Words are the Christian communicator's stock in-trade;
nouns, adjectives, pronouns, participles and verbs…
wooden signposts that point of the celestial city,
oil paints and pastel crayons that fashion a Mona Lisa.
The Christian speaker must hone their skills in this most delicate of crafts;
spinning the gossamer web of truth signalling another kingdom
fashioned from the slenderest of human apparatus.
The passing of wind over vocal chords
the making of guttural sounds and mortal croakings
yet these symbols are the representatives of divine reality.
Indian ink on Egyptian paper forming cryptic letters
Writing people-stories from ancient civilisations
which connect with and enliven today’s readied spiritual imagination.
Words are the substance of God's self revelation
it is by words that the universe was provoked into existence
it is by stern words and gentle cajoling that
God speaks
By which the prophets and apostles denounce injustice or announce God's mercy.
Quintessentially it is Jesus who is the living Word of God
whose life, death and resurrection to new life
'speaks' all the syllables, meanings and intentions
that God will ever have to say.
Sometimes we who are God's servants -- think it too small a thing,
and are tempted to disregard the power of words…
we are tempted to bypass the conventions of established human habit
refusing to submit to the patterned pathways of meaning
which when understood and used according to their conventions
force themselves upon the understandings of mortal listeners
and insure the arrival of the train of truth at the station of the human heart.
So then Christian speaker -- speak your words
but know that the written and the spoken word
have power beyond your imagining.
You had best hone and develop your craft every chance you can
for your audience is becoming restless
and the time is coming when you needs must have your say
The redemptive story of Jesus’ gospel is awakening
and it is time for foolish tongues to tell of Shakespearean things
which will make ready the human world
for the sense of God
in a senseless world…
a lighthouse for those on rough seas questing for safe harbour.
19 February 2007
