the    sides

Len posted this which got me thinking about this.

Then the following happened this past week:

I’m teaching my CRASH class and the comment I made was - “Students can tell a fake. Their…[and I paused here] baloney meter is always on.”

From the back of the room, a parent said “You mean a BS meter?” The parent also happens to be an elder.

“Uh…yes, I do.”

That moment illustrated the universe we’ve traveled this summer. I got blasted for using the word “period” in a sermon to explain Mark 5 just a few wee months ago and a thousand so miles. (I’ll let you read the context.)

I’m not going to write all my thoughts here but here are my random thoughts so far. Hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll tie them all together to make some semblance of a essay/article.

Language here (Parker) for the most part is a non-issue. In the South, HUGE issue. Why?

There is no way of escaping the contextual-ness of language. Not just regional, but generational and gender. Disagree? Then why do we have Women’s Ministry, Men’s Ministry, Children’s Ministry, Youth Ministry, Senior Adult Ministry, and The Non-Splitting Family Tree Ministry. (Had to get a shot in at my Arkansas family!! haha)

Like it or not, we judge people by the words they use. Longer words - smarter. Shorter words - not so smart. Smart aleck words - youth pastor. Why?

If the New Testament was written in today’s language, I think we’d be offended. “We” meaning church folk. Most of the New Testament was written in koine Greek - the common, idiomatic/slang language of the day. Makes for some spicy passages.

So when Jesus calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers and white-washed tombs and sons of the devil - what exactly would be our equivalent? I shudder to think because of one last thought…

We use language to communicate MEANING and EMOTION and for impact and to connect with someone else. Language is not the ends but a means to an ends.

How am I going to tie all of this together???