In the beginning was The Word. I like to picture this, perhaps because I am a writer, of a voice of unspeakable beauty and majesty floating over the formless void - over a newly bubbling and still smoldering Earth. Tolkein would change The Word into music for the creation story of his Middle Earth in the Silmarillion. Either way, it is a lyrical and imaginative look at what is true about the creation story, no matter what side you fall on in the debate. The Word came first.
We can imagine the new people of this planet struggling with language. Humans had the capability to speak for as long as they've been around. But we don't find evidence of written language until about 10,000 years ago. For some 100,000 plus years, humans communicated strictly with words and gestures - making their meanings known to one another without any formal concept of what any of those sounds meant. It is still almost mind-boggling to me that written language should have ever developed as anything other than pictographs. Its one thing to see a cat and point. Its another thing to see a cat and call it a cat and everyone to nod that that is what you are going to call a cat from now on. Its a third thing to point to a picture of a cat and say cat and have everyone agree. But its another thing entirely to write the word CAT and have everyone agree that not only do those letters equal the picture, but also the sound of the word, Cat. Written language is truly a divine miracle.
When the Bible was first written - first in the Torah - it must have seemed that way for the people of the tribes of Israel. Here were God's words, preserved, for all to read or be read to them. This was divine truth. But here is where I start having trouble, because somewhere along the line a split occurs.
Next came Jesus and His words were written into the Bible as well. And I have no doubts in my mind that they are the divine words of truth - no different than those written by Moses. But, there is an entire tribe of humanity who thinks that I have been deluded - that the only words of God that are true are those written by Moses and the prophets. They discount Jesus's words as the holy words of God. It sounds crazy to me, but the Jews were not convinced of Jesus's divine origins. I feel, in part, that they missed the boat and that they weren't ready to admit that Jesus was the savior.
But then, it gets complicated. Mohammed came. And he claims that God spoke to him and even wrote the words of the Koran. And these holy words do not discount the holy words of Moses or Jesus, but they supercede those holy words. I think, perhaps, this is crazy and these people have been deluded. But then, I wonder, isn't that what the Jews think of Christians.
And what are we all to make of the Mormons, who claim that we're all wrong and that Joseph Smith heard and recorded the words of God in his Mormon Bible. Are the Mormons just a cult? Are Joseph Smith's words any less authentic than Moses's?
Its all confusing. When you write, you are putting down words and trying to describe an event - you are painting a word picture. The purpose behind this picture might be to convey wisdom, or beauty, or entertainment, or even truth. But when it comes to God's words, who do we say has the right to put those words into writing? Who do we believe to be the conduit for God's words?
Pastor Dave has long been my hidden conscious. Long before I was blogging, he always seemed to say things to me that were already on my mind. When I knew I had done something wrong, but was unwilling to admit it to myself, along would come Pastor Dave and innocently say, "You know guys, such and such is wrong." And secretly, in my heart, I would think - how did he know?
For a while now, I have been struggling with writing. I have been wandering aimlessly from word to word looking not for technical skill, nor ideas, but direction. Where did I want to go when I write? My novel teeters on the outcome of this wandering. It is written, but it is not yet polished. I have been looking in different directions wondering what path to take. This weekend, I had a revelation. I was watching The Family Man with Nicholas Cage and when the movie was over, I suddenly realized that I would never be Nicholas Cage. This may not seem a huge revelation to most of you. In fact, I imagine that many of you right now are saying, "Duh!" But I realized that, without giving up hope, a life of family - wife and kids - was not my destiny. My purpose here on Earth is to write. And as it all started to cascade into my brain, I realized what it was that I was supposed to have known all along - my direction. I've been put here to tell the truth - as best as I can fathom it.
Pastor Dave wrote, sometime over the weekend, "Will, while you're novel is in gestation, you might consider publishing a book of liturgical verses. Your psalm and this littany are heartfelt and gracefully phrased." My secret conscience strikes again. Compliments aside, Pastor Dave was telling me something I had already known. But, then the thoughts of the complications rose again - who am I to write the word of God?
And finally, I understood something that I had only had the barest hint of knowing - the most important glimpse of the communication between God and us.
In the beginning was The Word... And The Word was without form until written... And The Word was without meaning until read.
There is no such thing as God's written word, unless we read it and receive God's words. We, the readers, are the ones who make God's words important. We are the ones who decide what they mean. We are the ones who act on them. We are the ones who pass them on to others. Anyone can write God's words, but only us readers can make them mean anything.
Cat means cat. God means God. We all agree - and that's how Words work.
4 comments:
I'll have to bracket the whole thing about me being your conscience and come back to that later. I hope I didn't tramatize you somehow so that I've become the personification of your superego!
Also, the whole topic of "who writes the word of God" is too much to deal with in the time available. I would simply suggest that God still speaks through imperfect mouthpieces.
As far as your book of liturgical verses (which I do hope you'll write) goes, I see that more as the honest cry of the human heart. Not speaking for God but speaking TO God.
We learn to pray by praying with others. I think your prayers could help mine be more clear. Your prayers say what I want to say, but can't quite find the right words.
Thanks for sharing them.
And before I sound like my own SuperEgo, my meaning was to say that we can not write the words of God, but that the words we write can become the words of God if we read them that way. Or in plain English... when I write a psalm, I don't write it believing I'm chanelling God. I think those words are just my own. But that you might hear God through them, then they become the words of God. Does that make sense?
I think that's why so much of the Bible is attributed to unknown writers - because ultimately the author of the words is very clear.
Whoa.
Hands down, by many miles, the MOST important, and MOST impressive piece of writing you have ever done, Will - so far.
As Christians, we take it on faith that the 66 book Bible is the Word of God. Men were the tools used by God to write those words.
I will be addressing this a bit in my next sermon (this coming Sunday) - as part of the daily appointment with God, we need to pray to Him to help us see what He wants us to see when we read His Word. I believe that depending on where you are in your faith journey, the application of a particular passage to your life can mean one thing today, and perhaps something else tomorrow.
I believe that your Psalm of Welcoming are your own words, but clearly God prompted you to write them - because the inherent message is consistent with how we understand God's character to be. If you had said something in there contrary to what we know of God (for instance, "we welcome only those with purple hair") then we know that is inconsistent with God's character.
Powerful post, brother.
Perhaps God prompted me to write the Psalm of Welcoming - perhaps it was just my ego. I claim no ownership over the words, however, even though I wrote them. Its kind of weird.
Its sort of opposite of that phrase - if you like it, I did it, and if you didn't, then someone else did it. Only, in this case, if the words work - then that's God speaking to you. And if they don't work for you, then that's me speaking to you. Does that make sense?
When I read the psalms, I can't help but seeing what Pastor Dave has said is an honest cry of the human heart to God. "Lord, protect me... etc..." But what makes these words any different than those written and spoken by thousands of others? Because they're prettier? Because they're leather bound? Because we've been told to read them? No. We read them as the words of God because they speak to us. As a writer, that's what you hope to do with your talent and your skills, but ultimately only God can cause that kind of reaction. I couldn't write a Psalm of Welcoming that was any good unless God allowed you to read it that way.
I don't know if I'm making any sense... and that to me is proof enough of what I'm trying to say ;)
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