Words

I love words...

I love sentences, grammar, syntax and everything else that goes with the English language.

I love looking through dictionaries, thesauri and lexicons.

Words have meanings...they have the ability to convey meaning and prompt action.

Recently I ordered a book entitled, Tell it Slant, by Eugene Peterson (translator of The Message). The subtitle of the book is "A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers."

Peterson has written several books that have captured my attention recently. Two of particular importance are, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading and Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology.

Back to Tell it Slant...

In the opening pages, Peterson builds a case for "watching what we say." He says, "Give us our daily bread" and "pass the potatoes" come out of the same language pool.

If I understand what he is saying then there are no "secular" words and no "sacred" words in the English language. Words are words and they are important. Don't get me wrong there are words that we use to describe the sacred and holy, but these are the same words that can be re-oriented to describe the everyday stuff of life.

Here's the quote that stunned me when I read it. I had to go back and re-read it. I had to let it sink into the crevasses of my pre-conceived ideas and notions.

"Everytime we open our mouths, whether in

conversation with one another or in prayer to our Lord,

Christian truth and community are on the line."

Peterson leads me to re-evaluate the words that I speak. He makes me want to be very careful before I open my mouth. If in fact, "Christian truth and community are on the line" when I speak I need to make sure that the "words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart" are pleasing in his sight.

Just a thought....