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 {\special{x:textcolor=\green}\it In principio erat verbum…}
 in the beginning was the Word.\special{x:textcolor}\break
 And that Word still speaks to us today, bringing life and hope
 in a world that is so often dark and troubled.
 He speaks into our hearts by His Spirit,
 and He speaks through His written word as we read and study it.
 
 Created nearly 1300 years ago, the Lindisfarne Gospels are
 a stunning presentation of His word in the form expected and
 appreciated in that day. But beautiful though they are,
 today most of us find a modern printed English
 translation far easier to use.
 
 As you read the Christmas story,
 have you ever wondered what words Mary actually heard,
 or the shepherds, when the angel announced the Lord’s birth?
 Gabriel didn’t say, “Fear not!” in King James English.
 Nor, I think, did he speak Greek, as it was eventually written by Matthew and Luke.
 To be readily understood, he probably spoke to them in Aramaic,
 the everyday language of the Jews at that time—and of Jesus himself.
 
 As this Christmas approaches, I am beginning the formatting of
 the New Testament in modern-day Chaldean,
 a direct descendant of the Aramaic spoken
 by Jesus and his companions.
 Once printed in Arabic script, it will look quite different from either
 the Lindisfarne Gospels or our English Bibles.
 But it will be the appropriate form of God’s word
 for the Chaldean-speaking community of today;
 our hope is that this new translation will
 communicate as clearly and powerfully in the 21st century
 as the angel’s voice did 2000 years ago.
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 \centerline{\bf Home address}
 \def\_{\char`\_}
 \centerline{NN Xxxxxx Xxxxx • Xxxxx • Xxxx XXN NXX • England}
 \centerline{Email: jonathan\_kew(at)sil.org, priscilla\_kew(at)sil.org}
 \centerline{Tel: +44 (0)9999 999999 \ \ AIM: nnnnnnnn}
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 \centerline{Wycliffe UK • Horsleys Green • High Wycombe • Bucks HP14 3XL • England}
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 Wishing you a very\\
 Happy Christmas\\
 and every blessing\\
 in the New Year
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 {\swsh with our love}
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 Jonathan \& Priscilla\\
 Timothy, Christopher, Elizabeth
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 \small December 2004
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