The Power of Words

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Power of Words” based on 2 Timothy 2:1-19 for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 20, 2013.   Words are holy—all words; whether we are making up a shopping list, making conversation with an acquaintance, praying in the name of Jesus, reading the prophet Jeremiah or writing a letter to our congresswoman. But words are also vulnerable to corruption, twisted into blasphemies, trivialized into gossip. 

Because God has chosen speech as the means for His action and revelation, when we speak, a mysterious power is attached to what we say. When our words are not connected with the Eternal Word, a misuse or abuse of the power of our words is likely.
    Jacques Ellul, The Humiliation of the Word 

The Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 31:27-34

Psalm 119:97-104

2 Timothy 2:1-19

Luke 18:1-8