And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
When I was a child, I spent summers with my Chinese grandparents in California. Each morning we’d have a time of prayer and devotion after breakfast, which, on a lucky day, would be my grandma’s fried rice, eggy and dotted with little bits of Chinese sausage.
We’d read the Bible, we’d pray–for our family, for friends, for the President of the United States, for the world–and we’d sing hymns in Cantonese. My minister-grandfather, who had suffered a stroke, belted them out when he remembered the words, and my grandmother’s warbly voice carried us through.
As I was walking through Chinatown in New York City recently, the sights and sounds–little old ladies, sizzling street food, the barrage of Cantonese–triggered my mental time machine, and one song from our family repertoire popped into my head. It’s an old Christian standard known in English as “Isn’t He Wonderful?” But in Chinese, the title is translated, “Isn’t Jesus Christ Really Amazingly Mysterious?”
It occurred to me that with the simple switch of language, this song gained nuance and depth that the combination of the English words and the music couldn’t manage. It’s not that wonderful is a bad word. It’s just that “amazingly mysterious” said much more about the nature of the Lord–how He isn’t just wonderful, but really awe-inspiring, extraordinary and beyond our understanding. In both English and Chinese, the song continues: “Eyes have seen, ears have heard…” And indeed, mine were opened.
Lord, thank You for showing me that not everything is lost in translation.
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