{"id":1788,"date":"2022-07-11T10:43:18","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T15:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/?p=1788"},"modified":"2022-09-12T11:19:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T16:19:56","slug":"words-create-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/lutherancenter\/2022\/07\/words-create-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Words Create Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"
In a time when our public discourse\u00a0is marked with conflict and divisiveness, how do we think about words and the power of human speech? In her latest Church Anew<\/em> blog post, Program Director for Congregational Thriving, Rev. Dr. Char Rachuy Cox, interweaves her own experiences with theological musings to ponder what words are and what words do. Through her reflections, she beckons us to embrace our ability to speak as a holy act of imaginative gift-giving\u00a0that can open up new ways of being with one another and create worlds of good.<\/h5>\n
\"\"
Photo by Mark de Jong on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am a lover of words.<\/p>\n

I love what words are, and I love what words do.<\/p>\n

When I was a child,<\/p>\n

my three favorite books were<\/p>\n

the white dictionary,<\/p>\n

the red thesaurus,<\/p>\n

and the green book of rhyming words.<\/p>\n

I spent countless hours<\/p>\n

trying on new words for size,<\/p>\n

tasting them in my mouth,<\/p>\n

savoring them in my ear,<\/p>\n

and settling them into my mind.<\/p>\n

Words, you see,<\/p>\n

seemed to crack open a window<\/p>\n

into worlds as yet unimagined.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I especially liked big words<\/p>\n

with lots of syllables<\/p>\n

that rolled around in my mouth<\/p>\n

like a marble in pinball machine,<\/p>\n

just for the privilege of being spoken out loud.<\/p>\n

But then in high school,<\/p>\n

I had a teacher who taught me<\/p>\n

to never use a 50-cent word<\/p>\n

when a nickel word will do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cabout the power of what most people would call<\/p>\n

\u2018throw-away-words,\u2019<\/p>\n

like prepositions.\u201d<\/p>\n

To prove his point,<\/p>\n

he had each of us choose one preposition<\/p>\n

about which we had to write<\/p>\n

a poem,<\/p>\n

an essay,<\/p>\n

and a short story.<\/p>\n

His directions were so simple<\/p>\n

that they seemed impossible:<\/p>\n

\u201csee what kind of world a preposition can create,\u201d<\/p>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can grasp the power of the preposition,<\/p>\n

you will begin to scratch the surface<\/p>\n

of the power of words.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The preposition that I chose<\/p>\n

was \u201cwith.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I remember nothing that I wrote,<\/p>\n

but I do remember the feeling of the exercise,<\/p>\n

something akin to a<\/p>\n

life-changing \u201caha.\u201d<\/p>\n

Words are not neutral \u2013<\/p>\n

even the little ones,<\/p>\n

I learned.<\/p>\n

Words are laden with inherent power.<\/p>\n

They can be a weapon,<\/p>\n

or they can be shield.<\/p>\n

They can create,<\/p>\n

or they can destroy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Regardless of the moral dictums of \u201cgood behavior,\u201d<\/p>\n

words cannot be taken back.<\/p>\n

They cannot be un-spoken.<\/p>\n

The exhale cannot be inhaled.<\/p>\n

And users of words?<\/p>\n

Well, users of words<\/p>\n

bear both the privilege<\/p>\n

and the burden of that power.<\/p>\n

It seemed,<\/p>\n

in that \u201caha moment,\u201da weighty thing,<\/p>\n

that power,<\/p>\n

to be thrust upon the shoulders of anyone,<\/p>\n

but especially high school students,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Several years later<\/p>\n

When I read<\/p>\n

\u201cMoral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity,\u201d<\/p>\n

by Abraham Joshua Heschel,<\/p>\n

three words leapt off the page<\/p>\n

and returned that adolescent<\/p>\n

classroom exercise not only to my memory,<\/p>\n

but to the everyday living of my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWords create worlds,\u201d<\/p>\n

Heschel\u2019s daughter, Susannah, wrote<\/p>\n

of the wisdom her father taught her.<\/p>\n

Words.<\/p>\n

Create.<\/p>\n

Worlds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed they do,<\/p>\n

and theologically we say that it is so.<\/p>\n

In one creation story,<\/p>\n

God speaks \u2013<\/p>\n

God utters words \u2013<\/p>\n

Breath-given-voice –<\/p>\n

and all that is<\/p>\n

comes into being.<\/p>\n

It is through the breathed-out creativity of God<\/p>\n

in and through words \u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cand God said\u201d \u2013<\/p>\n

that creation comes into existence.<\/p>\n

It is through the expelled breath of God,<\/p>\n

uttered and blown across the face of the deep,<\/p>\n

that the imagination of God comes to life.<\/p>\n

One could assert<\/p>\n

That without words \u2013<\/p>\n

all would still be formless void.<\/p>\n

Words create worlds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the other creation story,<\/p>\n

