An article from the Cathedral Times
by Canon Wallace Marsh
My sister-in-law graduated from high school this May and is preparing to enroll at Sewanee. She spent a few nights with us the other week and received unsolicited advice regarding her courses for next semester.
Sewanee requires each undergraduate complete a 300 level language requirement. Thus, I encouraged Mary Elizabeth to take Spanish, because I would do anything to take it over again.
If only a time machine could take me back to Sewanee and show college Wallace a video of Canon Wallace celebrating the 1:30 p.m. Spanish Eucharist. Yes, I was celebrating the Spanish Eucharist! Fr. Ricardo Bailey’s quick transition to Emmaus House meant the Cathedral needed to be creative in staffing the 1:30 Spanish Eucharist. Suddenly, I needed to reclaim a language that I hadn’t spoken in years.
I started to panic a few days before that Sunday Eucharist. I was stumbling over too many of the words in the Spanish Eucharistic Prayer. I had visions of greeting parishioners in Mikell Chapel with the words, “Lo siento mucho” (“I am very sorry”).
In a moment of desperation, I called up my college friend (a Spanish teacher). She came to my aid during Spanish 300, and once again, saved me by sending a video with the proper pronunciation of the words in Eucharistic Prayer A.
Ironically, I have been spending weeks learning words to prayers that I have prayed all my life. As a priest, the words of the Eucharistic Prayer are at the heart of my faith, and words I pray multiple times each week; yet, this summer, it is as if I am learning the prayer for the first time!
This experience has proven to be quite holy. Praying in a different language has caused me to stumble over words and phrases that I typically pass right over. As I read the Spanish liturgy during the week there are moments where I am not really sure what I am saying! So, I have to pause and take a minute to translate.
Do you ever stumble over words and theological phrases on Sunday morning? Have you ever taken time to pause and translate (or articulate the meaning) of those words?
Our Anglican hymnody and liturgy are beautiful and steeped in theology. Yet, there are moments when worship feels ancient, failing to connect to our contemporary lifestyle and worldview.
One of the things I have experienced this summer is the feeling of being lost in translation. When we lose the meaning behind the words in our hymns and liturgy, we lose our desire to participate in worship. However, one of the things I have learned is that if you feel lost in translation, view it as God’s invitation for you to pause and translate. You might be surprised by what happens when you make the words of the hymns and liturgy your own words. You might just have a holy encounter with the Word!
As Christians, there are many things about our faith that the world does not understand. Instead of saying, “Lo siento mucho,” Christ is calling us to pause and translate. Make the words your own words and share them with others. As baptized Christians, we are all called to proclaim Jesus’ forgiveness and love into a world that all too often feels lost in translation.