Language is complicated and fluid, meanings of words change over time.  Meaning is determined in context, and contexts are not always that easy to define.  Back in the days when I was an engineer, many reports and conversations would begin with the call to 'define your terms'.  What do you mean by 'x' and is it the same thing that I mean by it?

This morning I am mulling over some ideas for the sermon, and have become very aware of the contextual nature of so many of the words and concepts to which I might refer.  Not that this isn't always the case, but somehow it feels more so today, possibly because of some of what I am mulling, and my own, inevitable, interpretation of words and phrases which may, or may not, accord with those of others.

I have some ideas for the sermon - not the ones I had when I began the series, it has to be admitted - but I am not yet sure how best to explore and express them.  Even so, words are the comparatively easy part - the real challenge is how I translate my words into deeds.

A number of conversations in the last week or so have given me lots to contemplate (and I'm grateful for that) and part of the challenge lies, I think, in the definition of terms and neither projecting my aspirations into statements nor deluding myself that things are other than they are, or appear to others to be.

So, whilst I don't really like not having any words written down yet, I am allowing the ideas to swirl around a while longer, trusting that what emerges might be whatever it is God would have me express.