Issue 229 - A Word Spoken
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September 2020
Last week, Brandon Leake became the first spoken word artist to win the top prize on America's Got Talent. His moving performances led us to reflect on the power of the spoken word.
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In the beginning was the word, and the word was vibrant, the word was alive. The word was not ink on paper or pixels on a screen, the word was spoken, face to face, mouth to ear, waves of sound emanating from lungs and lips producing physical response in the ears of those who heard. The word was intimate, literally touching and moving those who heard.
Unlike writing, oral speech stresses the existential presence of the one who communicates. Brandon Leake’s performances are so powerful because they are so personal, revealing himself and confronting those who hear.
Novelist Marilynne Robinson reminds her writing students that “language is music. Written words are [simply] musical notation.” [1] She makes this comment while discussing the appearance of the risen Jesus to Mary Magdalene (John 20), exclaiming, “How much we would know about this dawn, this meeting of friends in a garden, if only we could hear his voice.”
If only. In this time of pandemic, we long to hear the voices of those we love. Telephone calls and video conferencing are marvelous gifts, helping to bridge the gap when we cannot be together. Letters, email, and text messages all are helpful. But we long to be in the presence of others, to hear their voices directly, unmediated, “in person” as we rightly say.
In the beginning was the Word, who came to us in person, spoke our human language, and calls us each by name.
-- Bill
[1] “Wondrous Love”, in her essay collection When I Was a Child, I Read Books (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), p. 130.
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One day when Maya Angelou was about 24, “and very worldly,” her teacher Frederick Wilkerson asked her to read from Lessons in Truth, and as she did, and as she read the words “God loves me” repeatedly, she heard the power of those words and believed their truth. God loved her, Maya Angelou. “I suddenly began to cry at the grandness of it all. I knew that if God loved me, then I could do wonderful things, I could try great things, learn anything, achieve anything.” That knowledge that God loved her, “That knowledge humbles me, melts my bones, closes my ears, and makes my teeth rock loosely in their gums. And it also liberates me.”*
Spoken words have power beyond ink on the page or breath passing over the lips. The biblical prophets, we understand, received the power of God to speak words that guided and gilded the path of humanity throughout civilizations. While I commiserate with Prophet Jeremiah’s woe, at times, mostly I treasure the joy and assurance of his words, “When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and my happiness of heart.” (Jer 15-16a)
I felt like a famished babe as a mid-life adult when I began studying theology. Scripture classes fed my starving soul. As I studied, and found the words, I 'ate' them and was nourished in ways I never thought possible.
Simultaneously and serendipitously, I was called to preach parish missions and was overwhelmed again by the power of the spoken word. A pastor at one of the churches, at the end of the week-long mission, confessed to me, “When I first saw you, small and somewhat timid, I had my doubts. Then on the first night of the mission, you walked up to the ambo and opened your mouth.” One doesn’t have to eat the words, but it helps, to know the passion of God’s words. I often reminisce about those 10 years preaching parish missions, and always, have a mental picture of Eric Liddle, in Chariots of Fire, running along the shoreline saying, “When I run, I feel the pleasure of God.” Paraphrased, I can say, “When I preach, I feel the pleasure of God.”
The word of God is powerful. It liberates. Sometimes we hear it powerfully spoken by Maya Angelou or Brandon Leake or one another. Listen for it.
--by Jan
*From Maya Angelou’s Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now
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Dear Christians
by Brandon Leake
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All of Brandon Leake's AGT performances in one video
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Recent Issues
Issue 221 - Delight
for all past issues
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Copyright (c) 2020 Soul Windows Ministries
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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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