Pick Your Pronouns

 

Do you remember all the hubbub surrounding picking your pronouns? I think those days are gone for a while, but who knows? What is it to picking a pronoun?

He

She

It

We

They – I am they. I remember long ago, Louis Wilson, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, once said, “I am they.” It was in response to Marines saying, “They say do this. They say do that.”  Wilson said, “I am they.”

Why stop at pronouns? There’s more action in verbs. I think the Christian might be more interested in verbs.

Go

Make

Baptize

Teach

Pray

Study

Believe

Trust

Obey

Give

Live

Love

If we have eyes to see, we will have a verb or two for every situation we encounter. We will put his words into practice.

But I can’t leave out the nouns.

Faith, hope, and love are good ones, though they have some verb blood in them as well.

Peace

Joy

Patience—though the adjective form—patient—let’s us combined it with some of our nouns. Let’s try hope. We have patient hope.

Suffering. That’s never a favorite, though after last week’s message, maybe it should be if it brings us to godly repentance.

And then there are those words that seem to cover more than one category. They are qualities. Let’s start with trust.  It’s noun and verb but it is essential to our growth. Trust!

When coupled with obey, it’s a great hymn and a powerful combination. What other qualities?

Kindness.

Gentleness.

Compassion.

Teachable. It’s an adjective, but it is also a quality we must have to continue our growth in grace. We must be teachable.

Worthy. There’s a good one. Only Jesus was and is worthy. He is worthy, but we are to live a life worthy of the calling that we have received.

Holy. We are to be holy as God is holy. It is our target. Be holy as God is holy.

I’m going to put two regular words together and make them extraordinary.

I am.

I am. Take that simple pronoun and add a very short verb, and you get a powerful sentence.  How did God tell Moses to identify who sent him?

With the words, “I am sent me.” I am. Remember, Jesus rebuking the self-righteous religious leaders.  Before anyone that you hold in high esteem in your history, “I am.”

Who sent you? “I am sent me.” Two powerful words.

Did you know that when you introduce yourself to someone, God’s name precedes yours?

I am Joe. I am Sue. I am Billy Bob. I am woman hear me roar. Sorry, Hellen Ready kept coming on the radio this week.

This was a fun little rabbit trail but I hope you take this away. We don’t spend a lot of time picking our pronouns. We choose all of our words wisely—nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and more.

No, we will not diagram sentences this morning, but don’t give up hope. That might come before the end of the year.

Choose your words. God chose you to be his own. Now we choose our response to that love. Part of that response includes the words that we choose and the words that we use.

We are closing in on the part of Paul’s letter where he tells us to take every thought captive. For now, be deliberate in choosing your vocabulary, especially that which you share with others.

Amen.