just thoughts

I often hear stories of the tragedy that the church has wrought on individuals...some person, or paticular church who has spoken in the name of God, but has actually invited hate and ignorance into the heart of some other person....so that either one or both of these people have a misunderstanding of who God is. I have always heard these stories and figured them to be true. Tried to live my own life in a way which God can use to bring healing in the lives of others. Recently, I have invested my time in a church which I believe to be overall good, and a church which is trying to live out the ways of Christ the way they know how, and understand God. The community of God's people and the way we love each other as being a direct result of the grace of God in our lives..that we in fact are one...on this journey together. When my brother is in need, then so am I. I think these are great thoughts. However, this church is also very different than what I have known before. Both churches were good....but the lingo, and some of the doctrines are a little different....and all of a sudden I begin to realize what a person on the outside might feel. The outsider....sometimes it is so engrained in us..a certain idea or belief...that we don't even realize when we speak of it..that we are in fact spitting prejudice out of our mouths. We should have strong opinions. I respect the person who does....but the way we speak of it colors so much as to the responses which can be made to it.
If I tell you that "A doctor went into surgery today and made a mistake. The lady, who was given a bad nose job, will be filing charges."
it is much different then if I say, "The incompetent surgeon botched a nose job, making the model look like Michael Jackson. She says she is suing the doctor for everything he is worth."...
hmmm, well maybe bad example...but you get the idea. The words we use express our attitude even when we don't intend for them too. Or don't realize that they are. Sometimes they suggest that anyone who has an opinion different than the standard line must be stupid. We, who are trained in rhetoric, to speak and write...are trained to argue this way. To speak and persuade others to believe us. Our choice of words can sway history.....it is why actors can become presidents, and popes celebrities. Often our language, not our ideas is what seems to shine through.
But as the church....we are not trying to gain power through our language....we do not have to prove the other wrong in order to be right. We are taught in order to gain our life we must lose it. God gives certain men the talent of speaking for a reason...but I think that we must watch our language, and make sure that in our effort to communicate....we don't try to achieve power over another. Who wins in our world is who can speak, and persuade....but we aren't trying to win....not at the expense of another's life.
*************I want to add to this post, that these are just thoughts from paticular instances. It is not something I hear from the pastors, or from my own sphere of peers.....I am pointing the finger at myself more than anyone. I know that my own church I grew up in probably did this as much or more than anybody....when people use their language to manipulate me, or get a certain reaction from me it makes me mad. I know I probably do this myself....and was thinking about feeling like the outsider, and what I might do to others to make them feel like the outsider, and how I can avoid that.