The Language We Once Spoke, Timothy McConnell

My doctoral supervisor, Robert Wilken, is fond of calling the Bible "a carried book."  It never just sits there in a vacuum, he says, it is always handed to you by someone.  And as they hand it to you, some claim, some context, some tradition, is handed down along with it.  Of course, Prof. Wilken is talking about grand claims in historical theology.  But the universal is also particular--the grand claims also play out in our lives.  I like the image, and it made me think of all of those people who have handed the Bible down to me over the years.  All the pastors, all the Young Life and FOCUS leaders, all the Bible study leaders, friends and relatives, who have at one point or another handed me a bit of Scripture, some little fragment of light from the Word of God, and said, Here, I think this applies.

This morning, the Scriptures were handed to me by a student at Darden School of Business here at the University of Virginia.  Apparently it's the greatest business school in the world (that's what I hear from the students anyway).  I support the Christian Fellowship there, and we had an early morning Bible Study.  So much of the Christian life is about learning to read the Bible right where we are.  Read the Bible in the hospital.  Read the Bible in the living room.  Read the Bible in Darden.  He carried in a little bit of Nehemiah, and we all read it.  He handed it to us and said, here, I think this applies.

Darden students are busy people.  I think it's how they prepare them for the pace of American business.  They've learned to cram a lot into their day.  And the most important thing to cram in is just a few minutes of Scripture to remind them of the far country to which they belong, the Kingdom of God, and to remind them of the language that is spoken there.

Life is often compared to language, and language to life.  The language we speak shapes our lives in ways we don't even imagine sometimes.  The words we use, and the rationality of our grammar--it shapes how we understand ourselves and our world in radical ways.  The French seem to get this.  They still say that you can't really be French (in fact, you can't become a French citizen) until you speak French, and speak it well!  Your language is your identity in some ways.

I was raised in Knoxville, Tennessee.  I don't have a Tennessee accent anymore (I moved from there when I was only six), but because I first spoke that way, when I'm around relatives or southern-speaking friends, I start to talk that way again!  It only takes a minute to remember the language I once spoke.

As citizens in the Kingdom of God, there is a language we speak.  A whole way of life that we are meant to 'remember' even though we haven't ever been there!  We remember it by reading the Bible.  By absorbing the language for just a few minutes each day.  It doesn't take long, and it sticks with you all day. 

This afternoon, a Darden graduate who used to help with Darden Christian Fellowship returned from New York to address the group.  Jim Holmberg is his name.  Life is very busy for him in New York City, working for Goldman Sachs, but he reads the Bible each day on the subway.  He says it's like entering another world for him; in the middle of all the people, noise, and rush, there is a place he can go in the Scriptures.  Jim said he usually reads the Bible before the Wall Street Journal--in his business, that's saying something!

Darden students are busy.  Business people are busy.  Mothers are busy.  Even retirees are busy!

Remember the language we once spoke.  Immerse yourself in the grammar, the accent, the language of the Word of God each day and remember that's where you're really from.  That's where you really belong.  The Word of God is a broad country, and wide.  Remember it, and hope for it again.

Comments

[Lois Westerlund]

Thank you, Tim! Amen! An apt metaphor--the "carried book", carried first to us from the God who gives both language and Himself, by writers who were carried along by his Holy Spirit, Who continues to carry His Word through our often-deaf ears into our often hard hearts! Oh, to have our minds filled with that language of another Reality than the one we see! One of the blessings of this age that I discover I have achieved is how often the Spirit brings to mind, unsought, His word of comfort or encouragement or assurance or exhortation. That Word is still living and powerful and true, How we need it!

[Karin]

How have I never heard this before?! I needed this.

Well put.

[Elijah]

Powerful Concept....I believe that the more word you put in ,Closer to the Kingdom Life You Shall Live . Reading the bible Brings Faith. Faith Moves MOuntains...Thats Kingdom. Thanks Tim