Between Two Worlds

A good, amusing word from Common Grounds Online. (HT: Evangelical Outpost)

If you say the word “just” more frequently than the word “Jesus” when you pray…you might be an evangelical. Linc Ashby

(See John Stackhouse’s Books & Culture review of Paul Bramadat, The Church on the World’s Turf….

There is more that Bramadat notices along the way, including a hilariously sober account of evangelical prayer practices that involve both the frequent use of the modifier “just” (as in “Lord, we just want to ask you”) and what Bramadat calls the typical evangelical mouth-click. He tries to interpret the latter remarkable mannerism:

Its location in the rhetoric is similar to and often follows the word “just”: “God, we just [pause.. click] want to thank you for your son and to ask you...” By implying that the speaker is unable to finish a prayer because he or she is overwhelmed by the opportunity to communicate with God, this sound softens the believer's petition [which otherwise might sound arrogant].