The strength of words

I am becoming more and more aware that words have power. A recent post by liquid thinking
has made that even more clear.

Words Are Confusing
Church...I mean believers, you mean a building or an organization
Worship...I mean a life lived sacrificially, you mean singing songs
Faith...I mean trusting God, you mean a set of agreed upon beliefs
Tithing...I mean giving to those with no inheritance, you mean supporting your version of church
Post-Modern...I mean a jumbled set of philosophical world views, you mean techniques and styles
Discipleship...I mean shared lives, you mean instructional classes

Should I start using different words?

It isn't just postmoderns who challenge the use and meaning of words, we all do. Many churches have chased gendered language from the way that they refer to other people and they way they refer to God. (For example, the Lutheran hymnal changed a line in "Holy, Holy, Holy" from "though the eye of sinful man" to "though the eye made blind by sin") Political correctness has brought us a whole new set of words: special needs, physically challenged, and alternative lifestyle.

All this talk about words has gotten me thinking about some of the words that the church frequently uses which do not get used in other contexts. I have compiled a short list:

• prodigal
• sanctification
• exegesis
• parable
• sacrament
• testament

I know that this isn't a complete or representative list. Most people who are not graduates or alumni of a seminary or teachers of catechism (ooh, that's another one) could get very far in an attempt to explain these words to a biblically illiterate person. I think that we really need to spend some time considering what words we use to talk about God and about the Gospel. It may be that we need an interpreter.