The Power of Metaphor, An Observation

In his book, "Blue Like Jazz" Don Miller said he was invited by a friend to attend a lecture at Westmont College given by Greg Spence, who was a communications professor. The lecture was about the power of metaphor.

Spencer asked the group what metaphors they think of when they think about the disease, cancer. The response was interesting.

We battle cancer, we fight cancer, we rebuild white blood cell count in our struggle with cancer.

The point was that all these are also war metaphors. The effect of these metaphors on cancer patients is not always good. These words increase the sense of burden on the cancer patient, They become frightened and fear detracts from treatment and recovery. What cancer patients think about cancer affects their ability to deal with the disease. It becomes more traumatic than it needs to be. The fear is unnecessary because most people actually survive the disease.

At this point, Spencer got more serious. He asked what metaphors come to mind when they consider the word 'relationship'.

People said things like: we value people or we invest in people or a certain relationship is bankrupt, or my favorite, people are priceless.

These are all economic metaphors. Odd no? What about love?

It seems that we look at relationship in terms of a commodity to be traded or withheld until the price is right. We do this by giving or withholding approval and love.

As Don observes in his book, the church does this all the time. We use love like money to build or suspend or deny relationship with each other. It sucks. Is not Christian love supposed to be unconditional?

All of this came in the same chapter with Don's stories about living with hippies in the woods, attending a Unitarian church and working in a conservative baptist youth camp. He talked about how much he enjoyed living with the hippies and going to church with the liberals because they did not judge him. He was free to be a Christian and hold his beliefs as long as he was willing to tolerate their points of disagreement. On the other hand, he was expected to tow the line at the youth camp in his personal appearance, his speech and what he thought. Ostracism was always just in reach. He felt shunned for a bit after he first arrived. They even sent someone to tell him to shave, get a hair cut and shower.

Why are we like this? If we want to grow the church and expand the Kingdom, why are we so adamant about forcing people to conform to all our points of view and traditions of music and dress and whether we can dance or speak in a meeting of the body of Christ?

I confess that I do this. I want you to agree with me and do things the way I do them. I would like to think that I am not that way. I enjoy a spirited discussion. I get a bit animated sometimes when I feel strongly about an issue, but I hope I don't reject you because you disagree with me.

The bottom line is that love and relationship are not commodities. We should not treat them that way. Our friends are not who we want them to be. They are just who they are as God made them. The only One we need to conform to is Jesus Christ. I bet He almost never took a shower or shaved.