{"id":514,"date":"2010-07-19T15:09:32","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T21:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raincitypastor.wordpress.com\/?p=514"},"modified":"2010-07-19T15:09:32","modified_gmt":"2010-07-19T21:09:32","slug":"the-power-of-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/07\/19\/the-power-of-words\/","title":{"rendered":"the power of words…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This past Friday my wife and I rented bicycles in DC and rode around, from monument to monument during the evening hours. \u00a0Though both the design and craftsmanship of these monuments are stunning, I was struck most by the power of the words. \u00a0At the Lincoln Memorial there was an endless stream of visitors having their picture taken in front of his the president\u2019s feet. \u00a0Off to the sides though, are two of Lincoln\u2019s speeches. \u00a0To his right is the Gettysburg address<\/a>, offered in the wake of that bloody battle. \u00a0To the right is the 2nd inaugural address<\/a>, the one that Lincoln gave during the civil war.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s here, off to the side, in the shadows, that you\u2019ll find people being shaped by the power of words. \u00a0They\u2019re standing, reading. \u00a0I watch a young man stand and read the entire wall. \u00a0I remember reading the whole wall as well, years ago. \u00a0We\u2019d arrived in DC at 5 in the morning, and made our way to the Lincoln memorial just as the sun was rising. \u00a0We were the only ones there at that early hour, and the words of Lincoln penetrated me, especially the ones about both sides of the civil war appealing to the same God (a topic which is worthy of its own blog post).<\/p>\n

Words, which particular ones are used, how they are put together, and how they\u2019re communicated, have power. \u00a0I came away from the Lincoln memorial reminded that Lincoln knew how to use words. \u00a0The words etched in stone at the memorial were born out from a man who grew up reading, digesting ideas, and learning critical thinking skills<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0These were the skills that produced the content. \u00a0But beyond the content, Lincoln was a master at delivery, and the truth is that it\u2019s often the manner in which ideas are communicated that determines whether the idea will be embraced or rejected. \u00a0I\u2019ve watched debates where the party with better content lost where it matters because of their failure to communicate persuasively.<\/p>\n

My wife and I went from the Lincoln Memorial to the Ford Theater (where Lincoln was assassinated), and there learned more about this remarkable man. \u00a0As a child, he read broadly, and loved to listen to people who viewed things differently than he did. \u00a0When he became president, he appointed his opponent<\/a> to be Secretary of State!<\/p>\n

I fear that this kind of openness, dialogue, and lifelong learning is being displaced in our culture by entrenched camps: conservative and liberal, left and right. \u00a0It\u2019s happening in both political and theological circles, so much so that I already know what Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are going to say before they open their mouths.<\/p>\n

In contrast, \u00a0Lincoln showed us that it\u2019s possible to have convictions, and<\/em> remain open to ongoing transformation. \u00a0But such openness requires a sort of courage, a belief that we won\u2019t fall off the deep end if we engage in dialogue with a Muslim about their faith, or a Christian who also believes in Ron Paul\u2019s small government, or Obamacare, or a soldier, or a Mennonite who believes all war is wrong. \u00a0The truth is that we won\u2019t fall off the deep end if we\u2019ve been raised, not on sound bytes and stereotypes, but on a love of truth, which is communicated through the words and ideas of a person. \u00a0After all, if we\u2019re lovers of truth, we must be becoming people who are loving God with our minds<\/em> as well as our spirits. \u00a0Here are some ways to develop this:<\/p>\n

1. cultivate curiosity<\/strong> \u2013 I read Fast Times, and The Sun. \u00a0The former is written for millennialist entrepreneurs, the later for introspective poets who\u2019ve dropped out of most of mainstream culture. \u00a0In both cases, there\u2019s wheat and chaff. \u00a0In both cases I need to sift. \u00a0It\u2019s the sifting, the discerning, that keeps us growing, as we try to understand how the truth found in Christ speaks to the issues of the day, and why other people think the way they do.<\/p>\n

2. read books<\/strong> \u2013 If you\u2019re only reading Christian non-fiction, you\u2019re not reading widely enough. \u00a0Paul quoted the Greek poets in his sermons because he read more than the Bible. \u00a0I\u2019m reading Tolstoy right now, and on deck is a historical novel about living in an occupied village in France during WWII.<\/p>\n

3. know some news<\/strong> \u2013 I was surprised to learn, in the Newsuem, the the USA only ranks 18th in the world in \u2018freedom of the press\u2019, largely because the accepted notion here is that there\u2019s a liberal or conservative bias to every news source. \u00a0It\u2019s because of these biases that I sample my news from many sources.<\/p>\n

4. talk with people who believe differently than you <\/strong>\u2013 The narrative of the Bible shows us that the best teaching often comes from unlikely sources: a Samaritan, a tax-collector, a Gentile, a leper, a man born blind. \u00a0I wonder what I might have to learn from those outside my circle? \u00a0I wonder what I miss by preemptively excluding them?<\/p>\n

5. Remember that truth is a Person.<\/strong> This should have been at the top of the list because it\u2019s our saturation with, love for, and loyalty to Jesus that is the foundation for all our learning and growing, and if we\u2019re rooted in Him, our words will, over time, and with increasing clarity, impart life. \u00a0Miss this foundation of Christ, and you miss everything.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Friday my wife and I rented bicycles in DC and rode around, from monument to monument during the evening hours. \u00a0Though both the design and craftsmanship of these monuments are stunning, I was struck most by the power of the words. \u00a0At the Lincoln Memorial there was an endless stream of visitors having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"yoast_head":"\nthe power of words...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This past Friday my wife and I rented bicycles in DC and rode around, from monument to monument during the evening hours. \u00a0Though both the design and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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