Dear Friends,
Thanks for your response to my comments about our Sunday service candle lighting. The feedback was helpful. I was moved by your sensitivity. It’s a way of living our affirmation: ‘To seek the truth in love,’
Your candor and suggestions are appreciated.
One person smilingly said, “Be bold.” I smiled back.
It made me think back to elementary school, when our wonderful first-grade teacher, Mrs. Harrington, told us not to ‘be bold.’ Being bold was frowned upon, and even a punishable offense. It was in the same category as what we used to call being ‘fresh.’ Impudent.
It’s one thing to have the courage to speak up and tell the truth, your truth, even when it’s not likely to be received well. It’s another thing to be insolent.
“How over that same door was likewise writ,
Be bold, be bold, and everywhere Be bold
Another iron door, on which was writ,
Be not too bold.” Edmund Spencer, The Faerie Queen
So there we have it, two doors, the two sides of being bold. On the one hand it’s about being courageous, fearless, daring, dauntless, unafraid, valiant, lionhearted, stouthearted, resolute, and frank — some of the words listed under bold in my synonym finder.
The book of Proverbs (28:1) says, “The righteous are bold as a lion.” Shakespeare says, “Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.” Measure for Measure
Then there’s the other side of the bold coin, the negative side, described with words like, ‘defiant, rash, foolhardy, rude, impertinent and immodest.’ Bold!
When the Fox was teaching The Little Prince how to tame him, he told him to, “Sit down there in the grass, a little distance from me and I’ll look at you out of the corner of my eye, and say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstanding.”
I’m preparing a sermon on some of the religious words that often cause misunderstanding. I’m thinking of words like God, prayer, faith, church, chalice, spirituality and salvation.
What words stick in your craw? What words do you miss? Let me know and I’ll include them in the sermon. Be bold.
Cheers,
Frank
