Monday, January 20, 2014

Connecting to Connect

In the beginning God created the heaven and earth
—Genesis 1:1



Letter to Myself

Roget's International Thesaurus lists ten categories for the word connect. If you include connected, connecting and connection and connections the number of categories swells to thirty-seven.

When I tried to find the word connect in the King James Version of the Bible, it simply didn't appear; however, when I chose the NIV, a contemporary translation, I found several connects—or connections.

Exodus does tell of the rings of the breastplate connecting to the waistband so the breastplate doesn't swing out; Leviticus reminds people to include the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them when they bring an offering. In Numbers —Priests and Levites are responsible for any offenses connected with the sanctuary.

And the New Testament doesn't ignore connection—albeit the NIV only mentions it once.
They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
—Colossians 2:19


I rather preferred the KJV use of knit together rather than connect or connected.

Connect: be contiguous, neighbor.
Connect: to ascribe, set to the account of
Connect: to follow, join, belong to

Connection: blood relationship, kinship, ancestry

There is an "Only Connect" in this rambling. My word for last year—release. My word for this year—connect. Last year I used the word everyday in a blog post. This year I'll occasionally use connect in a blog post.

While the word connect rarely appears in bible translations, the Bible is replete with connections, with threads that start on the first page and weave throughout scripture.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth People connect with one another, or disconnect.

We connect to God, God connects with us.
God connects to us. We connect to God.

Because a word spawned in modernity doesn't appear doesn't mean that it isn't knitted into the fabric of the Bible.

Connecting to scripture through writing sounds right—and why not begin at the beginning.

In the beginning God created the heaven and earth.




0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home