Spoken Word: Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word

 

Lord keep us steadfast in your word

word - a noun-
a. single. distinct. meaningful. element.  ... of speech. or writing. used with others (sometimes alone)
word upon word - this is how we communicate:
articulating thoughts, telling stories, expressing feelings, teaching truths, passing on what matters, sharing the Gospel   - sharing The Word.
The Word – with a capital ‘W’
The Word – as in the word of the Lord; the law, a command; truth – the text of scripture
The Word – as in the Word made flesh; the Word embodied; Jesus
Lord keep us steadfast in your word.
 
What does this mean for us?
Reformation Sunday is here and the Word swirls in a mass of alphabet soup– we hear that:
the law  -the word- SPEAKS
it is SILENCED
it is WITHIN
it is WRITTEN
it is DISCLOSED
it is TRUTH
Reformation Sunday is here and the Word swirls in a mass of contradictory words.
What does it mean for us that...
God’s word is our great heritage and shall be ours forever.
The Word in the hands of Reformers through the centuries:
has been Spoken, translated, silenced
English reformer, Bible translator, and theologian Wycliffe – persecuted in life, a heretic and excommunicated in death.
English Reformer, Bible translator, and theologian... Tyndale – executed.
German reformer, Bible Translator, and theologian... Luther – excommunicated.
Czech reformer, writer, and theologian... Hus – executed.
A word to the wise – translating the Word, the Bible, has led to excommunication and execution more than once, more than twice, more than three times.
Word has it that bearing the Word ... is dangerous!
Catherine of Alexandria, Joan of Arc, Manche Masemola- take their word for it;
All women whose vocalization of the gospel -their preaching and teaching about Jesus – the Word made flesh - ended in their death.
I am at a loss for words to comprehend the need to kill someone because of words...
 a. single. distinct. meaningful. element. ... of speech. or writing.
Unless
Unless we are not speaking, disclosing, writing about household words
The Word must have power that causes those in power to use four-letter words because –
The Word is alive. You can’t kill something inanimate or dead. One is not terrified of something inanimate or dead. The Word must be living.
It is not two-dimensional on a page but is written on hearts that are three dimensional and pumping, read in actions speaking louder than words.
 
But louder than words means nothing if one is not as good as their word.
One need only hear the rhetoric, the so called ‘truth,’ as words fly by -butting, antagonizing, bullying- to kill, to silence, to end relationships; or cover them with so many words that people are lost in an excess of words: printed, videoed, and tweeted.
Words of treaties -the covenant made between two peoples – fade because one side sets the words on a shelf; saying mums the word
Until
Until voices are raised; threatened by the power of words, that were thought to be locked away- so take to lighting fires to burn the Word.
Words hurt. Words have power.
Words heal – truth and reconciliation the telling and hearing of stories; digesting each others’ words. Words that are every bit alive as the experience itself. Word embodied.
 
Spoken word artists know this; they don’t mince words.  They don’t read poetry, they bring life to each word – poems on steroids;
 the speaker is invested because each word matters, each word is birthed;
 each word is a living word.
 
We have these words- the Word- living word.
Word is living.
We know when it isn’t – when it is silenced: stolen by stroke, held captive by dementia; bullied -truth in bondage to fear. Words reduced to ... idle tales, unlinked memories, severed connection; engulfed in frustration,  sadness, loneliness...
 
A word of advice -for all- including persons of few words
What does this mean for us?
 Reformation is living Word, transformation is embodied Word
every word matters – the Word matters-
To spread its light from age to age shall be our chief endeavour.
In times of great change where words are weapons, where words are blatant lies, where words have no context, where words have lost their meaning
Re-invigorate word – the Word- our word.
It can be done. Word can change, take on new meaning; truth and understanding changes:
Awesome, awful, terrific, nice, prestigious
The definitions of which are opposite to their meaning a century ago
The same with:
Villain, Bully, harlot, silly, garble, artificial, nervous – are now the opposite of what they once were.
In other words,  it is not too late to live the Word of the text for today –
through you let Word:
SPEAK, be SILENCED, be WITHIN, be WRITTEN, be DISCLOSED, be TRUTH!
May the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart
Be your Word of mouth so compelling, so alive,
Embodied by Word – in the Word- be living Word.
To spread its light from age to age shall be our chief endeavour.
Healing Word. Reconciliation. Hope. Liberation. Freedom.
Every Word Matters.
Lord Keep us steadfast in your word –
so that when I come to the end of my chapters, the end of my words
Word has become actively lived:
That my words – heal more than they hurt
That word is embodied in action
That word spoken is truth - word that is not is silenced
That my prayer is beyond words
 
My legacy – when all that is left is a whisper of a voice,
A whisper – the Word breathed to those around me
The last breath of life given to the hearer
Received so that it might remain living word to once again be birthed...
may my last whisper, the last word be
‘I love you.’