Groping for Words, and Grasping Grace
From Luke 18 – 1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that man always art to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, "Get justice for me from my adversary." 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, "Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect to cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.
In this week's issue of the New Yorker magazine, Amanda Petrusich recounts touring Prince's compound of Paisley Park. It is now open as a museum, including his little inner sanctum containing such ordinary items as a microwave and a couch from which he watched Minnesota Timberwolves' games. She narrates, "It's fun to imagine Prince doing ordinary things here like unwrapping a microwave pizza, waiting impatiently for it to cook, and then getting molten cheese plastered on the roof of his mouth."
My thoughts take flight via another ordinary item she lists among his effects but lets pass without otherwise commenting, a rhyming dictionary. Professionally creative herself as a writer for an elite magazine, Petrusich probably isn't surprised that the especially gifted need help from ordinary means. As a novice in creative writing, I am. I pictured from both of them that eloquence flows without effort. Not so, apparently. Even an artist who sold approximately 100 million albums needed to persist from time to time. The one or two words he had at the ready were not always enough.
Prince kept a Bible right beside that rhyming dictionary. I have no idea what his heart toward that Book was. For many artists through the ages, it is just another reference, albeit one with the range to touch the timeless and the contemporary. Even so, it will surprise none of my coterie of readers that experiencing his environment with Petrusich turns my thoughts to recent experience in God's Word.
Jesus opens Luke 18 with a little story, and Dr. Luke is professionally honest with his patients about the intended effect of the prescription. The Great Physician wishes to teach us to persist in prayer. He has us picture a lady who wants to get justice badly enough that she is willing to pester an unrighteous judge. Then He says, if she can keep up this effort toward such an unpromising target, surely My Father has you persevering in prayer for a reason.
Luke's orderly mind and words then seem to address another presenting problem. He follows the Lord Jesus to confronting pride. Is pride really a separate disease, or even a separate symptom? Or, is Christ, Wonderful, Counselor, and Great Physician all, leading us from multiple angles to see the nature of the same sin sickness? We fail to persist in prayer, perhaps, because we fail to account for pride's impact on those who pray, those who think they would write, and those who think they would fashion lyrics – all if inspiration would come and abide more easily.
We want one word immediately available, or phrase at most, by which we can move our audience or our Audience. In truth, we want to harness magic to do our bidding. Instead, what God has designed is usually time-lapse conviction, time-lapse sanctification, and time-lapse testimony that will often over years and decades rather than instant epiphanies allow us to convey Him more exactly because He has been faithful to spend time with us as we use the wrong words for the wrong purposes, and gradually started to grope for better in both.
Now, if he trusted Christ the Word made flesh at the center of that Bible on his shelf, Prince knows as he is known. One day, even the most tongue-tied or plainspoken of us will also. Meanwhile, as He tarries with us, delighting like the perfect Parent in our words and phrases so far from perfect, we celebrate the reality of the biting with him which none of us can exactly render in Earthly prose.
6 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect to cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.
In this week's issue of the New Yorker magazine, Amanda Petrusich recounts touring Prince's compound of Paisley Park. It is now open as a museum, including his little inner sanctum containing such ordinary items as a microwave and a couch from which he watched Minnesota Timberwolves' games. She narrates, "It's fun to imagine Prince doing ordinary things here like unwrapping a microwave pizza, waiting impatiently for it to cook, and then getting molten cheese plastered on the roof of his mouth."
My thoughts take flight via another ordinary item she lists among his effects but lets pass without otherwise commenting, a rhyming dictionary. Professionally creative herself as a writer for an elite magazine, Petrusich probably isn't surprised that the especially gifted need help from ordinary means. As a novice in creative writing, I am. I pictured from both of them that eloquence flows without effort. Not so, apparently. Even an artist who sold approximately 100 million albums needed to persist from time to time. The one or two words he had at the ready were not always enough.
Prince kept a Bible right beside that rhyming dictionary. I have no idea what his heart toward that Book was. For many artists through the ages, it is just another reference, albeit one with the range to touch the timeless and the contemporary. Even so, it will surprise none of my coterie of readers that experiencing his environment with Petrusich turns my thoughts to recent experience in God's Word.
Jesus opens Luke 18 with a little story, and Dr. Luke is professionally honest with his patients about the intended effect of the prescription. The Great Physician wishes to teach us to persist in prayer. He has us picture a lady who wants to get justice badly enough that she is willing to pester an unrighteous judge. Then He says, if she can keep up this effort toward such an unpromising target, surely My Father has you persevering in prayer for a reason.
Luke's orderly mind and words then seem to address another presenting problem. He follows the Lord Jesus to confronting pride. Is pride really a separate disease, or even a separate symptom? Or, is Christ, Wonderful, Counselor, and Great Physician all, leading us from multiple angles to see the nature of the same sin sickness? We fail to persist in prayer, perhaps, because we fail to account for pride's impact on those who pray, those who think they would write, and those who think they would fashion lyrics – all if inspiration would come and abide more easily.
We want one word immediately available, or phrase at most, by which we can move our audience or our Audience. In truth, we want to harness magic to do our bidding. Instead, what God has designed is usually time-lapse conviction, time-lapse sanctification, and time-lapse testimony that will often over years and decades rather than instant epiphanies allow us to convey Him more exactly because He has been faithful to spend time with us as we use the wrong words for the wrong purposes, and gradually started to grope for better in both.
Now, if he trusted Christ the Word made flesh at the center of that Bible on his shelf, Prince knows as he is known. One day, even the most tongue-tied or plainspoken of us will also. Meanwhile, as He tarries with us, delighting like the perfect Parent in our words and phrases so far from perfect, we celebrate the reality of the biting with him which none of us can exactly render in Earthly prose.
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