Tag Archives: preach

Concordance

Concordance: (n) an alphabetical list of the words in a text

There was a season in my life’s journey when I wanted to be a “Reverend.” Not just a minister or preacher, but an actual, full-fledged cleric.

I liked the sound of it. “Reverend.”

At that time, my immature, jealous spirit was anxious to be recognized for doing nothing while having a title. To accentuate this need and punctuate its funny wisdom on words that begin with a C
possibility, I bought myself the “Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.”

I immediately realized why it had the name “Strong” and “Exhaustive.” To just carry the thing required you to be built like an ox.

I located some churches to pontificate spiritual lessons (in other words, preach sermons) so I opened up my Exhaustive Concordance and found words I wanted to share about, and discovered where they were peppered and placed all over the Bible, and then spent all my time trying to pull together these abstract texts–which were thousands of years apart–and create a cohesive message.

It was “inspiration by committee”–the inspiration being anything anybody could get out of my mish-mash and the committee being a host of ancient Bedouin writers who happened to mention my favored word in some favored way.

It is a horrible way to share truth, persisting to this day.

As I lost my interest in the word “Reverend,” and most of my need to evangelize through my sermonizing, I soon discovered that I no longer needed a concordance.

I just needed to share my life–good and bad–and in so doing, become much more enlightening.

And much less exhaustive.

 

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Bow

Bow: (v) to bend the knee or body or incline the head

“Every knee shall bow.”Dictionary B

When revivalists get all worked up and have a hankerin’ to preach, they love to pontificate on the notion that someday the world will be destroyed and the remaining rebellious humans who have not been slaughtered in a meaningless conflict will view a Jesus Christ arriving in the eastern sky, and at the sight of his august appearance, be driven down to their knees in reverent worship.

Some find it interesting.

Actually, it’s terrifying.

To write a book that begins with a gentle creation and ends with a third of the Earth being mutilated by weapons of mass destruction hardly seems a storyline worthy of a true Creator. If I wrote such a piece, I would deem it misled, angry and hopeless, and wad it up and throw it away.

So on those occasions when I find myself bowing, it is in the direction of an untold story lying within the plotline of the favored evangelical rendition, in which God’s love for the world is so intense that eventually we grow tired of our stupid attempts at meanness and revenge and simply relinquish our egos in the presence of a redeeming love.

 

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Banal

Banal: (adj) so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.Dictionary B

It’s one of those words.

If you actually find yourself using it, you seem to be an individual with a stick up your backside (and I don’t mean a scarecrow).

And also, it’s very difficult to speak against popular trends, even if you feel like you’re doing it out of a sense of preserving the integrity of the human race.

But there certainly are things going on in our society that are banal.

And it is equally as certain that to fold your arms, climb up on your soapbox and preach against them makes you age right in front of the eyes of your audience–until you appear to be Grandpa Grump.

So what can we do with banality?

Is it really dangerous or just a passing fancy which causes people to run hither, thither and yon in the quest for acceptability?

I do have a rather “live and let live” philosophy–except when it comes to one category: lying.

Lying is not negotiable.

Since we live in a free country, if someone wants to construct a statue of Satan and put it next to the Washington Monument, I could not care less. Why? Because in less than 20 years other people will tear it down because it’s stupid.

But on the other hand, if we want to begin to believe that lying is a part of the human psyche, beyond our control, and give ourselves a free pass to propagate deceit, then we are dealing with a dangerous bomb which can destroy the relationships of people and the essence of our Republic.

Why is lying so bad? Because we cease to believe in the truth.

And since the truth is what makes us free … our lies will end up being the chains that bind us.

 

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