The Power of Word

The power of word.

Words have power. We have the power to build or to destroy with our words. Our words express our being in a way that no other creation may express. I can sing with joy, or curse with venom. I can build up my neighbor in faith and express love, or I can slander them or bear false witness, making fear real. Scripture begins with an exploration of the power of language:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. (Gen. 1: 1-3).

Creation happened through the power of God’s word. He spoke and it was true. The Son of God, as an expression of God’s perfection become human, was Him through whom creation happened. It was in the love of Father and Son that creation happened as an overflow of divine love. In the second person of the Trinity, we have an expression of this eternal and infinite love made flesh in Jesus Christ. We can experience this love as gift by the Holy Spirit, that third Trinitarian person who doesn’t seem to get the attention that Jesus and his Dad do.

God’s divine Word is truly powerful. It is energy and love itself. Our words, however always seem limited and limiting. This is one of the paradoxes of human being. Yet there is a transcendent power to our expression. Our words may live on beyond ourselves. we have the power of expression in media which can outlast our mortal bodies. Music, art, literature, religion: all of these are expressions of human longing for life. Sometimes these expressions seem twisted and darkened, and sometimes they soar to the heights of almost divine beauty.

When we create, we play along with God in a sense. We become instruments of creation. Sometimes it seems we must destroy the old in order to make room for the new. But, this is an illusion, because even in our rejection of something, we are affected by it and it lives on in our refusal to accept it. This is why I am fascinated with atheism. Atheism presupposes a theos (a God) in order to reject it. Human beings are religious by nature. We just have many gods we worship, some more inadequate than others. In the end, all our understandings of God are inadequate. Because if God is truly God, our words can never enclose him. So we live our art by worshiping and serving one another that we might become His hands and feet and heart in the world. Endeavoring to understand one-another that we might begin to understand better that love which died for all of us, not just the ones who agree with us.

So let your words be true. Let them be words of love. “Whoever can love, loves God implicitly.”

Leave a comment and try to guess who said that last line.

Prayer- just do it.

Well it has been a while since I wrote anything here. Over a month. And it has been a month of upheaval and stress: I started a new job, searched for a place to live in New York City (a nightmare), and moved. Thank God for good friends.

I lost my rhythm of writing. I fell away. I fell into a period of spiritual silence.

How does one find their way out of a period of aridity and seclusion? How can we reconnect with our God and begin to listen for His voice again?

Prayer.

“Prayer is the very heart of the life of faith.” – Thomas Merton

For me, the act of writing is intimately bound up with my act of prayer. I pray before during and after writing. I relax and try to get my ego self out of the way. I try to silence that nagging and frightened part of me, the small part of me which is interested in what you think of me, of what you think of my words. Do you know that part of yourself? How often does it get in god's way? In your way?

Prayer allows me to silence that voice and listen for the voice of Christ who is my way, my truth, and my life. Prayer is both active and passive, it is both gift and reception.

“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35

The most difficult part of prayer, the part which is at once total gift and total effortless preparation is the part of silence. I ask; then I wait on God. I offer myself and invite God in by clearing away all that which leaves no room for grace. I ask for resentment to be removed, I ask that I be forgiven, and that I have the courage to forgive. I breath deeply and express gratitude for the gifts of this life, and even for the difficult lessons I may learn through trials. Sometimes I do a little complaining and get things off my chest. But I engage. The Lord’s prayer is a great way to pray.

Sometimes I just have to get up and do it. Just like this blog entry. I had to write in order for it to be written. Simple.

In order to pray, I have to pray. Seems so simple, but sometimes it also seems so hard to just do! Instead of reading another book about prayer and meditation, I have to pray and meditate.

Try it. You may be surprised.