In the first video from our parish study of the Gospel of John, the narrator, Clifford Yeary, reminds us that until recent times, words were understood to be audible, not visual. He explains:

“When you and I think of the world of words, we quite often conjure up the image of open books in our imagination, with pages and pages of creamy white paper etched with dense lines of inky black text. But until the advent of the printing press, for most human beings, words would not be associated with paper or anything else that could be seen. Words were invisible. You could hear them but never see them. And they always came directly from a person. There were never words without the immediate personal presence of the speaker.”

Then Yeary led an exercise asking us to place a hand in front of our mouths and talk. We could feel the breath of our words against our fingers.

Quoting Genesis and John’s Gospel, he reminded us that God created the world by speaking it into existence and that Jesus transmitted the Holy Spirit to the apostles by breathing on them. He is making the point that our words have power too, not just in their meaning, but in their presence in our environment. When we speak, the entity of our words exit our mouths and travel out to the world to be physically and emotionally experienced. They carry the meaning and the weight of how they are expressed: in anger, jest, truth, lies, love… We have all walked into rooms where no one is speaking yet we feel the tension of angry words in the air. We recognize some homes that feel relaxed and peaceful, while others feel strained and sad.

So now let us envision the words we are speaking today as they roll off our tongue. We don’t know how long they last or how far they go, but what if the angry words we spit at our spouse, child, or neighbor tinge our atmosphere indefinitely impacting strangers near and far? Accordingly, what if our compassionate and love language spread and endured as well?

It is something to think about.

Scripture: This week, read John 20:22. What is it saying to you?

Call to Action: This week, before we speak, let’s consider if our words are worthy of being added to the world’s atmosphere.