at Hermosa Beach, California, late December 2020.
• Five Minute Friday :: Face Linkup
When I teach, read, write (or consider in any sense) the Apostle Paul's epistles – maybe especially the ones scholars consider genuine or undisputed – I almost always remind myself and everyone else that as we read words printed on the page, "we don't have the voice; we don't have the face."
When we read a text or an email, even one from someone we know well, possibly a friend or colleague we just had lunch or another meeting with a couple of hours ago, we still "don't have the voice or the face" that well may have changed since we last saw each other face-to-face. Besides, the topic may be different.
And that means? A spoken word carries meaning and inflection far beyond the letters that form words that make sentences that sometimes create paragraphs that attempt to communicate to some degree. Or sometimes attempt to obscure communication with different kinds of double-speak, triple-speak, with unspoken subtext or subtexts.
Beyond a voice and enhancing communication even more, there's a person's face with all kinds of possible expressions that interpret the words they're saying. Sad. Happy. Angry. Puzzled. Hopeful. Aggressive.
When you're face-to-face or even side-by-side, you get the best opportunity to understand and comprehend and act upon what's being said.
I love that our host Kate admitted this was almost a random prompt and she didn't have any idea what she'd write, but then she talked about wondering how she could face some situations or circumstances. Just as with words spoken alive and aloud, when you and the problem or situation face each other so you clearly can see each other, you then have a chance to know and understand and act upon or resolve the challenge. Or live with it unresolved a while longer, just as we do with some passages in Romans.
There are some people who like my sonnets, and imagine the voice and face behind the words, but they're always disappointed on meeting me; the expected refinement isn't there, and I come across as a hooligan.
ReplyDeleteThis was even true of my wife. We met online, and our first physical meeting was at an airport, when she first came to visit. The aeroplane was early, so I was late meeting her at the gate. She later confessed that on seeing me, she was tempted to flee back down the jetway, but it had been closed, and the ticket agents were gone.
Glad things worked out the way they did.