Weekly Thought
Article from Doncaster Church of Christ’s
weekly newsletter ‘Inside Out’
4 October 2009
Fun with Synonyms
Senior Minister Russell Croxford
I like synonyms – that is, words that have similar meanings to other words. I find that when
I’m trying to get my head around a particular word it helps to check out the synonyms.
They add depth and nuance. They bring out the richness and flavour of a word. They
assist me greatly in the way I understand a word and how I express a word’s meaning to
others.
So, naturally when we came to this week’s word ‘expectant’, I explored the synonyms and
(with a bit of help from the thesaurus) came up with the following:
Waiting, anticipating, hopeful, eager, preparing, ready, vigilant, watchful, excited,
impatient, in suspense, apprehensive, on the edge of your seat, desiring, intent, keen,
yearning, alert, dreaming, looking, wondering… (can you think of others?)
I was surprised how long the list was – much more than the usual half dozen synonyms. It
made me realize just how rich and full the word ‘expectant’ must be.
I also realized how important this word is to us as people of faith. In fact I’d suggest that
‘faith’ and ‘expectant’ are inseparably linked (one is a synonym of the other!). Expectant is
a word that lies at the very heart of faith. (As an exercise, reflect on each word in the list
from a ‘faith’ perspective to see how strongly they can be applied to our relationship with
God)
Expectant is a key word in God’s Grand Plan – that is, his grand story of salvation. Having
already explored the two words, Designed and Broken, we can see that Expectant flows
out of these concepts. Although God has a design for creation, including humanity, we are
only too aware that the world is nowhere near living up to that design. Thus we feel
incomplete, broken, unfulfilled. We know there must be more. God promises there’s more.
So we hope for more.
And Jesus encourages us to hope for more when he teaches us to pray: “Your Kingdom
come” (Mt 6:10) As people of faith we need to hope for more of God’s Kingdom. That is,
more of the fullness of Kingdom-life in our present experience, our future, our afterlife, and
even in the whole of creation.
My prayer for you is to live an expectant life, because being expectant is a pathway to
fulfillment in Christ.
Doncaster Church of Christ
2 Short Street Doncaster VIC 3108
T: 61 3 9848 1546 F: 61 3 9848 1861
E: [email protected]