Peter’s Page - Gentle Wisdom



Peter’s Page

News from Peter Kirk, December 2003

Dear Friends,

I hadn’t intended to write a Christmas letter. But time has passed and that time is nearly here – and I am sending out very few cards. So let me take the opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas.

I had a lot to write in my last two letters (which are still on my website, see below), but my life has been a little less interesting for the last few months. Even so, I have managed to move house yet again, and change all of my personal details except my name! So please make a note of the addresses at the bottom of this letter.

Since I last wrote I have spent most of my time at home in Chelmsford. My only long trip was to Baku in June. I was very glad to see the team again after more than a year and to catch up on what they had been doing. I was also glad to help them to sort out the final changes to the Old Testament text. The company in Baku is now preparing the text for publication, and hopes to print it next year. Meanwhile the translators have made a start on the new translation of the New Testament. I expect to visit again some time next year, to check some of the New Testament text, and hopefully to celebrate the publication of the Old Testament.

In July I agreed to rejoin the Key Terms in Biblical Hebrew project, and to give part of my time to it for a year. This is basically a project for a new dictionary of the most significant words in the Hebrew Bible. The approach is a new one, based on modern linguistic theory and designed to meet the needs of Bible translators. The results will be published not primarily as a book, but as a set of linked articles available online or on a CD. Most of what I have done for this project so far has been to do with computer tools and the project website. I have also spent quite a lot of time helping to clarify the international standards for representing Hebrew text in computers – an essential basis for this project. Later on I will be doing some research on actual Hebrew words; initially I will be looking at words in the “semantic domains” or areas of meaning of priesthood and idolatry. I can do most of this work from home by e-mail, with occasional visits to the project editor in Guildford.

At the beginning of August I was able to move back into the house in Great Baddow, Chelmsford, which I bought 20 years ago, but which had been let for 10 years. The tenants moved out when I asked them to and left the house clean and tidy, though emptier than it should have been. I redecorated one of the bedrooms and set up an office there before moving in. More work is needed, when I have the energy for it. In some ways it is strange to be back in my old home, but after so many changes in the last few years I am glad to be back somewhere familiar where I can stay and make a home.

My home church at Meadgate, Great Baddow is also familiar from past years, although there have also been many changes including a beautifully remodelled building. The church was struggling for a while when I was away, but is now growing well (and already threatening to outgrow its new building) under the leadership of our amazing vicar, Mones Farah, who is an Arab from Nazareth. Over the last few months he has been teaching on prayer, and this has helped to revitalise my own prayer. More practically, I have been involved in producing a church newspaper for the whole parish (see .uk) and in running an Alpha course for enquirers. I have now agreed to coordinate the church’s house group programme, which more or less means relaunching it. I have also made new friends as well as getting to know old ones again. It is good to be part of a loving and caring fellowship, to share a vision with the leadership, and to be part of a team working to make this into a reality.

These projects and my work for the church have kept me quite busy for much of the time, and I have also been doing some informal study. I still have no definite plans for the future. I would like to stay based in Chelmsford for the next few years. I may start on some more formal study, perhaps for a PhD, later in 2004, but I need to decide what topic to pursue and where.

The warm summer was welcome after my time in Australia. But having missed last winter I am not enjoying the cold and dark of an English December, and not looking forward to snow and frost, although at least my house is warm. I will be spending Christmas with my brother and his family in Somerset, and I hope to see some old friends in Chelmsford over the New Year.

With best wishes to you all for that New Year,

Peter Kirk

New address: 61 Harrow Way, Great Baddow, Chelmsford CM2 7AU Tel. 01245 474981

E-mail: peter@ Personal website:

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