On a day when many people have the day off, the editorial staff of Baptists Today will spend at least part of Good Friday proofreading the next issue. It seems somehow appropriate.
Proofreading is a persistent chore for those who care about doing quality work. Even after individuals have written, re-written, proofread and turned in their work for copy editing, and after it’s then worked over by the editor and sent to the graphics designer for layout, errors have a way of popping up.
Typographical and other errors can be both embarrassing and misleading, as in a recent commentary from another publication that included this line: “With the decline in religion will come a rise in immorality and crime — especially white color crime — and incivility.” I presume that the writer meant to say “white collar crime” and didn’t intend any racial overtones, but the sentence as it is could be read that way.
One thing you learn in the business is that it’s easier to find other people’s mistakes than your own. When I’m proofreading my own work, I know what I intended to say, so it’s all-too-easy to glide right over misspelled words that might actually say something else. Another reader is more likely to find my flubs.
Copy corrections and crucifixion are worlds apart on many levels, but while wading through column after column of text with an eye for something wrong, I can’t help but be reminded what this day signifies — a day in which Jesus took upon himself all our wrongs, both intentional and unintentional. Jesus’ willingness to die on our behalf did not make all our wrongs right, but it did make them forgiven.
It’s a good day for gratitude.
[The cross image is from this source.]
Professor of Old Testament at Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina, and the Contributing Editor and Curriculum Writer at Good Faith Media.
