Shared Language Brings Unity
Over the years, each of our children has taken piano lessons. At one point their teacher lived across the street from us. Once a week they would gather up their lesson books and march over to Mrs. Langston’s house to receive wisdom from her fifty plus years of experience. But what if they had no lesson book, no notes to follow, no scales, no signatures, or keys? If they arrived at the weekly lesson and her instruction was along the lines of, “please play those sounds that sounded nice last time and don’t play the bad sounds.” Some people could eventually learn to play by ear (there are certainly those that do), but having a language to describe music makes it possible to teach, to work together, to get organized, and to be on the same page. So Isaac can say to the worship team “play in the key of C with a 4/4 beat” or something like that (I’m making that up, sorry music people if I butchered it!) and everyone knows what to do. As Isaac said to me this week, “In music, shared language brings unity.”
This is true of our faith as well. We don’t show up each Sunday and just spout random thoughts and words about God. We have a shared language rooted in Scripture that unites us. This is part of the reason we are going through a series of ten topics focused on what it means to know and love God. The more you know Him, the more you love Him, and the more you love Him, the more you love others (see Mark 12:30-31).
Words about our Faith
Since there are things in the Bible that are difficult to explain to others, developing concise and clear language to describe those things helps us be united in our faith. A good example of that is the Trinity. Even though the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, that small word helps us quickly describe a complex idea and summarize many verses and teachings in the Bible.
Last Sunday we launched our series by giving an overview of Theology, what it is, and why it is important. Theology is merely thoughts about God, and everyone has thoughts about God, so we really can say “you are a theologian.” This Sunday our subject for study will focus on the Trinity, which is the most central idea to our faith. One sermon could not possibly cover the breadth of the topic, but it will provide a basic understanding of something every Christian must hold dear. Not only that, but our music, our prayers, our shared declarations will all help us focus our worship on God’s revealed self to us as Trinity. Come ready to worship and praise Him!