(opinions welcome in comments!)
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| "I need hope!" |
Here is a nice precise, plain spoken Blog by James McDonald: The War on Christmas
As I listened to Queen Elizabeth this Christmas day I realized I blew it. In the
Church we use words that have been hijacked - these words are so compromised that when the Church uses them one must wonder if it is the Truth or a banality that is heard. We use these words, but what meaning is heard?
We say Love ... but is something felt for pizza or the Montreal Canadiens heard?
We say Peace ... but is this just the absence of strife?
We say Hope ... but is this heard as a possibility?
We say Joy ... but isn't this just great happiness?
We say Light ... but perhaps a type of luminous radiant energy is imagined?
We say Name ... isn't this what your mama calls you?
We say Jesus ... and they think wow - what a nice guy.
We say enlightenment ... and perhaps this is heard as an increase in knowledge and abstract thinking?
When we say Christmas? Do you hear a day of celebration of family and prosperity with gift giving, feasts and quaint (but harmless) Victorian, Germanic, Pagan and Animist traditions?
I say Good ... do you hear 'only God?'
Many of the words, the similes, the metaphors and the analogies have been hijacked by the culture of the day. I think we need to talk less and say more. I think we need to define the words we use constantly; culture has made our theological language homonyms of a sort - they sound the same; but within the Church they mean something so much deeper and richer than what is heard. Love your neighbour - three words that each need to be defined ... see what I mean? Did you hear the great commission?
Recently a young man gave his testimony. What brought him to Christ? A direct clear no-nonsense plain-spoken pastor. This young man went from loving himself and chasing after the world to: "No, I’m gonna do this because [God] Loves me. I’m gonna do this because He’s amazing and not because [I] have to, [but] because [I] want to.’" ... the name of this young man: Justin Bieber - his God is now the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I actually teared up when I heard him speak. He is on a journey - we all are. Please pray for our pastors and preachers - pray we all will learn to speak the clear, plain and direct message of Jesus.
We are interested in collecting your thoughts on ways we (Christ's Church) could communicate better. What Christianese words do you think people misunderstand?
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(P.S. One word that I truly dislike is the term Christianese ... fyi ... :-) )
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