The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
January 16, 2011
Vol. 14 no. 03
Battles are raging everywhere about the meaning and power of words – courts are called upon to decide which words should have priority; which words should be considered profane or sacred; which words are inflammatory and which nurture peace and reconciliation. Many dismiss all words as ambiguous, troublesome and limiting: “it’s only words,” “actions speak louder than words.” Yet, look at how many words we use to describe how meaningless words are.
The Bible, the Torah, the Qur’an are full of loaded words crammed with more meaning than they can hold. When we attempt to translate these words into other languages, seldom does one word equal exactly another word. Try speaking to someone from Alabama, Sydney, Newfoundland, Dublin or Liverpool and figure out who is speaking proper English.
The Old Testament prophets put words to the test and those words push us to hear the divine oracles of justice and the still small voice. Not infrequently, Isaiah speaks and writes about how God has chosen him when he doesn’t really want to be chosen. In Isaiah 49 the prophet declares that the Lord called Israel from the womb, not as a birth right but a call that defined who he was and from which he really could not escape.
There’s this intriguing phrase and imagery, “(the Lord) made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away” (RSV). Eugene Peterson renders the words, “a straight arrow.” Ah, a straight arrow connotes an honest, direct, and moral person. That’s easy, but then God hid him in his quiver of crooked (?) arrows. Why and how did God hide Israel? Does God still hide us away? It won’t be easy, but let’s go look.
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan