April 29, 2008
Forgotten Words
For songs of worship I’m more of a hymnal fan than I am a supporter of video screens. The last two Sundays however, I’ve been grateful for the words on the wall because the start-up church I attended doesn’t yet have hymnals. At the prospect of singing traditional hymns I was prepared. I know most of these songs by heart…well at least the first, second and fourth verses of all of them. However, much to my chagrin, I discovered I’d forgotten some of the words to my favorite hymns. For me this is just another reminder of how vital it is to be consistent with reading the Word. If, over time, we can forget the words of classic hymns, then we can also forget the Word of God.--Gail
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Gail;
-----Words are interesting. Although they are simply a precise arrangement of several different, commonly used, squiggly lines, upon sight they bring instantly certain thoughts and feelings to their users. Both the correspondence of the concepts a word delivers and the quickness of the delivery are an effect of how often the users actually encounter the word. Indeed, this same phenomenon occurs in areas other than precisely arranged squiggly lines. We older adults have often, tongue in cheek, wondered why teens and younger adults wear such baggy, half-on pants, backward caps, and many other oddities. But I think we all know deep inside that these also are words speaking without vocalization or organized squiggles to those who know the language. So also were the pulpits, the communion tables, the hymnals, and the hymns therein. And for that matter, even the terms applied to these “words” changed their meanings. For instance, the same room can be called either an auditorium or a sanctuary and, although nothing else of the room changes, entirely different feelings are evoked by it. By this principle, one can always know almost exactly when the communion table and pulpit are about to disappear. For a while they will have been referred to as furniture, then just “sticks of wood.”
-----But it is when people are referred to by the same type de-emphasizing terms that one can begin to suspect a fog of ungodliness settling into the midst. For people also are words. Instead of being written with common, squiggly lines, they are written with common interests, tastes, and understandings. Real leaders will try as hard to learn the vocabulary that are people as they try to master the vocabulary of language. And like learning new words requires repetitive use, learning new people requires repetitive interest. Real leaders will try to bring this learning experience to the whole congregation by creating opportunity for it also to take repetitive interest in the new person. But bad leaders, those who push with shoulders, and even butt some out of the pasture, will quarantine certain people who are not written with the same tastes and interests as are they. Thus removed from the common circulation of the rest of the congregation, the unwanted vocabulary is simply forgotten until it goes away. Thank God Jesus knows His full vocabulary in total detail and interest. Thank God He does not push with shoulder or butt with horns. We also need to be genuine towards the other people, if we want to think we are like Jesus.
Love
Steve Corey
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