Jesus is reported to have
said to a Jewish audience about the worries people have about food, shelter and
clothing: “For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well” (Matthew 6.32-33). A Jewish
audience would understand the concept of seeking God’s kingdom. They saw themselves as God’s chosen people, a
nation of people with God as their king.
In the day when Jesus spoke, they were a nation governed by Rome. They were eager for God’s kingdom.
Just a
generation later, a writer who self-proclaims to be Paul transforms that
message for a Roman, Greek-speaking audience.
He says: “Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies
as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper
worship. Do not conform to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will
be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect
will” (Romans 12.1-2). In place
of not running after the basic necessities of life but instead seeking God’s
kingdom, he speaks of not conforming to the way of life of our culture but
instead being personally transformed by giving our whole selves to God.
What I
want to suggest is that we too need to transform the themes, beliefs, and
principles of our faith traditions. If
we don’t, it will sound as if we are speaking in code. Those within our faith tradition might
understand us. Those outside might not.
I grew
up in a church that taught that to express God-honoring thoughts and prayers,
to speak of religious matters, you expressed them in Biblical language. In that church, Biblical language meant King
James Biblical language. Those who were
regarded as giving the best testimonies (use that word outside a church
community and people will wonder what you are talking about) or gave the best
public prayers used King James language.
No one would speak that way, using that kind of language, to co-workers,
to the clerk at the hardware store, to the waitress at a restaurant, or even to
one’s own family at home.
In
addition there were some phrasings that one would use only in church or among a
group of church people: “fellowshipping,” “Lord willing,” “unspoken request,” “the
Word,” “carnal,” “end times,” “back-sliding,” “regeneration,” “sanctification,”
“speak in tongues” to name a few.
Given
this, and given how Paul transformed the language of Jesus to fit his audience,
I begin to wonder how I can speak of the important things of my faith tradition
in a language that would get traction if I were speaking to co-workers, to the
clerk at the hardware store, to the waitress at a restaurant, and to my own
family. To venture what some might take
as a heresy, there is nothing holy about the language of the Bible. What is holy is some of its meaning, its
message.
On a
related note, try to imagine someone who was not raised in a church (it is
pretty easy to imagine that these days) coming to your church for the first
time and experiencing your church service.
If I try to put myself in their position, I think I’d be creeped-out by
what I would see and hear.
