Start Right Where They Are

It was an assignment in elementary school that captured me.
We were given a word with no explanation.
We were to imagine what that word might look like.
We were to draw a picture of what we imagined.

The word was Jabberwocky.
After the giggles subsided, some serious art work began.
It was amazing how one word could invoke so many different ideas.
It was thrilling to see a word that no one had heard before, come to life.

After we drew our pictures, the teacher told us that Jabberwocky was the name of a poem.
The poem was written by Lewis Carroll.
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles L. Dodgson.
He is author of the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

The teacher began to read the poem to us.
It made absolutely no sense.
It is a nonsense poem, the teacher said.
Yet for some reason, I really liked it.

It was gibberish for sure.
The words were like none I had ever heard before.
That was why I liked it; it intrigued me.
I felt as if I was listening to another language.

My own wonderful language.
A language that had to be discerned through pictures.
A language that gave me the freedom to imagine.
Nonsense perhaps, but it was terribly exciting.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
(Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll)

Once I heard the poem, I began to draw the things that stood out to me.
My Jabberwocky was a large creature.
He had many teeth, long claws, and flaming eyes.
He brandished a sword that gleamed.

My Jabberwocky rested against the Tumtum tree, which I drew as playful as possible.
Somehow, in all his nonsense words, Carroll was able to stir my imagination.
What never existed before was now a two-dimensional figure on paper.
The Jabberwocky that did not exist except in Carroll’s imagination, now had form.

We had to write a story about our Jabberwocky.
Our story and our drawings had to be bound in a book.
We had to have a large piece of cardboard in the front and the back of our book.
We had to cover our cardboard with contact paper.

I loved my Jabberwocky book.
I think it was that assignment that showed me the power of words.
Even nonsense words can bring an image to mind.
It was then that I tried to see if I could write using words people would understand.

Do you ever think about the terms we use as Christians that are nonsense words to others?
We throw terms around and think that our hearers get it.
Often, they do not understand, but they do not even know how to ask for a translation.
We unintentionally speak above their heads.

Speaking above their heads leads to frustration.
The worse case scenario is that the listener begins to imagine what those words mean.
They begin to draw mental pictures which may not accurately represent what we are saying.
When we tell someone about Jesus, we can never assume that everything we say is understood.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer was silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
(Acts 8:26-35)

Philip asked the best possible question: Do you understand what you are reading?
The danger would have been that the Word of God was simply nonsense to the eunuch.
They would have been nonsense words until someone explained the words to him.
Philip was that person for the Ethiopian eunuch.

Philip began with that very passage of Scripture.
Philip met the man right where he was.
He told him the good news about Jesus.
Philip made sure that God’s Word was explained and understood.

We cannot assume anything.
Everyone we meet is at a different level on their faith journey.
Some have no faith at all.
Some are just beginning their faith walk.

When we speak on one level and never consider our hearers, they may tune us out.
We should follow the example of Philip and meet that person right where they are.
We have to begin where they are standing.
We need to really listen to where they are in their faith journey.

Often that means going back to basics.
That is perfectly fine.
It may be a good refresher course for us who have been walking with Him for a while.
The Word of God is not nonsense; The Word of God is living and active.

We can never assume that our listeners know even the simplest Bible stories.
We cannot assume they know Jesus and all He has done for us.
We cannot assume they know their way around the Bible.
It is a privilege to be their guide.

Jabberwocky had its place in English class.
However, nonsense words have no place when we read or listen to the Word of God.
We, who are walking with Jesus, are the truth bearers.
We have the privilege of making the truth known in ways that the hearer can comprehend.

Assume nothing.
Start right where they are.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to illuminate their minds.
Thank God for the privilege of making Him known.