Wandering Words

Words are living things, at least until the language dies. Their meanings are never static but are determined by use and abuse. It’s fun to watch what happens with a word as it wanders back and forth across the border between the left-hand kingdom of temporal power and the right-hand kingdom of eternal grace.

“Evangel” and “sacrament” are a couple of borrowed words that wandered into the church from civil service. “Liturgy” is another one. Today, these words are almost exclusively “sacred words,” associated with the church.

Words also wander the other way. There are a plethora of books that purport to be the “bible” of their field. The Herb Gardner’s Bible. The Windows Bible. No disrespect is intended. “Bible” is an ordinary word that means “book.” “Holy Bible” refers to the sacred Scriptures, of course. In popular usage, “bible” means a comprehensive, all-encompassing book on a particular subject. Back in the 1980’s, Apple Computer hired “evangelists” to proclaim the gospel according to Steve Jobs and the good news of computing for the masses in the form of the Mac operating system. Some PC users still argue that the world of Mac is a religion if not a cult.

Two words seems to have come back to church from a trip into the business world - “mission” and “vision.” They brought some baggage along with them. In its ordinary usage, “mission” means a goal or a purpose. Originally, it had the connotations of being sent for a purpose, as a missionary is sent to preach the Gospel. Closely related is the word “apostle” which means one sent as an authorized representative of another.

In business parlance, “vision” refers to the overarching values and philosophy that undergird the mission. But in church usage, “vision” refers to a revelation from God directly to a prophet. Herein lies the problem. When church leaders have “visions,” the language is freighted with inspired, revelatory meaning. It’s one thing for the CEO of Starbucks to have a “vision” for the distribution of frappacinos over the face of the planet; it’s quite another thing for church leaders, whether pastor or president, to have a “vision” concerning the church. Visions in church come from God through the prophets, and the last time I checked, we do not believe that edicts and opinions from the synodical heights are divinely inspired.

Whenever Gospel words travel into the kingdom of the left, they tend to take up law connotations. A mission in the business world has attainable goals and measurable quotas. No one asked the apostle Paul how many evangelism calls he made, though Jerusalem headquarters was a bit concerned about his success among the Gentiles. A vision in the business world is one of those non-negotiables for corporate "team players."  You either buy into the coach's vision or you're off the team. It's a bit more nuanced in the church, where visions are intended to evoke repentance and faith.

I would propose that we trim our tongues when using “mission” and “vision” in the church and dispense with the left-hand language of the business world. Mission means being sent to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ all-atoning death and His resurrection to the ends of the earth. Vision means a revelatory, prophetic message from God. We’re still trying to figure out the vision of the Revelation; the last thing we need is more “visions” by “visionary leaders.”

And let’s agree that the term “paradigm shift” has no happy home in the right-hand kingdom of Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.