A friend commented teasingly on a cliché phrase I used in our conversation today, saying that it was unusual of me and rather hair-raising (I've of course paraphrased my friend. "Hair-raising" in his own words was geli. It is a very Malaysian Hokkien expression, I suppose).
Geli is more than hair-raising, I feel. It does imply, to some extent, corny and embarrassingly ewwww... Then again, I may be reading too much into this, haha.
Some friends, I've got...
Clichés. You know clichés? Those uncreative, overused and abused figures of speech which have withstood the test of time and become tradition in a particular human language. So familiar we are with those, that any effort to reflect on their meanings feels mundane and as overwhelming as trying to keep awake when you know that you can't but fall asleep. To be fair, most clichés allude to the right things and are true, no doubt about that; they were probably profoundly artistic in their original context, when they were first made. We can hardly avoid using them occasionally. Used with wisdom and discretion, clichés can yet be effective tools of communication. However, to use clichés because one is lazy to think or in my case today, at a loss for words but not wanting to let the moment pass without saying anything useful, they can be unhelpful or at worst, down right annoying.
I am a person who doesn't enjoy sounding overly cliché; because I don't appreciate it when others do; it is just too unimaginative and predictable. I'd feel like strangling myself if I did, particularly in encouraging individuals who are already going through some sort of suffering. Who needs to suffer clichés from the lips of the insensitive during difficult times such as those? Step into the minefield of clichés; land on that very crucial one, and we might never see that person in church again! Rather, I pray that I might always have something fresh and timely to say to a person in need. Ministry is about refreshing souls and conveying the love of God to people in ways that provoke emotively, interest and challenge wrong mindsets. Merely relying on clichés just won't do, at least not in the long run. We need to rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit, who not only anoints, inspires and empowers our speech... but also makes us fully alive as we engage in creativity and explore creative ways of prophetic declaration. For a minister, there is no substitute for intimacy with God.
Additionally, I believe that any minister who desires sincerely to excel in God's service (and thus, the loving, teaching and caring for His people) should be well-read - but far more than that, he or she should be one who takes great pains to imbue all learning with authentic and expository reflection. Secondly, a minister should understand, to a good extent, suffering - but more that that, he or she should avoid the tired plots of borrowed testimonies of deliverance from that particular suffering (or something close enough) - whether those of other "survivors" or personal ones. I am not saying that testimonies are not good; they can be; but to rub one in the face of a suffering person just because we are so sure that its sensational nature will stimulate hope does not spell empathy. At worst, we sound judgmental and impatient to "settle" a person, like we do to problems. Finally, a minister should steer clear of attributing his/her own cliché to variants of "Thus saith God..." ~ God doesn't use clichés, least of all Christian clichés!
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