In the wake of the shooting of 20 people in Tucson, a debate quickly emerged nationally on the public discourse. Pundits on the right and the left quickly scurried for the moral high ground, each seeking to illustrate how the other had so carelessly used words and images regardless of the consequences. Both the cross-haired image of Sarah Palin's "Take Back the 20" map and the Democratic Leadership Council's "target" map from 2004 have been plastered across the national news. In the debate each side has tried to demonstrate that they possess the right words, that they are the ones who offer words of life to a troubled country.
Within my faith tradition, we have recently entered an intentional season of reflection on the Epiphany of Jesus. In this time we struggle with understanding Jesus as the Word of God made flesh. The current public debate on the power of our words to shape the world around us resonates deeply with this time in the life of the church. And it leads me to suspect that in the midst of such a debate God probably has something to say.
God does not endorse either the red- or the blue-tinted words. But what God has to say isn't exactly nonpartisan either (God doesn't really do vanilla). What God says falls much more in line with the you-must-die-to-yourself-to-truly-live kind of party.
I imagine that left to our own devices and dictionaries, humanity will continue to stumble in our attempts to find the words that will push us forward, toward life and hope. In the midst of this season of Epiphany, it is the Word enfleshed and in deed, not in diagrams or maps, that offers the hope of a way through the shadows.
This is not to say the words we use are insignificant. To the contrary they have great power. Whoever first penned the playground phrase "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" was wrong. In this time of Epiphany, may our words be words of humility that point to the Word made flesh. May our words point down the path where the last shall be first. May our words point toward God's Word, which is strong enough and weak enough to hold us all.
This month Pub(lic) Theology will engage in a conversation on the power of our words, to consider how our understanding of God shapes the words we use. We will discuss the tenor of the public discussion. And it is my hope and prayer that our discussion might be one small step towards a public discourse in humility and life.
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