Stretch Beyond "Churchy" Words (A Guest Post)
Melinda Quivik is an ordained ELCA pastor who has served churches in three states, including a UCC/Presbyterian congregation in Michigan. A former professor of liturgy and preaching and past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy, she is now the Editor-in-Chief of Liturgy, a mentor with Backstory Preaching, and a liturgical and homiletical scholar whose books include Worship at a Crossroads: Racism and Segregated Sundays (2023), Leading Worship Matters (2017), Serving the Word: Preaching in Worship (2009), and other publications. She has written the Scholar's View in Sundays & Seasons: Preaching for several years.
I remember listening to a sermon years ago (see how bad experiences stick with you!) in which the preacher (a newbie to preaching) repeatedly told us that God had “claimed” us in our baptism.
My thoughts ran wild.
“Claimed”?
Like when you get a ticket for checking your coat at the museum?
Like when you insist that something is true to an officer of the law (“she claimed the other car rear-ended her pickup”)?
“Claimed” as in: the accident claimed his life?
As in: what is your claim to fame?
I knew I was not allowed to raise my hand in church to ask for clarification, and because of that, the entire point was lost on me.
I needed to know why my baptism mattered, if that was the claim.
Churchy Words Hide Your Meaning
Watch out for churchy words.
They confiscate your meaning.
They railroad the path to Jesus.
Here are some churchy words used in a sentence:
'save: You are saved.
righteous: The righteous will inherit the kingdom.
grace: God’s grace has saved you.
glory: Give glory to God.
sin: Go and sin no more.
faith: Have faith.
and on and on…
These are the words that whisper a not very hidden secret:
Only the initiated can understand these ideas.
OR
These ideas are so special that I, the preacher, have to obey the language police, adhering to particular ways of saying things even if what I’m saying is unintelligible.
Those who are not “in the know” either check out when they hear these words or they become convinced that this Christianity stuff isn’t for them, and they don’t come back next week.
How to Avoid Churchy Words and Say What You Mean
Here’s a remedy to try,
Go back through your sermon and circle any churchy words.
Write a description in normal talk that says what the churchy word means to convey.
Look for words familiar to the community of the congregation that say what that churchy word stands for.
Use your imagination.
Commit to defining any words that need description.
To be sure, it is acceptable to write the churchy words as you are drafting the sermon.
Consider them placeholders.
Then give yourself the task of replacing them.
Examples of how to replace churchy words with meaning accessible to all
Here are some examples to whet your appetite—because this is the fun part of sermon preparation! This is the joyous editing part!
Faith
If you say, “Have faith,” you mean something like:
Life is messy and confusing. We easily lose our way. But then a friend will call you on the phone to see if you’re available for lunch, and suddenly you gain a new order to your life. You get some of your old energy back. You have something to look forward to. You have a renewed sense of your worth and the world has brightened.
Glory
If you say, “to God be the glory,” you mean:
Nothing in this life has staying power beyond a certain point. We’re all going to lose our hair. It gets thin as we age and changes in color. Gets stringy. Your beloved poodle will die. Pets seldom outlive us. Your savings will be depleted as you withdraw it to buy food and pay the doctor bills or treat your mother to a vacation in the Bahamas. Keeping your eyes on what doesn’t shrink away or forsake you is a necessity for sanity in this shifting landscape called life. We shower our most hearty allegiances upon those rare relationships (like the one you have with God) that have staying power. God’s portfolio is not going to get depleted. That is what makes God’s promises so delicious. Those promises have staying-power.
Claimed
If you say, “God has claimed you,” try:
Nobody knows you like the one who created you. Nobody knows your troubles. The fire that obliterated your garage right after you finished building that beautiful wooden canoe with the name you carved into the bow can never be sufficiently appreciated by someone else. But the one who molded your heart out of the dust knows well what it means to see a beloved creation turn to ash. That one knows what it means to create something just like you do. You got chosen to stand with all the other carpenters in the universe.
You can find much more suitable words than I can find for you because you know the words used by the people who listen to your sermons. You can replace the churchy words with their words.
Think of a time when a Latin or Hebrew or Greek word got explained to you so that you saw Jesus in a new way or understood something more about the meaning of belonging to others.
That is what you want your words to do for the listeners to see week after week.
Lengthen horizons, slap one idea up next to another (like the exodus with voting rights), connect the scripture’s concerns with those of the community you serve, invigorate imaginations.
Be understood.
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