Today's PAYG was a familiar New Testament story - Jesus healing a man of a spirit that had rendered him mute, and those who saw this accusing Jesus of driving out evil spirits in the power of Satan/Beelzebub.  What struck me was not the idea of literally muteness but rather that of metaphorical muteness - of having no voice, of being unable to speak up or out.

One possible understanding of the man's condition would be what is nowadays called 'selective mutism' whereby a person ceases to speak, usually as a result of trauma.  And that was what sparked my train of thought really.  Not just people who literally cease to speak, but people and groups who cease to speak up or speak out, who cease to particpate in the 'dialogue' of life or society because it has proved too traumatic, too painful, too costly.

It made me think about the contexts where I fall silent and fail to speak the truths that matter to me, and why that is - insecurity, lack of confidence, fear of rejection and so on.

In the story, Jesus gave the man back his voice, he was able to speak.  It is a story of liberation as much, if not more, than one of healing.  It is not necessarily the case that the man's vocal chords were repaired or his larynx renewed, maybe he was just released from being extremely tongue-tied, given permission and confidence to articulate his thoughts, freed from the binding of fear, anixety, guilt or trauma that had silenced him.

So, if we as the church are meant to continue the work of Jesus, how do we give voice to those who cannot speak?  Not, how can we speak on their behalf, though that is valauble as a step along the way, but how can we free them, empower them, to speak for themselves?

I guess if we did that the 'powers that be' might not be so keen, might think that we are involved in some kind of 'dark arts' giving speech to 'those people'.  Maybe afterall, we need first to be set free ourselves, healed of our own selective mutism, and only then can we do the same for others.

PAYG posed the question, 'what do you think the first thing you would say might be if you were the man?'  I think that's a REALLY good question to mull over, and as i discover my own anwer, it may shape the way I relate to other people.