Words Mean Things

I've been criticized immensely in the past for being nit-picky about the words I use or the way I use them. Jimmy said not long ago that the minute we stop calling the activities that occur on Sunday morning between the hours of nine and noon "church" is the minute we might actually start getting somewhere. I said in my last post that I refuse to call singing "worship". For this, I have been called everything from petty to legalistic.

I just can't get away from the importance of the words we use, though. Words can build up or they can tear down. If we repeat something often enough, eventually it impacts our way of thinking and our lifestyle. People on both sides of the political/cultural spectrum use this argument when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn't.

How could it not impact the way we think? We can repeat to kids all day long that the church isn't the building, but the people in it. Yet, how do we use the word the other 95% of the time we use it? To refer to a building or a program! There is something hopelessly out of balance!

Our words mean things. If you don't believe me, ask the kid whose friends constantly tease him, even though they all claim to be joking. Eventually, it will impact that kid.

So, if I seem too adamant, it's because I think the most apparent way of showing that we're all ready to throw the hinges off of the doors of our definition of church is in the way we use the word every day. Let's let our yes be our yes, our no be our no, our church be our church, our program be our program, and our building be our building. Let's be honest about what we're talking about.
posted by Stephen at 1:05 AM | |