Punctuation, appositives, heresy and theology

Punctuation matters.

I emphasized that in three decades of mentoring young newspaper reporters and in teaching journalism and basic English (a part-time gig). Because of my long-term fixation for finding errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation, I have been unable to turn loose of my editing pencil, even while sitting in the church pew.

Sunday's church bulletin provided a copy of the Gospel for the day, along with the Old Testament and New Testament lessons prescribed in the lectionary. The day's Gospel was taken from Mark and included this passage in Mark 9:7, using the New Revised Standard Version: "Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud came a voice, 'This is my Son, the Beloved' listen to him!"

As I read the text, I realized that either a comma was missing after the appositive "the Beloved" or the comma after Son should be a semicolon, which would completely change the meaning of the passage. Dropping the following comma in appositives is a very common error.

An appositive such as "my sister, Margaret," is known as non-restrictive and behaves like a word in parentheses (beginning with an open parenthesis and ending with a close parenthesis), implying that I have one sister, whose name is Margaret. Without the punctuation, "my sister Margaret" implies I have more than one sister and I am referring to the one named Margaret. No commas are needed.

Here's what bothered me about the punctuation in Sunday's Gospel: Without the following comma, the appositive is incomplete. The reader is left to wonder whether "my Son, the Beloved" is a restrictive appositive implying God has more than one beloved son (a heretical concept). Alternatively, the passage could be punctuated in error by using a comma rather than a semicolon after "Son." That punctuation would turn the last five words into a declarative or imperative clause, changing the meaning of the sentence: "This is my Son. The Beloved listen to him." This makes "The Beloved" refer to all you folks listening.

Punctuation matters.

I double-checked the transcribed Scripture in the church bulletin against my copy of an NRSV Bible. It shows a comma after "Beloved," thereby completing the non-restrictive appositive. The older King James Version translation avoids this punctuational question this way: "and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'this is my beloved Son; hear him.'" I also checked the New International Version, which says: "a voice came from the cloud: 'This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.'"

Final verdict: the church bulletin's punctuation issue was likely a "copy and paste" error and not a theological revision.

It's still true: All is vanity

It was my turn to be lector Sunday at church, a task I relish because it requires me to focus on the Scripture lessons. This lectionary seemed especially poignant. "Vanity of vanities," the Old Testament lesson from Ecclesiastes began. "All is vanity. ... all is vanity and a chasing after wind." It goes on: "I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to all who come after me, and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish. ... For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity."

I have been awakening frequently at night and lying awake, thinking about things I need to do at my job, wondering whether I remembered to do this or that or whether I would remember in the morning. The ancient wisdom speaks: All is vanity. This, too, shall pass. If only we could remember that wisdom when worries invade our minds.

And then, in the New Testament lesson, I read from Paul's letter to the Colossians: "Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ... But now you must get rid of such things — anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language from your mouth. ... In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all in all."

A few hours after church, in a supermarket parking lot, a man was holding his face close against his car and loudly swearing that someone had scratched his car. He could not see the scratch unless he held his face at just the right angle, a fraction of an inch from the paint, but he was shouting to the woman standing by him, screaming abusively about the unknown person or thing that had left a tiny, nearly invisible mark on the paint of his car. I passed by him as quickly as I could, not wanting to hear his language or bear his anger. "All is vanity," I thought, but kept it to myself.