Do you Medicate?

Posted by GregQualls

June 12, 2007

A few weeks ago my wife was talking with an older gentleman about stress and life in general. The older gentleman who is very big on Thai Chi asked my wife, “Do you meditate?” But my wife heard him ask, “Do you medicate?”

Now I know that both of these can help reduce stress… but the means are very different. Let’s just say there was a little confusion until they cleared that up.

It’s amazing how the words we use convey so much meaning. By a simple change of words what we are trying to express is completely changed. If you don’t agree with me, try responding to the phrase, “I love you,” with “I like you.” The difference is worlds apart (and could mean the end to a wonderful relationship).

In the past few years, there has been a growing trend among churches to change some of the words that are used. I know of one church in California that has weekly meetings to go over the language that is used in their church each week. The trend is to move away from using words that have lost their meaning over the years.

One word that I think has lost is meaning over the years is the word service when we talk about our church services. We go to the church service. We have church services. The service was really long this morning. What did you think about the service?

The words role off our tongues without any thought to what they actually mean. It’s just another word in our vocabulary. I think the original meaning might have been the idea that we come together to serve each other. But I don’t think that we even give it any thought any more. If anything the meaning has changed. The word no longer has the meaning of serving each other, but I would say now has the connotation of serving ourselves.

How well was I served this morning at church? The word has the intrinsic focus on self. The reality is that hardly anyone in today’s Christian subculture thinks of church as a time to serve each other. The focus is all inward. “I didn’t like the worship today.” “That sermon was really boring.” “I wish they would have…” “I don’t like it when we sing hymns.” “I don’t like how they’re always asking us to do things.”

The reality is that church is not about the individual. When you look at Acts you constantly see that the church is about community and not about self. You see at the end of chapter two that people are sharing all their possessions. They, “were together and had all things in common.” It wasn’t about them individually. It was about the community.When you read through Acts, you see that the church never had services. Instead you see that they gathered (assembled) together. The church wasn’t about the individual coming to the church, but instead about the church gathering together.

Therefore we have changed the language at our church (like many others) to reflect this concept. We no longer use the words church service, but instead we talk about our gatherings. We don’t have services, but instead we gather. We want to constantly put the focus of our church on the community and not on the individual. Some might just say that this is just semantics or legalism, but we see it as essential to who we are. We want to always be putting the truth forward in every word we use.

So I pose the questions to you:What words have lost meaning for you? What words no longer mean the same for you? Do you ever think about the words that you use and the meanings you are portraying?Do you medicate?

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