them
I warned them
Mighty YHWH
Would smite them

Then they make this big show
Led by their weaselly king
Sackcloth and ashes 
Wailing and gnashing of teeth
Big bloody show

And now You won’t smite them
Smite them, damn You!
Three days!
In a whale
And You won’t smite them
What kind of god are You?
What kind of prophet does that make me?

I’m so angry I could die
Go on, kill me already
Why not?
Why those three days
Of darkness and terror
If You’re going to go all soft again
And spare them all?

Oh no, You won’t smite them
Instead You kill that lovely bush
That shaded me
From YOUR hot sun
Now I suppose You want
Me
To rot in Your hot sun

Probably for three days

Three days of my life!
Three days in a bloody great whale
Vomited up in Nineveh
Why, I ask You, why?

All I ask is that You smite
Every last man, woman, and child,
Every beast and bird
In Nineveh.

But all You smote
Was my bush.

Three days in a whale
And I don’t even get
To see Nineveh
Properly
Smote.

Three days!
To watch a worm-eaten bush
Wither and die.

I’m so angry I want to die.

Comfort My Age, O God

vabutsy Paraphrases, poems

Inspired by Isaiah 40: 1-8

Comfort, O comfort my age, I cry to my God.
Speak tenderly to my years, 
for I have served my term, my penalty is paid,
I have received from life double for all my sins.

My voice cries out:
“In the wilderness of age prepare the way of hope,
make straight in the desert time of life a highway for grace.
Every valley of despair shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill of discouragement be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of living long shall be revealed,
And we shall see it together,
for joy speaks still to us.”

God’s voice says, “Cry out!”
And I answer, “Do you want to hear my cry?”
All people are grass,
our lives are like the flowers of the field.
We wither, the flower of our youth fades,
when the breath of life blows upon it;
surely we are grass.
Yes, we wither, the flower of our youth fades;
but the joy of our faith can stand forever.


In Memoriam RBG: After Ecclesiates

vabutsy Paraphrases, poems

She has gone to her lasting home,
And mourners went to the court;
The silver cord of her strength snapped,
The golden bowl of her resolve broke,
And the pitcher of her wisdom shattered at the spring,
And the broken pulley of her service fell into the well,
And her dust returned to the earth as it once was,
And her life breath returned to God who gave it.

We weep
We remember
We are grateful
And we thank God for her.

Proverbs 21:1-6, 10-13: A Woman’s Paraphrase

vabutsy Paraphrases

God channels the outflowing love of a righteous woman to nourish those who wither.

These are the truths she knows:

  • The wise follow God’s path
    And not the ways of the world.
  • To do what is right and just
    Is worth more than any showy achievements.
  • Too much haughty pride
    Leads to sorrow and loneliness.
  • Plain work patiently done
    Is its own reward.
  • Truth is solid, settling easy on the soul,
    Lies are bubbles, bursting peace.

These are the ways she lives:

  • She desires goodness,
    She spurns evil,
    She honors everyone as a neighbor.
  • She accepts correction
    For she values the wisdom
    That comes with knowledge.
  • She builds heart’s home
    On the love of God
    Lest her life lie in ruins.
  • She hears the cry of the poor
    And she helps
    For she knows what it is to need.

Luke 6:20-26 More or Less

vabutsy Paraphrases, poems

Raising his eyes toward me Jesus might have said:
“Blessed are you when you feel poor and scared,
for even then the Kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you when you are hungry for more justice,
for that hunger is blessed and satisfying.
Blessed are you when you weep,
for weeping is as good and holy as laughter.
Blessed are you when you hate what you have done,
and when you berate yourself,
and recognize when you have done wrong
on account of your conscience.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your understanding is your reward
here and in heaven,
for your ancestors struggled
in the same way.
But woe to you when you are smug and self-satisfied,
for such feelings are their own reward.
Woe to you when you are full of your own accomplishments,
for such feelings will leave you hungry.
Woe to you when you laugh at others,
for such laughter will leave you lonely, grieving and weeping.
Woe to you when you brag and boast needlessly,
for you know that to be false pride.”

Almost Romans 8:28-30

vabutsy Paraphrases, poems

Incredibly, unbelievably, miraculously
All things work for good
For those whom God loves
(And her love knows no limits
Of person, time or place
Infinite love from our infinite God)
We are called according to her grace
For she foreknew everything and everyone
She predestined our salvation
She gave us her own son
That we might conform to his example
And not the expectations of this world
So that he might be the firstborn
Among all her loved children.
As she predestined our salvation
So she calls to the ears of our hearts
And as she calls to us
So she bestows her grace for justification on us
And as she and only she justifies us
So she and only she shares her glory with us
(The only glory worth having
The only lasting glory)
Now and forever

The Good Samaritan, Pandemic Version

vabutsy Paraphrases

… a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied, “A lonely man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he tried to grab his hands to bless him, but the man backed away. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, tried to kiss him on each cheek, but the man backed away. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him but not too near; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity, so he kept his distance but talked with him for awhile. He walked with him and gave him his email address and phone number and wrote down the man’s contact information so they could keep in touch. When he left the man, he smiled and wished him well and promised to call or email him regularly, but he kept his distance.”

And Jesus asked, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the lonely man?” The lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy and kept his distance.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Almost Luke 10:25-37

Paraphrase of today’s first reading: Dn 3:25, 34-43

vabutsy Paraphrases

She stood up in the emptiness and prayed aloud:

“For your name’s sake, O God, do not deliver us up forever,
or make void your covenant.
Do not take away your mercy from us,
for the sake of Sarah, your beloved,
Rebekah your servant,
Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah
your holy ones,
to whom you promised to multiply their offspring
like the stars of heaven,
or the sand on the shore of the sea.
For we are reduced, O God,
brought low everywhere in the world this day
because of our arrogance.
We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,
no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,
no place to gather, to find favor with you.
But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received in our aloneness,
as though it were burnt offerings of our pride,
or pile upon pile of our greed.
So let our sacrifice be in your presence alone today
as we follow you unreservedly;
for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.
And now, now that we are brought low,
now that we are isolated, each with our own thoughts,
now let us follow you with our whole heart,
let us worship you and pray to you.
Do not let us be put to shame,
but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.
Deliver us by your loving kindness,
and bring glory to your name, O God.”