I keep hearing this phrase “speaking over” someone.  And before you jump to conclusions, it is not what I do on a regular basis when someone else is talking.  In the most traditional of senses it’s the rude interjection to essentially cover up what someone else is trying to say. 

The phrase in the context that I have heard it recently has much more to do with talking about people.  I know I posted about gossip yesterday and today I’m still on this talking about people thing but it bears duplicating posts.

When you speak a something you know about a person, those words contain power.  Studies have shown in the past that a teachers expectation of a student, to some degree, can dictate that particular students achievements.  If you treat them as if they are a success waiting to happen, they are statistically more likely to be successful.  And the converse is true.  People will generally rise, or fall, to the level your expectations.

How does that connect?

If we “speak over” a person as to their inability to do certain things, they may never attain the ability to do those things because the power in our words has influenced them about their own abilities. 

If we “speak over” them about their ability to do succeed at something, they just might achieve it.  This sounds an awful lot like a high school motivational speaker, and maybe this is what it is.  But as a people and as a church we have to be very aware of the things we say about people.  Much more than gossip, truthful matters can be harmful. 

Someones misdeeds of their past can quickly become their future if we tell them thats exactly who they are.  If we take a minute to realize that those misdeeds should not characterize them throughout the rest of their lives, we might be less likely to label them as such. 

We should take a moment to ban the words disorganized, jerk, know-it-all, sarcastic, dumb, etc. from daily use.  We should keep them out of our mouths daily.  Our words can become someones direction.

I just finished mastering a CD from my church’s multi-track recorder.  We implemented this several months ago and I’m still learning new tricks on this piece of equipment.  I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of this church and all the things they are doing.  The part that really blows my mind is that this is the same church I grew up in.

I say it’s the same church, but really it’s only the same building.  The church is now a vibrant and growing body of Christ.  Before when I was a child it was merely in a holding pattern.  As we all grew up and moved in our separate directions the church dwindled in attendance.

There have been a few staples that have carried over from that era but in reality as the church has grown it has taken on a whole new image.  No longer the church with impotent leadership and stale worship, it has grown in Christ to a new focus.

The new focus is on God himself.  I remember as a child being involved in a lot of fun activities in the church, but the real meat of Christianity escaped us.  Partly because of our own immaturity in Christ and partly because of ineffective leadership.

But the new.  The new is merely just a focus on what God would have us be.  Not to be a growing church and not concentrating on just trying to keep the doors open.  We merely ask to be the church that is needed in our community and be the people that God calls us to be.  As long as we maintain that focus I don’t see how we can ever falter.

Because we are no longer looking to the members to keep it alive.  We are looking to God to guide us in the way he would have us go.  And with that comes a level of discomfort for everyone involved.  I say discomfort because when you truly ask God to make you into who he would have you be, it is often diametrically opposed to who you want to be.  We have to make choices that would be easier to follow the worldly path.

I know that I fail every day, but if God is truly at the helm of this ship, we will never be lost.