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Words with Power
The
Lord gave the word;
great was the company of the preachers.
Psalm 68:11
If
the Jews have been called the people of the Book, Christianity
has been known as the religion of the Word. From the teachings
of Jesus to the preaching of Paul to the pronouncements of the
church councils to the sermons given every Sunday in churches
throughout the world, it is "words, words, words."
How many of them stay with us once they have been uttered?
We
usually think of words in their comunicative function, as the
bearers of ideas, and there can be no doubt that the religious
ideas of Christianity have formed the basis of our society and
culture. But ideas can be variously interpreted, and the religious
ideas which have come out of the Christian movement have been
the source of endless disagreement and conflict, not infrequently
accompanied by bloodshed.
But
besides their ability to communicate ideas, words also have
an expressive function. We have all had the experience of being
profoundly moved by hearing a passage of scripture, without
being able to say what it is that has moved us. The word has
served as a catalyst which brings us into contact with something
beyond our control, something which touches us and shakes us
to the core, regardless of whether or not we understand it.
Northrop
Frye's last book, on the Bible, is entitled Words with Power,
and it is the power of the Biblical word which I would
like us to consider today. This power is communicated as much
by the sound of the Biblical text as by its meaning. The religions
of the East have recognized perhaps better than we have the
transformative power of sound.
Mantras
are words which have power, even though they have no definable
meaning. In the Hindu tradition, spiritual awareness is mediated
by the sound rhythms, intonations, pitch, and modulation of
the ancient Vedic hymns, quite apart from their verbal meaning.
It
is because of the importance of the sound of the Biblical text
that we continue to use the King James version in our worship,
even though we are well aware that the scholarship of the 16th
century translators has long been surpassed.
Sometimes,
in fact their renditions are quite inaccurate. The psalm verse
which I chose as my text is rendered quite differently in the
Revised Standard Version:
The
Lord gave the command;
great is the host of those who bore the tidings!
But
accuraacy in the transmission of ideas, though essential for
Biblical scholarship, is not the only, or, perhaps, even the
chief consideration in the use of the Bible in worship.
True
religious language enchants and informs, addressing its rhythmic
and symbolic speech to regions of the mind which are inaccessible
to argument, and evoking responses of awe and love which no
exhortation can obtain.
Speaking
of the King James Version, Frederick Faber, the author of the
beloved hymn "Faith of our Fathers," had this to say:
It
lives on the ear like a music that can never be forgotten.
Its felicities often seem to be almost things, rather than mere
words.
May the words of scripture serve to carry us beyond the words
to that reality in which we live and move and have our being.
.
December
29, 2002
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