Misbak of Qidist

The ምስባክ (misbak) is the chanting of a psalm in the EOTC tradition. The Psalms are liturgy par excellence and sine qua non. If I was more disciplined I would read them more. I have listened to an audio recording of them all more than once, read portions in Ge'ez, Amharic, English, and Spanish, but I have never sat down and read them all. Maybe I shouldn't. But, whatever I decide as a personal rule, I know that I should incorporate more Psalms and not less, for the rest of my days.

Qidist (holy), is a minor holiday and the second week of The Great Fast in the EOTC tradition. The following is the misbak provided by the ግጻዌ (gissaway/lectionary) to instruction us unto life.

እግዚአብሔርሰ ፡ ሰማያተ ፡ ገብረ ።
አሚን ፡ ወሠናይት ፡ ቅድሜሁ ፤
ቅድሳት ፡ ወዕበየ ፡ ስብሐት ፡ ውስተ ፡ መቅደሱ ።

but igzeeabheyr made the heavens. faithfulness and goodness are before him; holiness and greatness of glory are in his holy place.

but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. (RSV)

The first is Ge'ez, the second is my translation and transliteration of the Ge'ez, and the third is the Revised Standard Version (praised by scholars) of the Holy Bible.

The word gebre (made) in Ge'ez was not formed in an academic ivory tower or a vacuum. Its context is feudalism in a Semitic-African society. Those who make are day-laborers in bondage to diktat-giving feudal lords and ladies. When the Lord made the heavens, there were no lords and ladies telling Him what to do. When the Lord made the heavens, He did not use hands. Indeed He has no hands, and yet He makes. He has no ears, and yet He hears all. He has no eyes, and yet nothing and no one escape His sight.

The RSV, said to be the most accurate translation of the Hebrew Bible assembled by Masoretic Jews centuries after the resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, speaks of honor and majesty being before the Lord. The Ge'ez, as best as I can translate it, speaks of faithfulness and goodness. 

We must use the utmost care in leaning on God's understanding rather than our own. We view honor and majesty as: getting an A+, sleeping with multiple people, receiving a six-figure salary, a million dollar home, being elected president or prime minister etc. God's view of honor and majesty is: being crucified by Romans, betrayed by the Apostles who received direct words that proceeded from His mouth, martyrs (people whose lives give testimony to Him) trusting the power of His name above the earthly escape offered by Daesh (ISIS) murderers and thieves, forgiving those who adulter against us, giving away all of our wealth to the needy (not just 10%) etc.

All of this is goodness. When you understand faithfulness as our commitment to God's will and as faith working through love, either translation of this misbak delivers the same word (message) of life.

Strength and beauty, or holiness and greatness of glory? The ever counter-intuitive Christ views weakness as strength and impartiality or multi-partiality as beauty. Prioritizing your neighbor's will, except for sin, before your own is seen as weak by man (flesh), but strength by the Holy Trinity. When you ignore a person's aesthetic appeal (or simply glorify God for their symmetry as Holy John Goldenmouth is quoted as commanding), net worth, and fashion, and focus on their commitment to God's will encapsulated in the love toward the neighbor, you shame demons. To do this is to be holy or truly different. We see the knack for what is redundant to the 21st Century American eye but emphatic for the ancient Semite. Greatness of glory. What a combo of words. To have God's view of beauty as impartiality is to reveal the greatness of His glory. All of this is in His holy place, His truly different place, His utterly unique place, and His sanctuary. If we say we want to be there, let's start acting like it.

Furthermore, we must love each other.

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