|
|
|
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” – Mother Teresa
Several years ago, I was being
silly (Silly? Me? No!), doing an imitation of a radio or
TV preacher and I used the expression “Jaysus Chrahst.”
My poor, sweet mother chastised me and said I was being
“sacra-religious,” by which she meant “sacrilegious.”
She may have had a point but it’s also a fact that some
preachers—and some Christians—do talk that way.
More recently, I heard a news report about “Christianese,” the special language some Christians, especially evangelicals, use. Apparently it’s been a topic for several years but I confess I was unaware of it, possibly because I’m not an evangelical. Christianese, like any other language, is based on shared assumptions. If you talk to a sports fan about his or her favorite sport or team, you’ll hear certain words and phrases. I’m a science fiction fan and I know we also have our own language. The same holds true at work for most of us. Another word for it is “jargon,” except it usually has a negative connotation. The web site Urban Dictionary says Christianese The point of all this is that “Christianese” might make us feel good or look good to other Christians but it doesn’t do anything for the people around us. People who are hurting don’t want or need to hear that “God allows everything for a reason,” or that “someday we’ll understand.” Instead, they want and need to hear that we’re available and compassionate. The late French diplomat, playwright, and novelist Jean Giraudoux is credited with saying, “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.” We can “fake that” as Christians, saying all the right words, speaking the “official language,” but it won’t make us Christians on the inside where it counts. Christianity isn’t a place for “fake sincerity.” Paul wrote of his young friend Timothy, “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.” (Phil. 2:20 ESV). “Christianese” or other jargon keeps people at bay. It reminds them they’re “outsiders.” Yes, there is a time when people “inside” the church need to know the basics, like the difference between a psalm, a gospel, and an epistle, but to those who are still outside, we don’t need to make things any more confusing than necessary. Jesus didn’t exclude “outsiders,” he welcomed them. There were those who chose to remain “outside” but they did so because it was their choice. During our Pastor’s recent sermon series, “Seeing Jesus,” we meditated on Matthew 25:31-46. It doesn’t say “‘You said the right things and gave the right answers.’” Instead, it says “‘you gave me food . . . you gave me drink . . . you welcomed me . . . you clothed me . . . you visited me . . . you came to me.’” The Christian group Addison Road performs a song with the lyrics, “I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about / How You were mighty to save / But those were only empty words on a page.” We have a God who could have chosen to remain “outside” human affairs but ours isn’t that kind of God and we can’t afford to be that kind of people. We become “God’s hands and feet” when we engage with others, when we look for Jesus in them, when our claim of faith becomes more than “empty words on a page.” And in turn they might see Jesus in us. “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me,” (Phil. 2:19-23 ESV.) Copyright © 2017 by David Phelps |
