Sesquipedalianism, sterkte, and trek

(http://tinyurl.com/q7n4ocg)
"I find gregarious pedantism unnecessary in the utilization of Socartic didacticism."

"Well, I find your vocabularious way of speaking irritating."

I must admit to a weakness for the habit of Sesquipedalianism.  It feels so satisfying to be able to compact a richness of meaning into one word, but go too far and you come out the other side in the land of sesquipedalianism.

Institutional religion, be it Chirstianity, Hindu, Atheist (which in my book is a religion because it takes as much faith as any other), or any other faith, is beset with the problem of sesquipedalianism.  It encourages an inbred isolationist culture of insiders against the mass (pun intended) of the ignorant.  The jargon of religious insider trading stratifies the church culture and reinforces an unspoken oligarchy within the supposed religious equality.

See!  I've just been caught by sesquipedalianism.

Instead, contrast that with words that have real packed meaning.  Take for example the Afrikaans word "Sterkte".  It packs a hug, encouragement, good wishes, prayer, empathy, and support all into one little word.  If you know the language and you meet a fellow traveler suffering with troubles, "Sterkte" is the voice of support.  In English all one has to say is "good luck" ... how pathetic is that!  And what about Greek?  Four words for love - how cool is that.  In English all I can say is "I love you", "I love ice cream", "I love my brother", or "I love God".  Sigh.

So why can't Christians learn to communicate in words like "Sterkte"? 

Well, all we really need to do is tell our story, the grand universal story that is unique in every one of our lives.  Its the story of how I was at the brink of destruction and finally escaped the inward spiral to start on the real journey: to become what I was made to be.  Some are still in the spiral, some are in shock because they've suddenly seen the chasm, some are struggling to climb out the hole, some are taking a breather as they gaze at the future, and some are stepping over the border into a new land. 

It's a real "trek" (another one of those words loaded with meaning), but if we share our story, we are strengthened.

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