Why do we play with words?

Why do we like playing with words?

In every language I have studied, people like to play with words. We enjoy throwing around the humor of substituting two similar-sounding words for each other and laugh at the image it creates. We write anagrams. We play with onomatopoeia. We rhyme things (in Western languages, anyway.) We make up silly-sounding poems for our children. From the time humans begin to talk, they love to play with words. Why?

I think the main reason is because we are made in God's image. He created all things by speaking a word. The Gospel of John tells us that He is the Word. We create, to a much lesser extent, with words. God did not only create the huge serious galaxies by His word; He also created turtles and bunny rabbits and snails with eyes on flexible stems. We too can create large things, which are either blessings or curses, through words. But more often in our everyday life we can imitate the Creator by creating small decorations of humor and joy through what we say.

English often uses rhyme for enjoyment. For example, small children love the phrase "See you later, alligator! After a while, crocodile!" It is fun, not only because it rhymes, but because it is nonsensical. Once given a rhyming pattern, children love to continue the pattern by making up new phrases. One reason Dr. Seuss books were, and continue to be, popular children's literature is that they combine children's natural love for rhyme, rhythm and nonsense. Of course, it is not only children who love them!

One of the German phrases I was taught by a friend utilizes another form of play: adding letters to a word to form a word with contrasting meaning. I had commented, "I'm innocent! I'm an angel!" and he responded, "Ein Engel mit ein B bevor." "An angel with a B" becomes "Bengel," which apparently means "a naughty child."

One of my greatest joys in the Japanese language is seeing how easy it is to play with numbers and meaning. For example, a flower shop has as the four last digits of its phone number "1187." This can be read "ii hana" which means "good flowers." Another play with words I enjoyed was from an optometrist:"ai ai ai" which (if you use English meanings for the first and last words) means "I love eye." And what other country would designate 11/11 as "dogs' day" because "wan wan" (woof woof, used as the children's word for "doggie") sounds like English "one one"?

God has created us with the ability to play with words and to make the world a more enjoyable place by doing so. "The Word became human, and lived for a while among us, full of grace and truth." I think part of this grace is to bless our world not only with strong and deep words that are like majestic mountains, but also with playful words like playing kittens. He created all, and us in His image.

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

“And heaven and nature sing.” This phrase immediately draws one’s mind to Christmas. So why is it the blog title I have chosen? Because I believe that Christ’s incarnation, God-becoming-part-of-His-own-creation, is the focal point of history. Because I believe that Christ’s incarnation touches all creation. Because the incarnation of Christ was the beginning of healing for all created things. Because I am happy to be a musician, and part of the singing of all creation in praise to God-become-human, Emmanuel, God-with-us.

And heaven

In the Psalms, “heaven” or “the heavens” (ha-shamayim) refers to the part of creation we usually call the sky. It includes stars and planets and the great expanse of the universe. How does heaven sing? A few years ago, science showed that some planets have a hum, a particular vibration. In an article somewhere, it was stated that one of the planets was humming a Bb! This is reminiscent of another hymn, “All nature sings, and ‘round me rings/The music of the spheres.” In the book of Job, “the morning stars sang together for joy.”

We can also think of “heaven” as being that other realm, the place where God reigns and His will is obeyed: “on earth as it is in heaven.” Those who want to follow Christ should be daily seeking the culture of heaven in this sense. What do the angels of heaven do? They worship God. They protect us. They do God’s bidding. They also rejoice that they have the privilege of serving Him. Thus, they sing.

And nature

The contrast between “heaven” and “nature” is not, here, a distinction between uncreated and created; the heavens, the angels, the earth and all it contains are all made by God, who is distinct from them. In this hymn, “nature” seems to refer to things of the earth: mountains, rivers, trees, animals. The earth, where we live, gives us the opportunity to see God’s creativity up close. It also lets us see nature “singing.” Listen to the rustling of the leaves in a forest, the song of autumn insects, flowing water, the wind rushing over the plains. Listen to a vent in a volcano, the rumble of an earthquake, a downpour of rain. Nature sings. Sometimes it is frightening to us humans, but the sounds nature makes are beautiful, and in obedience to the Creator.

Let every heart prepare Him room

Where are people in all of this, besides being a part of nature? Where does the individual human come in? The line before “and heaven and nature sing” gives us the answer: “Let every heart prepare Him room.” There have been many responses to the news that God became human, born of Mary. The response encouraged here is an invitation to every individual to open their hearts to Christ. At Christmas, this is easy to do; who would reject a baby? But Christ the one who challenges us, the one who chased the moneylenders out of the temple with whips, the one who says repeatedly “You have heard it said… But I say unto you…” is the one for whom we should make room in our hearts, the one we need to imitate in our lives, the one we should sing to and about.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King.

Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.

Why? Because the Lord’s coming as a human to His world is the focal point of history. The Lord came to bring joy to the world. Our response, along with all of creation, should be to sing.

(All photographs are my own.)