Am I an Interpreter?

This past week I spoke at a leadership conference in Würzburg, Germany. 

 

Regrettably, I don’t speak any German, but an amazing translator was at my side, translating one sentence at a time. 

It seems to me that translators have a terrifically difficult job, converting colloquialisms, syntax, grammar, and energy into something that captures the tone, meaning, and intentions of the speaker. I’m always impressed by people who have learned that ability.

When I was pastoring, we had a number of people in our community who were deaf. During our celebrations, we would have an interpreter using ASL: American Sign Language. I was always impressed by how expressive they were, not just using their hands, but with facial expressions and often demonstrative body language.

One day I was having a conversation with one of the interpreters about their work. He told me there was actually a code of conduct that forms the ethical framework for interpreters. It included obvious things, like confidentiality, appropriate conduct, principled practices, and professional development.

But then he told me something I wasn’t expecting.

He said that as a deaf interpreter, he must never comment on what the speaker is saying, even if he finds it personally offensive; he must honor the speaker. Being true to the message was critical; it represented the integrity of their work. I suppose I compared it to a postman opening up letters and redacting words and phrases they didn’t like.

I’ve mentioned this before, but integrity is from the Latin word integretas, which comes from the root Latin word integer. That’s a whole number in mathematics. It implies that something is whole or all-in-one-piece. It means something is integrated into one and not fractured.

Throughout scripture, the word one is important. God told Moses to teach Israel the Shema: “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It meant not only were there no other gods but Himself, but that God was perfectly whole and integrated within himself. That’s why Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”  He meant that they were integrated as one.

Even our word holy is rooted in this idea of wholeness and oneness. When God told Israel to “be holy even as I am holy”, there was a lot more to it than obeying a list of rules. They were to be integrated, to have integrity. When they weren’t operating with integrity, they were said to be profaning God’s name and breaking the oneness they had with God.

It made me wonder about any of us who speak before audiences, or for that matter, before anyone. Are my words reflective of the ethic of the Kingdom of God? Would those who listen to me respond like people who heard Peter and John?—“They recognized that they had been with Jesus.”  ACTS 4:13

We are interpreters in the strictest sense.

Am I speaking in a way that truly reflects what Jesus is saying? Is my church? Are the people I’m discipling?

This is a question of integrity, of wholeness.

Dave Workman | The Elemental Group

---

Is there clarity in your church regarding your mission, vision, and core values? Maybe it's time for EnVision...a revolutionary, gamified approach to charting your church's future. Team-based, self-facilitating, and interactive! Check it out here.