Churchy Words

Churchy words have gone flat. Like a car tire sitting flat on the ground, some words have no air of experience to pump them up.  Mercy and salvation, repentance and incarnation, are some words that come to mind. We hear them in church; we do not use them in ordinary life. On the other hand, some churchy words are used so  glibly that they lose meaning, words like “ awesome” and “love.”

For me, the word “glorify” is a “churchy” word. Jesus uses it five times in the reading today. I skim those “glorify” verses (a word of which I have little experience) and gravitate toward the later ones that talk about love (a word of which I am fond). Do you do that, too? 

Synonyms for “glorify,” when I looked it up, didn’t evoke much for me either. Why is that? Maybe because we “moderns” have more  experience with its antonym—to give someone the reputation of  “scumbag.” The opposite of glorify is to denigrate, to make to seem worthless, to lower someone’s reputation: that is familiar. We don’t worship leaders, we dig up dirt on them. We don’t elevate heroes, we fell them. We don’t praise, exalt, deify, adore, or worship anybody. To  “glorify” is not in the air that we breathe. 

In 2006, my college-age son and I went to the Philippines. He was taken aback by the air of optimism among college students at  Silliman University. It made him realize how very cynical the U.S. world in which he lived was. 

Was “the air” also more positive in Jesus’ day? Could you actually think well of someone? Honor them? Did the word glorify have some air of experience: to think the best of another, to see God in them?  Jesus glorifies God. God glorifies the Son of Man—not denigrates him, not trashes his reputation. Glorifies. Lifts up. It makes you think, doesn’t it? 

Consider/Discuss 

• How empty is a life devoid of glory! How do we pump the air of experience back into the word glorify so that it extols the richness and grandeur of  God? It obviously meant something to Jesus, that he would use the word five times in today’s Gospel. Maybe this week, we could set cynicism aside  and glorify something by saying, “This is great!” or “He/she is wonderful”  or “God is good!” Try it at least once each day. See if it changes the words you say and the air that you breathe. 
• When I give workshops for preachers, I offer the thought that churchy words have gone flat. One of the purposes of preaching (and writing reflections) is to translate the rich theology of the church into the language  of everyday experience. Abstractions mean little to how we live our  ordinary Christian lives. Are there churchy words that you hear often that  don’t have much life experience in them? What phrases would you like to  ponder or learn more about?

Living and Praying with the Word 

Jesus, you preached so concretely: you told stories of fish and  farming, the soil and the sea. Help us to make your Good News clear and plain. In the world in which we live and breathe, move us from cynicism to hope, from bitterness to peace, from trashing each other to lifting each other up. 

We adore you. You are the King of Glory. You are the Prince of Peace. We glorify you, we swell with admiration for what you have done and who you are. Help us to make praising you a way of life. Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ!