August 2, 2024
Words
Susan and I are hosting Jurhee, Sang, and Alice for the week. Alice is on the threshold of two years old and has grown a great deal since last we saw her in person. She is certainly more verbal. Her parents are bilingual, Korean and English, and so they speak to Alice in both Korean and English. So Alice calls her parents “mother” and “father” using both the English and Korean words.
At this point, Alice is unaware that she is learning two languages. Alice is using words from two languages, but for her they simply allow her more than one way to say the same thing. Over time she, no doubt, will grow into an understanding of these two very different languages, as well as the nuance of the meaning of the ‘same words’ between the two languages. “Mother” and “Father” have different connotations of respect and honor in Korean than they do in English, at least in the United States. Words help both name things in the world: physical, conceptual, emotional, and theoretical; and communicate them. Words in their cultural context also help create and maintain the culture or subculture of that people group.
The fact that some languages have more than one word for something other languages have only one or two words for indicates the importance of that word in that culture. The most famous example of this is the multiple words for snow the Inuit people native to Alaska have for snow, in light of our single word “snow” in English. Although too much may have been made of this particular example, it is true that the more words a culture has for a concept, thing, person, or feeling, the greater the importance of what this word represents tends to have in that culture.
One of the things I have learned over the years is the words used for God greatly narrowed at the Reformation. At the same time words became more central to the prayers and worship of Protestants, pushing physical gestures and symbols to second class status. I have been studying this phenomenon over the last three decades, which in this internet age is more crucial now as we enter our “post-printing press era.” Words still have power, but symbols and gestures are increasingly important. As Protestants, we have some catching up to do.
Pastor Lauren’s and my task in helping you grow in your spiritual life, is increasing your spiritual vocabulary, especially expanding your vocabulary for God and things related to new life in Christ. This includes words of course, but also symbols and gestures. At the same time we must avoid “Christian-ese” which can be insider language and unintelligible to visitors with no church background. For this reason you may have notice I often avoid using typical Christian terms (i.e. sanctification) but describing with more common words. And if I do use a word like “pneumatology,” (how we understand the Holy Spirit) I define it for people. Whether one has grown up for years in the faith, or is relatively new to the faith, offering a fresh supply of words for concepts that are often quite ancient is essential to a vital, living faith.
As the Bee Gees sang back in their early years, “It's only words and words are all I have.” And so it is—words are important even as expanding our vocabulary is important. Having multiple words for the same thing is important. Supplementing words with signs and gestures is also important. Still, we are but children when it comes to language for God, and though we grow in understanding, in this life we will never be able to fully understand that of which we speak when we speak of God and communion with God. But like Alice, we trust that this will be enough for us now, and by God’s grace, enough to honor God in service and worship in our limited understandings.
With confidence in Christ,
~ Todd