Use normal Language! - Called to a Normal Christian Life - 2 (BJRE023)

Use normal Language! - Called to a Normal Christian Life - 2

Being normal, ordinary, and simple, but with a difference 

(By Dr. Edward Edezhath - Published in Kairos Magazine in 2019)

“What I like about these youngsters is that they are just like any other youth, but coming closer, we find some excellent stuff in them.” This professor was not sympathetic to anything spiritual on the university campus. But watching a few Jesus Youth leaders working there changed his attitude. The reason? They were just normal and not overspiritual.

‘Normal Christian life’ is a phrase that has been dear to Jesus Youth. Being normal and ordinary, yet different in a deeper sense, can be both fascinating and quite challenging. In these columns, we have been exploring what this could mean for the life and mission of the movement. 

Using normal, ordinary language

A friendship group is the best place to mold and groom a person, especially if the group is informal and continues to meet for a long period of time. For many of us from the movement's early days, the First Line Group was just this. Everyone would wait eagerly for the monthly meetings, where there was such joy and freedom. And when there were conflicts and misunderstandings, there were simple ways to resolve them and build up the fellowship. 

Through the First Line group, a network of dependable leaders and youth initiatives was built up. It was the group that dreamed of and organized Jesus Youth 85 that lent the movement its name. But more than all this, everyone in that fellowship would remember how it formed them. Many unwinding occurred during those gatherings through informal interactions and guided sharing. From rigid and serious people, many of them turned into simple, joyful people. This group taught them that being genuine and unpretentious is okay, which helped them shed some of their masks.

Pope Francis discusses in detail the importance of using simple language. "Simplicity has to do with the language we use. It must be one that people understand, lest we risk speaking to a void." This is from his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (#158). He then hints at a mistake many spiritual people commit, using expressions they learned in retreats and training sessions. "Preachers often use words learned during their studies and in specialized settings, which are not part of the ordinary language of their hearers. These words are suitable in theology or catechesis, but whose meaning is incomprehensible to most Christians." The Pope says the bigger problem is that in our groups, we have a language that the ordinary people outside find very strange, and we don't understand that we speak a funny language. "The greatest risk for a preacher is that he becomes so accustomed to his own language that he thinks everyone else naturally understands and uses it."

Through our sharing and discussion, we found that after attending many retreats and charismatic meetings, almost all of us use certain special words and even peculiar ways of speaking. For example, say ‘Praise the Lord’ for greetings or to catch attention. There were many more such expressions, like ‘he has to surrender more,’ ‘his inner healing is not complete,’ or ‘she does not have enough infilling.’ The list can be long, which can be pretty strange for others in the Church circles and more so for the general public.

But then, what is the problem if we use these special words? Don’t we have the right to be different? These words and other expressions become what we call ‘cliché,’ and such stereotyped words slowly lose their original beauty and meaning. A bigger problem is that the regular use of many such words separates us from other people around us. We connect with others mainly through words. When we use such strange words and clichés, they find us quite ‘funny.’ Moreover, our important duty of building loving relationships and sharing the good news of Jesus is seriously thwarted, and we would be, as St. Paul would say, “Holding a form of religion but denying the power of it” (2 Thi 3:5).

In the words of Pope Paul VI, “Evangelization loses much of its force and effectiveness if it does not take into consideration the actual people to whom it is addresses, if it does not use their language” (Evangelii Nuntianti, #63). So, we made a conscious effort to start talking and behaving normally. In our group, there was a lot of freedom to question our ways and even make fun of someone who used bombastic ‘spiritual’ words. Using simple and normal words was another journey to be ‘childlike.’

It is a good idea to ask ourselves if we are simple and joyful and not artificial and using spiritual masks by checking some specific areas of day-to-day life:

• Greet in ways appropriate to the group or context. Use ‘Hello’ or ‘Good Morning' on the street or in the workplace, not' Praise the Lord' or' Hallelujah. ' 

• Avoid using too much spiritual jargon or cliché expressions – If you must use a very special idea, take a little trouble to paraphrase it in ordinary words.

• When talking of spiritual experiences or your inner journey, talk in words that an ordinary person would understand

• When you make a spontaneous/shared prayer, avoid stock patterns and don’t use “Lord” or “Jesus” repeatedly. Instead, use simple and sincere spoken language to address the Lord.

Someone may ask, “Should we completely avoid using ‘spiritual jargon’ or as quoted from Pope Francis's 'words of preachers'?” The main issue is not about using or avoiding jargon but employing simple and ordinary language that most people would understand and enjoy. Overuse of special expressions, whether religious, political, or even scientific, can give a sour taste to the listeners. And that can slowly destroy a Christian community's simple, joyful spirit. Use simple, ordinary language and become joyful Christians!

(To be continued)

= Pointers for Reflection =
1. What is the importance of words and language in Christian life?
2. What are the typical cliches in our circles?
3. Share a memory of artificial spiritual language draining the power of Christianity.
4. Share your thoughts on using simple and direct language in our groups.