“Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.”
E. B. White, as quoted in Microstyle
I love language. Love. It.
I’m fascinated by what language can accomplish, intrigued by what we can do with words and by what words can do to/with us. There’s music in the spoken word, art in the written word, dance in the signed word. In words I test and examine my faith, turn it around and reshape it, build a ladder out of consonants and vowels to try to get to God, listen for the vibration of syllables that resonate in my soul. I just … yeah, I seriously geek out over language.
Marketing consultant & linguist Christopher Johnson wrote in his book Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little, “When people relax and get playful with language, they dip their toes into poetry without even knowing it” (134). I feel the same way about faith and the Church: when we relax, when we shake loose our shoulders that have been drawn high to our ears in tension over orthodoxy and salvation and institutional survival, when we smile and play and wonder, then we begin to make poetry in our spirits and in our faith communities.
Scrolling through the recent posts around our blogging community — in these days when pastors are fatigued but digging deep to craft a meaningful Advent/Christmas season; in these days when the world’s fears are incited continually by politicians; in these days when the open wound of racism continues to take its toll on Black and brown bodies — I found in my scrolling that the poetry & playfulness of blogpost titles were a boon to the spirit. The lilt of alliteration. The juxtaposition of words. The suggestion of a story. Titles that tease and titles that think. Words that invite and words that dream.
Maybe the word thing is just me. Yet I pray this feast of words will shake loose your stressed & weary spirit:
How to Talk Back to Jesus and Win
Life Lessons from a Scout Labradoodle
It’s Not Really about the Waffles After All…
Have a blogpost title of your own that particularly pleases you? Have some dancing words to share? Join the festival and share your blogpost link in the comments!
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