Crowley Rotarians get unique Bible lesson

Rev. Warren Langford, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Crowley, shared some interesting facts about scripture at Tuesday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Crowley.
Langford, who is also a research and programs consultant with the New Testament Textual Studies Foundation, uses artistic and paratextual material to create “family trees” that show how Biblical manuscripts are connected to one another.
He explained that the Christmas story we read comes from a critical translation of the Greek New Testament, of which there are over 5,000 copies, all hand-scribed by humans, leaving a lot of room for variation.
Langford presented three variations of Matthew 1:16:
• “Jacob was the father of Joseph to whom was betrothed Mary the virgin bore Jesus, who is called the Messiah.”
• “Jacob was the father of Joseph, to whom being engaged to the virgin Mary bore Jesus, who is called the Messiah.”
• “Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
The different variations may appeal to different audiences in terms of their wording, but the intent behind each is to make clear that Joseph is not Jesus’ father.
Backing off of that technical topic as he closed his program, Langford reminded the group that families are diverse and that character is built by the giving and receiving of life on a day to day basis.
He encouraged everyone to experience the connection between us and our world that allows us to observe service above self, not just during the Christmas season but throughout the year.