The Tremendous Power Of Words

As many of you may know, I work as a counselor and get to sit with a lot of people and hear their stories. As a result, I hear a lot of stories of words that were said to people that caused a lot of harm (sometimes coming from other counselors and therapists). I was talking with a man once who was in his 70’s. On one occasion, almost 20 years ago, as he was talking about his grief and depression,  the counselor kind of mockingly said, “You’re such a sad sack…” This person was stopped in their tracks and immediately felt a sense of shame and self-consciousness. And those words “sad sack” have haunted them ever since.

Maybe you can think of words that were spoken to you that harmed you…Maybe you can think of words that were spoken to you that lifted you.

Words have tremendous power. They can tear down and they can uplift. And they have an energy of their own. I often hear people say, “Don’t even say that out loud,” for an event they don’t want to give power to…and say, “I’m gonna say that out loud,” to an event that they wish to “speak into existence.”

In our first reading from Isaiah 55 today, we hear about the power of words. God says, “ Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful…So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

God’s words, like ours, set things in motion and do not return until they have achieved what their purpose is. This naming power is one of the powers entrusted to humans in the creation story from Genesis 2, and it carries a lot of weight.

Then in our gospel from Matthew 6, we hear more about words. This time Jesus is talking about the words we should use in prayer.  Jesus contrasts his advice to the people who “babble” to God – using all kinds of fancy words or thinking that the more words they say their prayers will be better somehow. 

So Jesus offers what has become known as the “Our Father” or the “Prayer of Jesus” (which is a compilation of phrases and sayings that are found in other Jewish prayers). It is a simple formula that invites the pray-er to go inward and reflect. 

The basic elements:

We acknowledge God as God (and remember that we’re not God)
We pray that God’s kin-dom come (and as Richard Rohr says, “my kingdom go…)
We ask for what we need for this day (and no more)
We ask for forgiveness and the ability to grant it
And we ask that we not lose our way on the journey through many temptations (greed, power over others, apathy, etc.)

I have found that it is a powerful schema that changes the pray-er (as opposed to trying to change God) and invites us to: challenge our motivations, purposes and reactions;  seek simplicity; remain humble.

In addition to Jesus’ words I have always loved the simple formula of “Help, Thanks, Wow” from Anne Lamott. She says that when we don’t know what else to say we can “be honest, be grateful, be amazed and tell God about it…”

Taken together, our readings today offer us a consideration of our words during Lent.

May we pause more often to think of what words we say to others and what that sets in motion in their lives. May we pause more often to think of what words we say to ourselves and what that sets in motion in our lives. And may we pause to think of what words we say to God and what that sets in motion in the world.

And may we pause and take note when God speaks words to us.