Song: Thy Word Is Lamp Unto My Feet | Song: Why is Your Heaven So Small |

Friends,

We are flying home today. Flying west across time zones is somewhat unreal--we get home to Boston just 2.5 hours after we leave Dublin. I've planned a day off for my body to catch up!

-Liz

God's Word

I’m not sure I ever noticed this lectionary reading from Isaiah (55:10-13) before. It’s kind of an interesting evangelism text.

God’s word goes into the world and it does not come back “empty”. It accomplishes something. Preachers talk about this with our sermons—we say what we feel called to say. What others hear, well the presumption is that God is determining that. It certainly is often unrelated to what we thought we were saying.

I wonder if Jesus had this text in mind when he described the sower with their scattering seed. The word may fall and be trod upon, or get caught in the weeds, but that which falls on fertile soil/minds produces plenty. In Isaiah the image is of joy producing peace, the hills singing, the trees clapping their hands. All these are signs of God’s word in the land.

At Worcester Fellowship, the street church I served in Massachusetts, reaching homeless and at risk adults, we had an absolute rule: everyone is welcome. And that means that we heard many things that were sexist, homophobic, ableist, anti-immigrant, racist, and more.

We developed a two-prong strategy for addressing these statements. If we were in a one-on-one session, the evaluation was first: is this person ready to learn? Or are they in need of being reminded that they are accepted as they are? When we had developed relationships over months and years, sometimes we could help the speaker to consider God’s call to love everyone. If they were right on the edge of their ability to function, then we focused on their spiritual needs in the moment.

But in a group, the standards were different. We as group facilitators had a broader responsibility to the good of the group. Oppressive language cannot be tolerated. We are accountable to the care of the hearers, not just the speakers.

To be clear, it is unlikely that the speaker will be able to learn from a public correction. So what we say is aimed primarily at the others in the room, even if when said to the speaker. “Oh, we don’t use stereotypes here,” and “It is not okay to say retarded, but I think you are frustrated that he doesn’t understand what you meant?” The goal is not to start a discussion—we aren’t open to the possibility that all immigrants are evil or that being queer is a sin—the goal is to be sure the listeners know we don’t accept the inappropriate language.

And, separately from any individual’s behavior, we preach and teach about how to put aside this type of language. We invite people who can hear it into private discussion and learning. We keep standing up for the oppressed.

God’s word is effective, it does not return empty. Individuals are changed by our efforts. We don’t always see the change in the speaker, or in the listener, and the change is God’s responsibility, not ours. It is our responsibility to keep putting God’s word out there, again and again, and to help those who choose, to hear it.

How do you deal with inappropriate language in your church? How is that working out? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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Amy Grant: Thy Word is Lamp Unto My Feet. She sang this at Wild Goose Festival as the sun was setting. Goose bumps.

Susan Werner: Why is Your Heaven So Small?

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