Reflection: Words, Words, Words
The Psalm we recited together is all about the joy of being in the presence of God. Now, there are lots of places in the Bible – especially in the Psalms, where this sentiment is expressed – and I think we can get a bit blase about this. So especially today, when we’re celebrating Pride Sunday and already thinking about the truly amazing diversity of life that God has created and is creating, I think it’s important to look around us and think about God’s dwelling place as the earth and appreciate anew God’s incredible creativity.
In Songs for the Holy Other, a collection of HYMNS AFFIRMING THE LGBTQIA2S+ COMMUNITY – there's a song entitled God’s Limitless Imagination.
God’s limitless imagination ever on display
In all creation, great and small, diversity at play.
We’re all a blessed expression of God’s all inclusive love
Our lives are the embodiment, the handiwork of God.
When you really think about it, the creativity involved in making this world in which we live is absolutely astounding! I mean really, what kind of mind thought up photosynthesis? And what sense of humour imagined the platypus? Or the bumblebee, which has no logical reason for being able to fly? Or at least no human logical reason. There’s still so much that we don’t know or understand about our world, eh? And what an intricate mind imagined the whole natural world as interdependent? You’ve probably heard the story (true story) of the wolves returning to Yellowstone Park. The wolf population was completely annihilated by the 1920s, but gray wolves from Jasper National Park were relocated to Yellowstone in 1995. The return of wolves rebalanced elk and deer populations, allowing the willows and aspen to return to the landscape. The end to overgrazing stabilized riverbanks and rivers recovered and flowed in new directions. Songbirds returned as did beavers, eagles, foxes and badgers. All because the natural order – God's natural order – was restored.
Now that’s surely a Creator worthy of awe and amazement! As the psalmist says, “ We join with the sparrows and swallows, singing praises to you.”
Unfortunately, we humans, unlike animals, plants, and ecological systems, always seem to find or perhaps create conflict – often based on competition and acquiring the most power and control over others – pretty much the opposite of Jesus’ teachings of inclusion and love for all. Over the generations, we have created language meant to demean others; words meant to spear those we perceive to be our enemies. We only have to look at the political rhetoric being flung around in the past week to see how harmful and devastating words can be.
But language is a funny thing. It's always evolving, whether we like it or not.
I remember, one day when I was I think about 13. My mother was telling me about a time in her younger years – somewhere in her teens – when she was invited to a friend’s house for a party. She wore a white party dress and she had a very dark tan (she always tanned very darkly) - and
she told me that her friend’s parents thought she was a – the N word! Even at 13, I knew that was a disgusting, racist word that you never said aloud – and here was my mother, using it as though it was just a regular descriptor. Which, of course, to someone raised in West Virginia in the 20’s and 30’s, it was. I’m sure that my mother wasn’t actually racist – at least, not after living in Canada as an Anglican priest’s wife for about 15 or so years, at that point in time. The vocabulary was still in her head, though, and telling her 13 year old daughter a story about her past probably brought back the familiar words, awful as that seemed to me.
Now that’s a particularly extreme example. Recognizing the impact of that kind of language, we don’t use that word anymore. We now say “African-American” as a simple descriptor.
Another word whose meaning has shifted over the decades is “queer”. When I was growing up, “queer” meant “odd” or “peculiar”. Then there was a period of time when it was a derogatory term, meant to insult anyone who was gay or lesbian; then, it seems to me, there was a period of time when it was a self-identifying term used by members of the LGBTQ community – but it was offensive for a non-LGBTQ person to use it.
A few years ago, I consulted my daughter, who is bi, about the current connotations of this word. She had referred to a group of friends as queer, and I said to her, “Isn’t that kind of insulting?”
My daughter – oh my – got this familiar expression on her face, rolled her eyes and said, “Mo-o-m" in that tone of voice that always precedes a lecture. And when that happens, she’s not messing around. She is genuinely appalled by something I’ve said or done and feels the need to set me straight. How do kids get to this point, eh? Where they seem to be in charge of our behaviour. And how come it works? I really have no defense against that “Mo-om”. She makes me feel like I should just scurry back into my cave and give that wooly mammoth stew a stir.
Anyway, now I know, on good authority, the real meaning of “queer” in today’s culture – and just to check, I looked it up – in Mirriam-Webster's dictionary. What could be more pedantic – or socially acceptable, I suppose. Anyway, here’s what it says:
The adjective today is commonly used as a positive or neutral self-descriptor. It means a person whose gender identity is nonbinary or differs from the sex they had or were identified as having at birth : a person who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, or otherwise not heterosexual.
