We visited a church in the Texas hill country this past Sunday, that's right. The people were just... very friendly and welcoming and just... came up and just... talked to us and they had donuts and coffee available even in the middle of the service, amen. The sermon was good, that's right. They (husband and wife) talked about how we can just... choose to take offense in a situation. Or we can just... choose to forgive. And when we choose to take offense, it's not the other person who gets trapped in the offense, it's ourselves, that's right. It was a good lesson and one that we even had cause to refer to later during lunch when one of our party wanted to take offense with another. But the language, O Lord. The language was the holy language, Lord, of the Christian Ghetto, thank you Jesus. It was the language, where when you pray to God, dear Lord, you must repeat his name, sweet Jesus, as frequently as possible. Thank you Lord. It's the language in which we refer not to "today" but to "this day," yes Lord. It's the language where we just,... we can just pour our hearts out and just... say what's on our hearts to our dear Lord, thank you Jesus. So while the people were friendly and the sermon was helpful, I just found myself just thinking about language, oh yes. And I was wondering if it was just a good thing, Jesus. Or just a bad thing. Or if perhaps, oh yes, maybe it's just a container, that just... it just holds our good words within its own sweet silliness, yes Lord.
Yes, brother. Yes, sister. Such is the blessed vernacular of the Christian ghetto, thank you Jesus. Amen.
ROFL
ReplyDeletethis reminds me a bit of a church I visited once in London, where absolutely everything was punctuated with "halleluiah" or "praise the Lord". they had notices in the middle of the service and it went like: the ladies knitting group will meet on Wednesday evening as usual halleluiah we need more people to go on the church cleaning rota praise the Lord...
ReplyDeleteThat would, Meg, get annoying, Meg, after a while, Sista. But, Meg, at least Meg, you know, Meg, what they are Meg, talkin' 'bout.
ReplyDelete/leSigh
ReplyDeleteI think I'll just keep it at that.
Aside from, if that was the extent of the Fellowship, I would not be back.
Oh, wait. Fellowship is pigging out, and sharing is gossip.
Then again, i'm not sure what this is...
ick.
The content was all good. It was the packaging that was ooey.
ReplyDeleteI try to remind myself that the packaging is cultural. In general, I think culture is amoral. But there are times when something is silly and I think it's fair to point that out. Repeating God's name a jillion times doesn't mean he's more likely to hear you. At the same time, there's something about the "just's" and saying God's name a lot that makes people feel closer to God. And maybe that's helpful for them. I don't know.
I can see one thing that can be helpful about repeating God's name often, and that is to remind yourself who it is you're talking to. I know people who do this, but have never asked them why - I wouldn't want to make them all self-conscious, I think if that's their way of communicating with him then that's fine.
ReplyDeleteI totally fail to see how using the word "just" often can be helpful. I hear it a lot when people are praying aloud, it's all Lord we just want to ask you to just be with this person at this time (and for some reason it's always "at this time", which is a phrase I'm pretty sure I never hear in any other context) and just .... and just .... and all I can say is I just don't get it... but is it bad? no, I don't think it's bad, I think it's just funny but hey, there's tons of stuff we humans do that's funny.
Which is worse, mindless repetition, or vain repetition?
ReplyDeleteAnd if Jesus preached against the one, would he not also be upset with the other?
Jesus ... did not pray like this.
Why would Jesus be upset with people praying to God in earnest? I can see him being against people repeating stuff again and again out of some stupid belief that the more times they say it, the more God will listen and do what they ask - just as with any of the stupid formulae that us humans come up with. But if someone is praying to God from their heart and that person feels the need to keep saying God's name when talking to him - no, I honestly can't see Jesus getting picky about that.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem can come if you think that praying that way makes your prayer somehow better or more likely to be heard or makes the prayer better or somehow more holy. Then there are issues. And I definitely think it's worth examining that. But sometimes I think it's mindlessness that people get caught up in. It's like how some people switch over into King James English when they're talking about anything scriptural. It's totally silly and it makes it hard to connect with people who live in the 21st century, but there's nothing sinful about it (unless you think it makes you more godly or something).
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show how silly we people can be.
yes, I think that's the key - whether you think it's somehow better/more holy to talk a certain way or to pray a certain way.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 6:7
ReplyDeleteyes, exactly - they think they'll be heard because...
ReplyDeletethis isn't about how many words people use, or how many times they may repeat the word Lord. it's about their intentions. if they think that saying Lord every two seconds is a way of getting God to listen, they're mistaken. but if they say it because that is their natural style of communication with him, what is wrong with that?