Language, Listless and Lacking?
Can one word communicate more than twenty others?
Enamored by the English language, I often feel a tension as a teacher and pastor due to a paradox at times. I want to use words that concisely describe people, places, periods, things, and events, and at the same time communicate with the simplicity we have in Christ.
I want to hold the interest of the intellectual while speaking to even a young child who lacks an extensive vocabulary, who might be present.
The drive to speak plainly, clearly, and simply to convey the truth of Scripture and the gospel will at times give me pause as I use simpler terms and phrases rather than the more articulate and concise English words.
It’s Saturday, and this morning, as I am preparing notes for tomorrow morning’s Church service, I wanted a word to describe a too-often-found sentiment. In my social circle, throughout different seasons of life, some have shared their lack of enthusiasm for maintaining their personal holiness.
I find then a gulf of sorts. I love the colorful words that so perfectly describe concepts in detail, which might take a small handful of words to clarify.
I’ll be teaching through Jude verses 16-19 tomorrow. Through Jude, the LORD reminds us that our enemy is constantly on the prowl to destroy us by leading us astray; yet, some have become lax.
Lax? What are the roots of that abbreviated slang?
As a daguerreotype is measurably less detailed than a black and white photo, and as black and white images are significantly less illustrative than a Kodachrome giving us those nice bright colors and those greens of summer, so is using the word “lax” to describe being lazy, careless, or lacking in enthusiasm, determination, or concern to convey a general malaise.
Tomorrow I’ll likely risk using a word that hasn’t been part of everyday conversation for nearly 100 years. In the span of a mere thirteen characters, I’ll traverse space and time.
Progressing from a tintype photo to the highly pixelated digital wonder that gives us panoramas of cities and outer space, a literary descriptive that allows us to zoom into the details of the matter rather than a fuzzy generalization.
Do I have you wondering yet what polychromatic word could deliver such a depth of descriptive deliciousness? Have we become lax in language as well as in faith and practice? Some might say we have become lackadaisical.
What’s the point? Simply put, I love the details and intricacies of our American language, but I desire to put the cookies on the bottom shelf where anyone can reach them.
While I ponder words like paradoxical, licentiousness, lasciviousness, and yes, lackadaisical, I’ll continue to simplify while teaching so that I might reach more and teach more to reach a broader audience.
Until next time, may the Lord bless you, keep you, and make his face to shine upon you.