So – no big emotion here – just a common word to describe a common circumstance.
As our language has evolved – and as the significance of certain words has changed – so our reaction to a lot of bible passages has changed, too.
Look at today’s Gospel reading, where Paul is writing to the Ephesians to exhort them to be steadfast in their faith. Now, Paul is living in dangerous times. He’s been thrown in jail multiple times, probably beaten up, undoubtedly handled roughly by soldiers armed to the teeth with swords and spears and shields – all because of his beliefs and his determination to preach the life and works of Jesus Christ – so of course the vocabulary he uses is militaristic. He’s literally in the midst of a war.
Now the version of the scripture from Ephesians that Barb read is the least militaristic I could find (and thank you, Marni . . . ) but remember the older versions:
put on the full armor of God, . . . with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
That’s all pretty evocative imagery, really – but a bit hard to actually relate to, today. What if, instead of weapons, we thought about tools to protect us and help us maintain our focus. Because that’s what it’s all about, really, isn’t it? All those weapons and armour that Paul recommends to the people of Ephesus are really meant to keep the people focused on the message of Jesus: Love God and love your neighbour as yourself. Notice that even the older versions talk about “extinguishing all the flaming arrows of the evil one” - NOT about sending flaming arrows out to kill people. It’s all about protecting the integrity of the message; about staying focused on God.
The version we read today talks about “standing up to everything the Devil throws our way”: about still being on your feet when all the shouting is over; about keeping each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. Not about attacking, but about defending and remaining steadfast and true to God’s word, to Jesus’ code of behaviour.
I think that today, the “battleground” has really changed, as have the tools, the weapons, the armour. Certainly, in our culture, in our society, in Comox, we’re very uncomfortable talking about using weapons, particularly in a religious context. We’ve been to the apex of that mountain – we've seen what happens when countries compete to be the one with the most - the deadliest – weapons. Remember air raid sirens? Fallout shelters? The cold war? Nuclear stockpiles? No, we don’t want to use the language of war to talk about our faith in God, our adherence to Jesus’ teachings about love.
That’s one reason why there are now so many different translations of the bible today. We’re constantly trying to find words that communicate the same message but in our modern social circumstances and cultural context. Just as the created world evolves, just as our sense of humanity evolves, so language evolves.
So imagine what words people in other circumstances would use as imagery to encourage them to keep going.
What would a chef say: Put on the apron of righteousness.
A ballet dancer? The pointe shoes of peace.
A teacher? The lesson plan of the spirit.
A choir member: the sheet music of faith?
Think about it. What imagery would inspire you to persevere through challenges you’ve faced or are facing?
I know that when I’m feeling particularly stressed, one thing I do is stop – physically and mentally – go sit by the ocean, look out at the waves, and take some deep breaths. What would Paul call that – the deep breaths of hope? Because that’s when I feel hope coming back into my being.
Maybe it’s something different for you – but it’s good to think about it, maybe even prepare something that works for you – although I suspect that you have something already. Maybe you just need to identify it, so that it becomes a plan that can be used when needed.
We get a glimpse of what Paul does, what his armour is made of, in that last verse of today’s gospel: “And don’t forget to pray for me” says Paul. “Pray that I’ll know what to say and say it at the right time”. Have you ever asked anybody to pray for you? It’s pretty heady stuff – different from the comfort and support of having someone say that you’re in their prayers. Actually asking for someone else’s prayers requires a level of courage and vulnerability that’s hard – and Paul does this a number of times in his letters.
This is a very close-knit community of faith – we care about each other, check up on each other, pray for each other. That’s a very secure feeling – to know that there’s a church family that has your back.
If I could assign homework, though, I’d ask that you go home and think about your plan, your tools, your meditative practice, what you do or think or say or pray that helps you to focus – or refocus – on the message of love that Jesus teaches.
In his book of meditations, entitled Embers, Richard Wagamese says: “It is love itself that brings us all together. This human family that we are part of, this singular voice that is the accumulation of all voices raised together in praise of all Creation, this one heartbeat, this one drum, this one immaculate love that put us here together so that we could learn its primary teaching – that love is the energy of Creation, that it takes love to create love.”
Amen.