The title I chose for this blog, rhema (ῥῆμα), is a Greek word meaning “saying, utterance, spoken word” and is found in the earliest manuscripts of the Bible, referring to the revealed or inspired words of God (1 Peter 1:25), impressed upon the spirit of the receiver by the Holy Spirit (whoever has ears, let them hear). Rhema is also used to describe the revelation of the teachings of Jesus received by his disciples, whereas Jesus himself—the materialization or personification of God’s reasoned, spoken word (John 1:1)—is referred to in Greek as logos (λόγος). Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle used rhema to identify the resulting action or spirit of communication as distinct from the reasoned expression itself (logos) and further still from the subjective experience (orona).
Edward de Bono, a psychologist and author who teaches on the disciplines and methodologies of thinking, wrote: “Studies have shown that 90% of error in thinking is due to error in perception. If you can change your perception, you can change your emotion and this can lead to new ideas.” In the Biblical gospel accounts, Jesus repeatedly calls us to listen more closely. Rarely does anyone profit from the results of hasty assumptions, and yet we are all quick to jump to inaccurate, unhelpful, unjust, or blatantly selfish conclusions at various levels of consciousness; thus more care and intention is needed in the way we perceive communication. This calls not necessarily for more listening, but listening of a totally different, transformed quality.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
— Romans 12:2 • NASB
To respond to this need in my own life, I created this space as part of the exploration of improving my own perception in communication with God and with others. Whereas Greek philosophers were concerned with reasoning as a means of reaching solutions to arguments, I am more interested in going beyond reason to the heart of the matter, which is the heart of God manifest in the heart of every human being. As a young student hungry for knowledge with which to impress my peers, I was once interested in semantics for its own sake; but I have found such to be fruitless. I now try better to be attentive, listening and responding to others with a transformed mind and an actively engaged heart, searching out not only what is being said, but invested into the entire process of what is being meant — for those connections are the most meaningful and productive.
I love to follow and study the life of Jesus, from whom I have learned the most challenging lessons, through his parables and paradoxes. Perhaps the greatest irony of life consists in attempting to live out his call to the perfection and wholeness of God our Father, in spite of the certainty of human failure and total dependence upon Him. I choose to face this call with the courage to “fail forward” and grow by attending to the presence of His Holy Spirit, and along the way I seek to share my reverence and inspiration, hoping that it points others to His bottomless source of grace.
Across multiple disciplines (designing, writing, composing), my best initial efforts are often very sloppy. To follow up with iterations, prototypes, and testing always requires a humility and a willingness to turn back and address wrong judgment and poor perceptions. I have done my best learning in repentance and surrender, so all of my accomplishments have their foundations not in my own effort, but in the work of Christ on the cross, and the reason I am alive to tell about it.
I welcome your interest and participation in these discussions.
