"Not all words create. Some merely communicate. They explain, report, describe, manage, inform, regulate. We live in an age obsessed with communication. Communication is good but a minor good. Knowing about things never has seemed to improve our lives a great deal. The pastoral task with words is not communication but communion - the healing and restoration and creation of love relationships between God and his fighting children and our fought-over creation. Poetry uses words in and for communion.
This is hard work and requires alertness. The language of our time is in terrible condition. It is used carelessly and cynically. Mostly it is a tool for propaganda, whether secular or religious. Every time badly used and abused language is carried by pastors into prayer and reaching and direction, the word of God is cheapened. We cannot use a bad means to a good end.
Words making truth, not just conveying it: liturgy and story and song and prayer are the work of pastors who are poets."
Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor.
Thought I'd blog this as a shout out to all the songwriters - to encourage you to be careful and creative with your words, and to really treasure and nurture this amazing gift from God.
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