There’s this thing about words…
I imagine myself, O-Captain-ing in front of a group of mesmerized young scholars, waxing eloquent in a completely non-ironic way about the importance of words. It’s a great speech.
“Words matter, kids.”
They nod appreciatively. Some lean forward in their seats. But there’s that one kid— you know, the tough one who has to be convinced, but at the end of our story he has learned a tough lesson and dedicates all of his novels and screenplays to me as an adult. Oh, and there’s always an homage to me buried somewhere in every book or film. Whole graduate level film classes write papers about this mysterious unlocker of the key to words. I become an archetype that upends that stiff from Dead Poets Society.
But I digress.
Words.
When crafting a lecture (don’t worry, old schoolers— some of us still lecture!), I talk to myself a lot. Silently, I think about what I want to say and I’ll sort of pretend that I’m arguing about it— because that’s sort of how I’ve always been. Man, ask my parents and many of my early mentors. Some of you can relate. Anyway, in my mind there’s always a voice that wants to challenge the point that I am making, so I will argue back and forth with that voice.
Words matter!
No they don’t! You’re just saying that because you’re an English teacher.
I mean, fair point that this is my trade, but they do matter.
Prove it.
If I were to tell you to shut up —[I imagine that the whole class erupts about that time that one teacher at Davis or Lorraine or Pine Street told the whole class to shut up]— why would you be so mad?
Because it’s rude! My momma spanked me when I said that when I was little (good for her!). Because if we can’t say it, y’all can’t say it.
[At this point, I would probably teach them that old playground saying: Shut don’t go up, prices do. Take my advice and shut up, too. It would kill.]
Let’s talk about what it means. [I go to the white board— are you still with me?— and write the phrase across it: SHUT UP.]
Break it down.
What does “shut” mean? Why do we add “up” to the ends of some imperative sentences?
After a little while of doing this, we decide that maybe it isn’t the words we use so much as it is the connotation of the words we use. If I tell you to shut the window because it’s raining, you probably won’t be offended. If I tell you to shut your stupid mouth because you’re getting on my nerves, I’m probably doing to hear from your mom later.
Ah, there’s another word: stupid. This is a good one. I might have them look it up in the dictionary— the actual, real dictionary on their desk. We’ll talk about the Latin and what the word really means and how it came to be something insulting when it came from a word having to do with being stupefied— having been stunned or shock by something as in pain or grief.
You can see how a room of 28 scholars could have some very interesting conversations around just a couple of words.
Words matter, and now I’ve proven that I can make you call your mom over calling you “stupid” even though this afternoon I will walk behind you and your friends and hear you casually use some of the worst language ever and no one will think one thing about it.
Which leads to another point: who you are matters. Words used by one person might not have the same impact used by someone else. If your teacher or your mom tells you that you’re stupid, it might have the power to injure you in a way that one of your peers might not have. Maybe.
And the same can be true with the impact of positive words.
If I tell you that you are beautiful, will it matter to you?
Words matter.
In August of 1993, my friend Lynnelle was one of the teachers the Lord sent into my life to help me through the ridiculousness that was my early 20’s. Sitting over tea, she took me to 2nd Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.
Triumphal procession.
What do you think of when you read or hear those words? I’ll tell you what I thought of immediately— the ticker tape parade that was thrown for the Braves right after they won the World Series. I think of victorious gladiators. I think of a newly crowned king or queen. I think of the softball team at our high school and the send-off we give them every year when they load up the buses to head to the state championship game— the students line the side walk as the girls lean out of the windows and wave, everyone yelling wildly, the police escort running blue lights in front of the buses and after.
Who proceeds in triumph? Champions. People who are on their way to becoming champions. Heroes. Victors. Contenders.
Take a moment to think about that.
Paul, who was an evangelist who saw some serious difficulty in the mission field, praised God for always leading him in triumph. He was in a lifelong parade of triumph, “spreading everywhere the aroma of Christ”!
The triumph here is over death and damnation. It’s over despair and depression and worthlessness. He is talking about the triumph of Christ over the grave. Victory. Jesus Christ, the champion— the fighter who has overcome all battles. And I follow Him, blanketed in the folds of His robes, part of the train, as both the conquered and the conquering— one of His champions in this life. Overcoming because of the power of His Spirit in and on my life.
When I began to picture myself as one walking in triumphal procession, way back in my 20’s, something in me changed forever. I’m one of those people who believes we were all created for glory— some of us will say yes and some of us will not, but we were all created to walk in triumph. Sadly, I think the church has misrepresented much of what it means to know the Creator of the Universe, but that’s not a conversation for this place— anyway, we were made for glory. To grow in our understanding of who He is and who we were created to be every single day until the last time we close our eyes on this gorgeous blue planet and open them in the face of the Artist responsible for all of this beauty.
I believe that His intention has always been that we walk around in triumph, even when things seem dark. I believe that He has created a planet full of champions, and some of us know and some of us don’t.
I believe some of us have believed the lies of some words and have hung them over the doorways to our hearts, have adopted them: loser, sick, stupid, failure, alone, greedy, insecure, ugly, etc. We sit on the sidelines and watch the parade going by, sometimes even resenting the joy we see in others.
Words matter. This year, I want to understand more of what it means to be a champion, and also what it means to champion others. I want to understand what it means to use words as a weapon against what attacks and oppresses us.
Let’s go forth and conquer, champions.
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