la ta di da.. Christianese is not for me.

well thanksgiving was a great weekend. i finally had some time off. two whole work days! thats unheard of for me. some of you know that i have a total of 4 hours off for 2010, so i cherish every day i have off. it's okay though, i have come to terms with my paid time off and have accepted that in order to have what you think you deserve you must earn it, every last bit of it.

i spent a great deal of my time with my family. it was great. and i had no phone service out in the land of wood, so my phone was not glued to my hand, which was nice for a change.

two weeks ago, at church in lansing, the pastor used a term that stuck with me:

Christianese

and this may or may not be a made up term, i kind of think that it is, but what it means is the Christian language that we use as Christians. i am a Christian and i will be the first to admit that i absolutely dislike this language when it is being spoken TO me, and i have caught myself speaking the language, so i wont say that i havent ever done it. but i will say that since i dont like conversing with others in Christianese, i try not to use it.

this language, Christianese, is used pretty much when a Christian is talking with someone who is hurting or doesn't believe in God, or has doubts or just doesn't know God in detail. and the Christian goes off on these rants and raves about things that this other person has no clue how to relate to or understand. and i find this to be true. Christians sometimes clump together in groups because they can talk and converse about things relating to their Christian life and life style, about what was said at church, and yaddy yadda (kind of like what i am doing now, talking about things said at church :) ). but then you throw in someone who is "unlike" the group and expect them to understand and pick up on whatever the topic of discussion is... ha, good luck.

maybe its bad for me to be turned off by Christianese, because i am a Christian. but to me, I dont think its a bad thing. i think it makes me human. i try and meet others at the level they are at. and at times it is difficult, but when you can meet someone where they are at vs. trying to pull someone up to where you are, the conversation goes more smoothly. not to mention you, a Christian, might learn something too if you listen to what others are saying. excuse my use of Christianese here, but sometimes God uses us best to impact others when we just listen. enough with the yappity yap. like Hitch says "LISTEN to what she is saying".

theres some kind of quote, and i will go ahead and say that i will mess it up, but doesnt it go like

"listen to what others are saying and dont just hear them"

we hear noise all day. so i understand if it takes your every ounce of energy to really LISTEN to the doubts, and the questions and the fears and worries that other people have. and i know that if you are like me, you dont have all the answers for tough questions like "why does God LET bad things happen to people?" . if you dont know, say waht you do know and what you learned from your own experiences and go to someone who might be able to help you find the answers and get back wiht that person. the key is to get back with that person though. follow up, its the least you could do.

anyways, hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. hope i wasnt too harsh here tonight. watch out for the Christianese language. see if you ever come across it and how you react to it, or how others react to it.

la ta di da... Christianese is not for me.