Learning to Speak God from ScratchSample

The Words as Sweet as Fruit 

A woman struck up a conversation on the subway recently. She asked where I was headed. 

“A worship service,” I answered. 

She starred at me like I had just spoken Pig Latin. She peppered me with questions. What type of worship? What does a service look like? 

But when I used terms I considered common—“grace” or “gospel” or “salvation”—my conversation partner stopped me mid-thought to ask for a definition, please. I sputtered, stammered, and stuttered, trying to rephrase those words in ordinary vernacular, but I couldn’t seem to articulate their meanings. My conversation with others presented a different set of obstacles. Many are familiar with sacred terms but have experienced them as a source of pain or judgment or coercion.

Words are one of God’s holy gifts to humanity, and speaking them should be a sacred act. 

The twentieth-century French philosopher Helene Cixous remarked, “It is said that life and death are under the power of language.” But an ancient Hebrew king named Solomon actually beat her to the punch by a couple thousand years: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

We drape our dreams in words; we paint murals of sorrows with them. They are humanity’s carrier pigeons of information, of meaning, of emotion. We struggle to live without them. 

But we don’t always wield our words well. We often speak without thought. We spew hate speech and blaspheme, transforming the sacred act of speaking into profane behavior. We speak deceptively and unkindly. We use words to curse, tear down, discourage, blame, and judge. A simple no can fly from our lips with the decimating power of a shotgun shell, while a sincere yes can alter the course of a life.

Our words shape the very foundation of our faith—and the way we use them matters. It is the difference between speaking life or death, proclaiming truth or lies, declaring hope or despair. Let’s be people who, when we talk about God, people want to eat of God’s fruit.

Pay attention to what you say today. Are the words you're using speaking life or death?