In these times of enforced distance, it is particularly difficult to relate to people as whole beings. Even before the pandemic, divisions created by an over-reliance on engaging only with what someone else says were strikingly evident. In this reflection, we ask what scripture can teach about developing a wiser attitude to words.
Thanks to Estate Gunter Sachs under Creative Commons
(We will refer to the creation accounts from the book of Genesis, Psalm 8 and a story about Jesus found in the Gospel according to Mark, for those who would like to read them.)
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In the Genesis passage, we hear that God created animals and birds as company for the first human, Adam.
Psalm 8 also celebrates creation but it suggests that mankind has dominion over all of it.
And Jesus, in Mark’s account, accuses the Pharisees of paying more attention to some of the words of their law than to its intentions - or the intentions of their hearts.
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Words are very powerful. They can almost always be interpreted in many ways - which is why we need experts to write ‘water-tight’ contracts!
Even the passages quoted above are read from only one English translation of the Bible. There are many others which use different words. Most of those stem from translations of translations of the originals, which were not first written down in English.
Words are precious and useful – our means of communication. But they are tools and can be used in different ways, perhaps to justify actions and beliefs. They can keep us from seeing things in a new way. We all tend to make assumptions about the meaning of words and then stick to that view.
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Can you think of an occasion when you felt someone made an assumption about you based on their misinterpretation of something you said?
It is often easier to think of it that way around!
You may also be aware of a time when you did this to somebody else.
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Looking back to the readings from Scripture: perhaps we have grabbed the word dominion and used it to justify using the natural world for our own purposes and profit? Look where that has got us! If we had paid more attention to that word company - other creatures as company for us - we may have treated them and our planet differently.
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Can you think of any attitudes that changed when your understanding of words, perhaps from scripture, changed?
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Sometimes it is really helpful to “shift” our position. To see something from a different angle. To stand in someone else’s shoes. You may like to try the exercise below.
Is there a word that you could chew over, for a few days or weeks? Choose one from a favourite scripture, if you like. A whole interpretation of a story might be changed.
One example, to give you an idea, is the word FAITH. How do you perceive it? As a desired state? A gift? A discipline? An essential aspect of creation? Matthew’s Gospel includes two stories about Jesus and storms at sea that discuss times when faith was lacking. Look at Matthew 8:23-27 and Matthew 14:22-33. Notice your immediate interpretation of ‘faith’. Might it look different?
God is not limited by words or indeed opinions. We are invited to expand our minds, especially in this difficult time, to open to what God is saying to us beneath and beyond human language.