First Nations Christmas Story (1)

The First Nations Version New Testament was birthed out of a desire to provide an English Bible that connects, in a culturally relevant way, to the traditional heart languages of the over six million English-speaking First Nations people of North America.

I thought it might be of interest to you to present the Christmas story from this version. Hopefully it will help you understand the story in some new nuances and insights.

Reading notes: In an effort to present the story as a narrative, at times reasonable implied story lines are added within, above and below the text. These lines are italicized. Also, Native naming traditions are followed for the proper names in the story, but the more well-known names are added in parentheses with font size reduced to help the reader’s eyes skip over them if desired.

CREATOR REMEMBERS HIS PROMISE

It was in the time of the bad-hearted Chief Looks Brave (Herod), who ruled the territory of the Land of Promise (Judea), that Creator chose to send a powerful spirit-messenger to Sacred Village of Peace (Jerusalem), to a holy man whose name was Creator Will Remember (Zechariah).

He and his wife, Creator Is My Promise (Elizabeth), were both descended from the tribe the ceremonial holy people are chosen from. 

They were in good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit, and with good and pure hearts they walked a straight path, staying true to the tribal ways and traditions given them by the Great Spirit.

They lived in the hill country in the Land of Promise (Judea) of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).

But Creator Is My Promise (Elizabeth) was unable to have children, and both were growing old.

Creator Will Remember (Zechariah) belonged to the clan of He Is My Father (Abijah), which shared the responsibility of prayers and ceremonies in the Great Spirit’s ceremonial lodge that was in Village of Peace (Jerusalem).

He was chosen in the traditional way to be the one to enter the sacred lodge and perform the sweet-smelling smoke ceremony for the evening prayer.

Most holy men could only hope for this honor once in a lifetime.