Learning to Speak to God Again From Scratch

Recently Jonathan Merritt sent me an email letting me know about his contempo volume, Learning to Speak God from Scratch: Why Sacred Words Are Vanishing and How We Can Revive Them.I was intrigued, but paused for a few seconds before buying the book because I was already in the midst of several volume launches and had some other book or two slated for review.

I am and so glad I hitting the button to buy the volume. If yous were to look at my copy (not likely), you lot would discover information technology is liberally highlighted and there are numerous flags on pages I especially desire to revisit. That says a lot about how this book has provoked a lot of thought. Beyond that, it has inspired and challenged me to contemplate words with fresh eyes and understanding (especially sacred words).

As believers we tend to know a fair number of sacred words. The bravest of us speak them with regularity, just Jonathan Merritt's new volume exposes a truth nosotros need to consider carefully. How frequently do nosotros really use such words, feel comfortable with our agreement of their meaning, or take a inkling virtually how often we speak or write in such religious clichés that the words have lost their significance to us and are hard to interpret for others.

Words affair. They have significance and how we limited them tin make all the difference.

As Jonathan writes:

"When nosotros lose our spiritual vocabulary, nosotros lose much more than words. We lose the power of speaking grace, forgiveness, love, and justice for others."

In this book some new research by the Barna Group is cited that should crusade us all to have notice. Let me quote just a few points of what the research shows:

• Millions of Americans – more than iii-quarters of them – are not speaking God often

• More than one 5th of the respondents admit they take not had a spiritual conversation at allin the final year

• Only vii percent of Americans say they talk about spiritual matters on about a once-a-week ground

• Only 13 percentage of practicing Christians had a spiritual conversation more than fifty times last year (This means that just ane in eight identifying Christians speak God with regular frequency.)

• Younger generations are having more spiritual conversations than older generations

• Millennials are having more conversations about religion and spirituality than whatsoever other generation

• The older you are, the less likely it is that you will have a spiritual conversation

What did Barna discover and Jonathan share about why we are not engaging in such conversations as much every bit we once did?

"The most mutual reasons given for not engaging in conversations well-nigh religion and spirituality appear to fall into 3 broad categories: indifference, ignorance, and avoidance."

Jonathan points out that theologian Marcus Borg noted before he died in 2015 "Christian words had lost their significant and power in mod gild – in function due to 'Christian illiteracy.' People were using words they didn't understand…"

Earlier you disagree with the research or Jonathan, it'south important to have a clear-eyed look at how often we speak in Christian jargon and clichés without much thought if we are speaking God these days. Information technology may well explain why those who are not believers take challenges agreement who we are or what we are proverb. It can almost be like we are a role of a secret guild with secret words that only someone in the social club understands. But if the social club member is asked to ascertain the word with clarity to anyone who asks, about often the answer volition exit the hearer scratching his or her caput.

Jonathan gives words to one of the problems:

"…fifty-fifty devout believers who speak God with apparent ease – define religious words using religious words. A series of questions most what they hateful leads back to where the discussion began.

The words we choose and the way we use them matter. But we practice not often quiet ourselves long enough to enquire, What am I saying when I'm maxim what I'chiliad saying."

As believers perhaps it'south time we stop speaking in circles.

Doing and then volition challenge the truth of what nosotros believe and we may not feel comfortable with that. We similar our often-used words and phrases that tin audio similar we are certain of what we are saying and pregnant. To "start from scratch" will require that we need a bit of courage at the outset, merely offers the possibility of a much deeper agreement and level of intimacy with the Lord than e'er before.

"Human beings speak more than fifteen thousand words on an average day, but we rarely stop to consider the definitions or connotations of the terms themselves."

Yous may non hold with everything Jonathan writes, just you'll miss a meaning volume that opens new windows of understanding beyond your regular dictionary, your concordance, or your Greek or Hebrew dictionary.

I won't open my copy to show you the highlighting, only the picture below will give you a glimpse of how many flags I used to mark pages to revisit.

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Source: https://pamecrement.com/2018/08/27/learning-to-speak-god-from-scratch/