Stained Glass Words
by Glenn White
Christian Vocabulary
A friend of mine refers to the
Christian vocabulary as “stained glass words”. Others call it “Christianese”.
These are the words you pick up when you’re in church for a while.
Sanctification, eschatology, soteriology, hermeneutics and homiletics are a few
of the lighter ones from seminary-trained people. Then there are more common
Christian vocabulary words like holiness, righteousness, salvation, glorification
and exaltation. I don’t know about you but my brain goes into a rolling
blackout when I hear them. Can you tell I’m writing this in
Righteous?
There is nothing wrong with
these words until you write for the unchurched. For example, as a teenager if
someone said “righteous” then the next word I thought of was “brothers” as in
Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield, “The Righteous Brothers.” Okay, I’ve dated
myself a little, maybe a lot, but I hope you understand my point.
Vampires?
Avoid using stained glass words
when you’re writing to connect with unchurched people because these words can
mean something entirely different to your readers. You see, if you write, “You
can be covered by the blood,” then unchurched people may misunderstand and
think you’re talking about being attacked by a vampire or something weirder
yet. I know this may seem extreme or humorous but it’s awfully close to the
truth in our unchurched culture.
Build your own thesaurus
A good writing practice is to
take stained glass words and put them in every day words so anyone can
understand. Build your own thesaurus of stained glass words; then use your
words when you write. For example, you can write "change of mind or
heart" instead of writing "repent". When you do, you’ll find your
writing to the unchurced is more effective than ever. I know I did.
Write to the Heart
God still speaks and He speaks
to people’s hearts. Yes, you can write stories that echo His voice and you can
write to the heart without using stained glass words.
May God inspire your heart as
you write. I believe God will, as you write to inspire.
Copyright
© 2001 Glenn White