What is God? Luther uses 11 words.

I was flipping through my copy of Luther’s Small Catechism and came across  Martin Luther’s answer to the question, “What is God?”

Luther answers, God is… eternal (without beginning or end), unchangeable, omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere), holy (sinless), just (fair and impartial), faithful (keeping his promises), benevolent (good, kind, desiring our welfare), merciful (full of pity), and gracious (showing undeserved kindness, forgiving). Each attribute is accompanied by Biblical citations to back up his answer.

As I thought about these descriptions of God, I was glad that my version of Luther’s Small Catechism included the synonyms for Luther’s words. We use these words so often in our worship, liturgy, and discussions that I think we sometimes loose some of their meaning. Sometimes it feels like we are speaking a language of a by-gone era.

Not many people today speak using the words omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Even the word “benevolent” seems like a word reserved for use by church groups, tax accountants, or charity organizations. We use the word “just” mainly in regard to our legal system, but ask any kid and he’ll look at you like you’ve grown two heads… “just is just a word that doesn’t mean anything” when what he means to say is that it is an adverb that means “simply.”

This question has me thinking about more of the words we use in church and how strange they must sound to the un-churched.

When I write our church newsletter, I try to remember to describe some of those church-y words like “narthex” or lobby, “sanctuary” or church, “sacristry” or kitchenette where we prepare the “eucharist” or Holy Communion, or bread and wine if we really need to boil it down. Altar preparation has another whole set of vocabulary that I won’t get into here, but if you volunteer for the altar guild you’ll need to know.

I’m glad St. Andrew does make the attempt to explain our church-lingo, but it also is nice to have a set of words that help to set these sacred places apart from the rest of the world.

Our communion table is not just a table, but an altar.

Our children are baptized in a font, not just a bowl of water.

These are special things, sacred things. They are separate from the world. They belong to a place for God.

So maybe instead of dumbing it down, we need to focus on educating people up. Not in a holier-than-thou kind of way, but in a “these are the words we use to take the ordinary, and make them extra-ordinary for God and His people” kind of way.

We need to show how our eternal, unchangeable, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, just, faithful, benevolent, merciful, and gracious God takes the common things among us, including you and me, and makes them holy, sacred and special to Him.

Luther makes one final note at the end of his answer.  "God is love."  1 John 4:8

We are sanctified (made holy or sinless) just/simply by His Grace (undeserved kindness and forgiveness)...because He loves us.

Amen.

What church words do you think we need to do a better job of describing?  What are your favorite church words that set something apart as special for God?

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