Words fail me… but here is how one person (the translator, Paul Gerhardt) attempted to express his awe, his wonder, his deep gratitude at God’s gift of JESUS CHRIST:
O Sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown:
How pale Thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn,
How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior; ‘Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor, Assist me with Thy grace.
What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, Dearest Friend?
For this, Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end.
O, make me Thine forever, And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never out-live my love to Thee!
* * * * *
My first language is English. English, as all native speakers know, is filled with exceptions (and this statement itself is an understatement). These exceptions – which we native-speakers use all of the time – give “conniption fits” to non-native speakers! I am so thankful to have been born into an English-speaking family, for I don’t think I would have made a very good student of English as a Second Language (ESL). When I was in junior high, all seventh graders were required to take a year of Spanish. The class met all of once, or perhaps twice, a week. Unfortunately, I am limited to a few strategic words and phrases: Si. Si, si. Buenas Dias. Manana. And there you have it. (A bit embarrassing to admit.) One of these days I plan to do Spanish via audio CD, since I’m an aural learner… Manana! (Apologies for not figuring out how to put the tilde over the first “n”.)
My next language is…a language from childhood I learned from two older siblings: “Chico”. (I’ve actually never seen it in writing, but that is how it is pronounced.) The three of us spoke it around the house, in the backyard while playing, while riding in the car, when swimming at the beach and everywhere else we went (true language “immersion”). Some of our family had no clue what we were saying, nor even wanted to acknowledge that we were very definitely communicating! One of our parents knew what we said. One of our parents thought it was probably gibberish. During those days I learned (from the non-Chico-understanding parent) that it is highly impolite to exclude others from conversations by speaking a foreign language, unless one is willing to interpret, or to provide an interpreter, so as to not leave out/exclude others. In other words we needed to limit our “fun” of speaking this language when others were around, so that they would not feel left out. (There is, btw, a huge lesson in that concept for the 21st century church, but that is not the focus of this blog post.)
I picked up snippets of German from another sibling. Then attended a high school whose only “foreign language” was… Koine Greek. (Go figure.) Side lesson: Never doubt that God can use every skill, every class, every ability ~ learned or natural ~ that He has given or provided you, all to make “connections” for Him to other people, and in a variety of ways! Someone reading this today needs to hear/read those words. You have studied, are taking, or have taken some class that has seemed/feels meaningless. Please, may I encourage you with these words, this thought, regarding that class, or – that life experience? Please, dear brother, please, dear sister, Hold out for God! HE is the great Connection-Maker, or… the “Mad Networker” (as one of you has stated so well). Whether it’s your “weird class”, “frustrating life experience”, “one-of-a-kind situation”, “physical infirmity that daily, hourly, constantly brings you pain, aches, and to a point of constant reliance upon God’s strength, God’s grace” ~ there is not one of these things that God can NOT use. There is not one of these situations that He can NOT multiply to “feed” others, all in your brokenness, all in your frustration, all in your discomfort. But! That, too, is a side-bar…)
Hold out for God!
Later I took French. I was so not good at it. (Another gross understatement.) And this, despite having a relative fluent in French. I could only long for the days of “Chico” from my childhood, when I could actually communicate my thoughts. My true “second language” is Japanese. Part of my life experience includes serving as a technical translator/interpreter of that language. It is, by the way, a language very “fun” to learn for those who have taken and enjoyed Koine Greek, for the combined written/sound aspect (i.e., the “phonemic” aspect, for those of you interested) of Japanese (but here, again, I greatly digress; forgive me).
Never doubt that God can use every skill, every class, every ability ~ learned or natural ~ that He has given or provided you, all to make “connections” for Him.
A good friend of mine, who has a graduate degree in linguistics (and who I occasionally tease about being an undercover agent — though she is not at all!), speaks Russian, German, Spanish, and Kyrghiz, in addition to her native English. We have had many conversations regarding languages, words, sounds, and cultures, as you may imagine. But none of these languages – no word in any language, ancient or modern – will ever, ever be sufficient to clearly describe my gratitude to God for His Gift of JESUS on the Cross for me, for us.
No word in any language, ancient or modern – will ever, ever be sufficient to clearly describe my gratitude to God for His Gift of JESUS on the Cross for me, for us.
And so, with the translator Paul Gerhardt, I weep as I sing these beautiful words:
What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, Dearest Friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O, make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never, out-live my love to Thee!
God’s Gift of JESUS is all of GRACE – and it’s beyond words!
Words fail me. Languages will cease. “And now abideth faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13, KJV)
p.s. A challenge: I challenge you to “plug in” the word “grace” for “love”, and “graced” for “loved” while you are reading of God’s love in the New Testament. Yes, they are two different words in the original Greek, but I think you will be interested to find how much they share a “body of meaning”: You cannot “love” a person without “gracing” them in some way. And it is difficult to grace/show grace to a person without loving them!
Wide open spaces...of God's grace! 