Now, now.
THE MESSAGE IS A WONDERFUL ANOINTED WORK THAT HAS BROUGHT ME SIGNIFICANTLY CLOSER TO GOD.
LOL.
I absolutely cringe when my pastor uses it. My sister always shoots me a glance whenever he uses it because she knows she'll see my head in my hands. It is bad enough that we have the ESV in the pews, but the Message should be banned in Mo Synod churches. Fortunately he only uses it for his text. But the beautiful phrasing of loved Scripture gets lost in the execrable 'street' paraphrase. I hate it.