When God gives away God\u2019s breath,<\/p>\n

the human creature comes to life.<\/p>\n

And with God\u2019s breath,<\/p>\n

God gives away God\u2019s voice,<\/p>\n

God\u2019s ability to utter not just sounds \u2013<\/p>\n

But words.<\/p>\n

With this holy generosity,<\/p>\n

the human\u2019s life becomes inspired with power,<\/p>\n

animated by God\u2019s own dynamic breath,<\/p>\n

God\u2019s own dynamic Word.<\/p>\n

Hence,<\/p>\n

the holy privilege of the spoken word –<\/p>\n

of breath-given-voice –<\/p>\n

is an imitative act of creative,<\/p>\n

imaginative gift-giving,<\/p>\n

breathing out power<\/p>\n

to give life away.<\/p>\n

Words create worlds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what kind of world do we create with our words,<\/p>\n

with this holy, creative power?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I return often to these musings,<\/p>\n

but they have especially been on my mind as of late<\/p>\n

as each day seems to widen the chasm<\/p>\n

in our ever-increasing divisive way of being \u2013<\/p>\n

and way of speaking \u2013<\/p>\n

with one another.<\/p>\n

And in my musings, I keep returning<\/p>\n

not just to the weighty privilege<\/p>\n

and the holy burden of words \u2013<\/p>\n

but to that little, nickel word<\/p>\n

through which I chose to fulfill that high school assignment,<\/p>\n

oh, so long ago \u2013<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With.<\/em><\/p>\n

With.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For you see,<\/p>\n

we who are cross-marked<\/p>\n

and Spirit-sealed<\/p>\n

have been both gifted and tasked<\/p>\n

with speaking not just any words \u2013<\/p>\n

not carelessly or thoughtlessly<\/p>\n

tossing about words<\/p>\n

as if they are nothing;<\/p>\n

rather we have been both gifted and tasked with<\/p>\n

words that are in the service of the <\/em>Word \u2013<\/p>\n

the Word –<\/p>\n

through whom all things came into being,<\/p>\n

through whom we have all received grace upon grace.<\/p>\n

We have been both gifted and tasked<\/p>\n

with the holy exhale that<\/p>\n

brings to life among us<\/p>\n

God who is \u2013<\/p>\n

with us always,<\/em><\/p>\n

even unto the end of the age.<\/p>\n

We have been gifted and tasked<\/p>\n

with witness \u2013<\/p>\n

by and through our words –<\/p>\n

to the withness<\/em> of God \u2013<\/p>\n

a withness<\/em> that not only makes<\/p>\n

a withness <\/em>with one another possible,<\/p>\n

but that indeed is our call as human creatures,<\/p>\n

tasked with stewarding our planet home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, I have no magic wand to wave<\/p>\n

that will somehow<\/p>\n

bind up the wounds and bridge the divide<\/p>\n

of our fracturing common life,<\/p>\n

but I do wonder,<\/p>\n

and I imagine,<\/p>\n

and I hope<\/p>\n

that maybe \u2013<\/p>\n

just maybe<\/p>\n

a reminder that<\/p>\n

words create worlds<\/em><\/p>\n

will beckon us again and anew<\/p>\n

to remember that the same Spirit<\/p>\n

who went out in the rush of mighty wind<\/p>\n

bringing forth speech \u2013<\/p>\n

that same Spirit<\/p>\n

fills each of us \u2013<\/p>\n

and all of us<\/p>\n

so that<\/em><\/p>\n

when words come forth from our mouths,<\/p>\n

they might be filled with the creative power of life,<\/p>\n

rather than the destructive force of death.<\/p>\n

They might imitate the holy act<\/p>\n

of imaginative gift giving,<\/p>\n

breathing out power that gives life away<\/p>\n

and cracks open a window to yet unimagined ways<\/p>\n

of living \u2013<\/p>\n

truly living \u2013<\/p>\n

with<\/em> one another.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

speak Word<\/p>\n

into the chaos<\/p>\n

over the void<\/p>\n

in my now —<\/p>\n

with me<\/p>\n

to me<\/p>\n

through me<\/p>\n

bring me to life<\/p>\n

that your breath might voice speech in me<\/p>\n

breathe into me your Word<\/p>\n

that I might breathe out your life in speech.<\/p>\n

Used with permission. Originally posted on\u00a0Church Anew<\/a>, a ministry of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie, MN.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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