In Psalm 19, the Psalmist speaks about the limitations of words, and how messages of God's glory can be communicated without the limitations of words, and that the knowledge of God transcends speech and voice and language. That's humbling and yet comforting to realize. As a writer, I'm very aware of the power of words, yet that they are a mere shadow of the reality I'm trying to portray. I'm also aware that language is a very human exercise, and even with all the new media out there that provides instant communication, we are still limited by words. Interesting then, that this Psalm ends with more words about words, a benediction for today: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Let the words...
Psalms 19, 20. Today's reading is partly about words and speech and communication, something I do for a living as well as for fun. For the past two years I've been working on this word quilt, which is pieced but not quilted. It is my lament on the limitations of words: words fail me. (You can click on the image to make it bigger, and then you will see that each letter is made from fabric printed with words.)
In Psalm 19, the Psalmist speaks about the limitations of words, and how messages of God's glory can be communicated without the limitations of words, and that the knowledge of God transcends speech and voice and language. That's humbling and yet comforting to realize. As a writer, I'm very aware of the power of words, yet that they are a mere shadow of the reality I'm trying to portray. I'm also aware that language is a very human exercise, and even with all the new media out there that provides instant communication, we are still limited by words. Interesting then, that this Psalm ends with more words about words, a benediction for today: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."
In Psalm 19, the Psalmist speaks about the limitations of words, and how messages of God's glory can be communicated without the limitations of words, and that the knowledge of God transcends speech and voice and language. That's humbling and yet comforting to realize. As a writer, I'm very aware of the power of words, yet that they are a mere shadow of the reality I'm trying to portray. I'm also aware that language is a very human exercise, and even with all the new media out there that provides instant communication, we are still limited by words. Interesting then, that this Psalm ends with more words about words, a benediction for today: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."
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First of all, I love your quilt. Love, love, love it, in fact. I love words and marvel at their power. I am a born communicator and I love words. I love quilts, too.
ReplyDeleteI have been following your blog, as you might know. I am listening and thinking about what you have to say. I am at a spiritually sluggish time of my life and your blog is a ray of light to me. Although I am affiliated with a church, I am currently on a path of personal spiritual definition. I enjoy your point of view in that it is personal and reflects the context of your life right now.
I wanted you to know that someone is listening to you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and precious time.
I love your writing. AWJ
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing - I think I might have at least the reading of the blogs for this project under control!!! OK so what's the difference between my computer at work and the one at home. If this gets through I really will believe in miracles!!! Joyce
ReplyDeletePsalm 19 is the perfect psalm for a wordsmith like you. I find the parallelism in the concluding verse interesting. If the heart is the centre of morality, then parallelling "the words of my mouth" and "the meditation of my heart" means I should be a lot more cautious about what I say.
ReplyDeleteIPF