Church bulletin for August
Prayer was answered for my trip to NZ. I arrived back as planned on July 20 – kept safe while travelling and blessed by the ministry and fellowship of some wonderful Christians. NZ is certainly a beautiful place. No debilitating summers; no possibility of brown snakes in the back yard; endless miles of breathtaking scenery. There is however the constant threat of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. So while it’s beautiful across the ditch, it isn’t paradise. The accent also tests one’s endurance. The Kiwi accent (or as they would say, iccent) is most evident in the vowels. “Thit is a bug hit”……. “that is a big hat”.
Anyway I managed to survive and didn’t need to preach through a translator. Accents have long fascinated me. Growing up with English parents who had friends from different parts of the UK, I was familiar with the regional accents. I could distinguish Dublin from Belfast; I could follow without much trouble Glaswegian and Geordie. It always surprised me when Australians struggled with British accents. A friend once asked a bus driver what time the bus was due to leave, he was told “noo”. After repeating the question and receiving the same answer, another passenger explained that the Scottish driver was saying “now”. It reminds us that if speech is not clear to the hearer then it is of no use. 1 Cor 14:8-9, “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? 9So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.”
There are some important lessons here as we seek to take the Gospel to those around us:
- We should know the Bible well so that we can convey it well; you can’t explain to others clearly what you don’t know yourself (Col 4:6; 1Peter 3:15).
- We should seek to explain truth in a straightforward, simple and accurate manner avoiding clichés and lofty theological language (1 Cor 2:1-5).
- We should avoid getting bogged down in digressions which cloud the central issue of salvation (1 Tim 1:4; Titus 3:9).
We don’t need to be clever, we need to be clear. “Unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.”
Andrew