First Nations Christmas Story (5)

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.

A PROMISE FULFILLED

When her time came, Creator Is My Promise (Elizabeth) gave birth to a son. When her relatives and close friends heard the good news that the Great Spirit had been so kind to her, they were glad and rejoiced! Then, eight days later at his naming ceremony, all the relatives wanted to name him after his father, Creator Will Remember (Zechariah).

According to tribal law, the cutting of the flesh ceremony was performed for all male children on the eighth day. The child’s name was also given at that time.

“No,” she said to everyone’s surprise. “His name will be Gift of Goodwill (John)!”

But they said to her, “No one in your family has that name.” They made signs with their hands to Creator Will Remember (Zechariah) to see what he wanted to name him.

He asked for a writing tablet and to their surprise wrote, “His name is Gift of Goodwill (John).” 

Suddenly he could speak again, and when he opened his mouth, he began to give praise to the Great Spirit.

All the people who heard about this trembled with wonder. Throughout the hills and valleys of the Land of Promise (Judea), they began to tell others what they had seen and heard. All who listened began to wonder and say to themselves, “This child must have been born for some great thing.” For it was clear that the hand of the Great Spirit was upon him in a powerful and good way.

Then, with a glad heart, Creator Will Remember (Zechariah) spoke these words the Holy Spirit was giving him to say.

“All blessings to the Great Spirit of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)! For he has come to rescue his people from a great captivity. Just as the prophets foretold long ago in the land of our ancestor Much Loved One (David), he has lifted up his coup stick to show his great power to help us, to rescue us from the arrows of our enemies and all who look down upon us with hate.”

He lifted trembling hands to the sky and cried out.

“He has given to us the same pity he has shown our ancestors and remembered the promise he made in the great peace treaty with Father of Many Nations (Abraham). He has come to free us from the fear of our enemies, so we can walk all our days in his sacred and right ways.”

Then he turned to his newborn son, and from deep in his spirit he spoke these words of blessing to him.

“And you, my son, will be a prophet from the One Above Us All. You will make a clear path for the coming of the Great Chief, to show his people that he will heal our broken ways by cleansing us from our bad hearts and releasing us from our wrongdoings. Because Creator is kind and gentle, he will come to us as the sunrise from above, to shine on the ones who sit in darkness and in the land of death’s shadow, to guide our feet on the good path of peace.”

Gift of Goodwill (John) grew strong in body and spirit and stayed in the desert, waiting until the time was right to show himself to the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).