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'Language Matters' symposium to encourage 'respectful' conversations about God and faith
The conversation "will focus on the language, images, and symbols used in worship and everyday life to talk about faith and God," the release said.
Initiated by the NCC's Justice for Women Working Group, the symposium is the first step in a larger project intended to develop resources for congregations and groups to assist their own conversations about the use of language that is inclusive to gender and multiracial communities of faith.
The participants at the symposium are coming from a wide diversity of NCC member communions and religious traditions, the release said.
Kim Robey, chair of the Justice for Women Working Group, said: "Issues around the use of language in our churches have been on the [group's] agenda ... for years. Now the opportunity to take this discussion to another level has arrived. I hope this consultation will be the first of many conversations as we continue to explore ways to welcome and value every person who walks through the doors of our churches."
The press release noted that the term "expansive language" has been used in some circles to describe respectful language that honors all of God's people.
"While the Episcopal Church has been at work on expansive language texts for over two decades, the extent of their use varies. I'm delighted that a new resource is being created to encourage dialogue about this important topic," the Rev. Ruth Meyers, chair of the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, and Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, said in the release.
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