Prepositions

(The following is something that my brother Steve wrote, and has graciously allowed me to post. I guess one could call it a guest blogger!)


I've had some recent thoughts on the use of prepositions within the church today.

There has always been a special language that distinguishes "Christians" from the rest. This proprietary dialect keeps out the unwanted and creates a nice tight clique where we can dialogue with each other. Past sentences that might have been heard but not understood could include: God showed up during my quiet time and gave me a fresh vision on our worship time for the body. Say what??? Or how about the confusion surrounding communion with the elements representing the body and blood of Christ. That must sound pretty strange to onlookers who know nothing about the specific metaphor.

Now in today's age, how are we doing?

I'm not exactly an English scholar but I do know that some of what I hear is clear butchery of the language. Most of the problem surrounds the unusual misuse of prepositions. You know, those little words for, into, to, about etc. Take this recent sentence that I've heard many times: I want to pray God's healing into your life. Just what does that mean?? Or, I want to speak truth into this situation. What's wrong with these seemingly strange thoughts? Plenty!

The Holy Spirit is the only thing that can come into our lives in such a personal way. We cannot enter into each other's lives in the same way. We can only speak to each other and allow God to do the work that involves the into part, otherwise we wouldn't need Him for anything except maybe a rubber stamp. My filter that works on all the to's and only allows passage of specific into's is called judgment. It's a good, God given filter and of course, I don't need it when the Holy Spirit is doing the work.

When I have something to say, I say it to the person. When I have a load of junk, I put it into your truck. When I have some food I put it into your cupboards. These all make sense, but just how do you put God's healing into someone? First of all, we have no control over God and what he does with His healing or anything else. Secondly, isn't it a bit presumptuous to think that we can appropriate God's traits whenever we feel like it?

More to the point, if I am sick then speak to me and invite God to do a the healing in me. God is the only one able to work or do anything into my very essence.

How about speaking to a topic? I find this quite confusing since I am not a topic, so it must not be for me. It is now time to leave the room until someone actually wants to speak to me about a topic. "All the best in your efforts to speak to that topic", I say on my way out.

Given the poor state of grammar in this country you would think the church could help. Unfortunately, in it's recent efforts to become more "relevant", the christianese has just gone to a new level, not to mention the poor Theology it represents.

We care for people, speak to people, put food into their cupboards, and ask the Holy Spirit to do work in their lives. Apparently that concept is to 'far out' for some relevant folks.