The Words We Use

My mom is a Quaker… really. No, she doesn’t dress like that Quaker guy you see on the Quaker Oats box but she speaks in that “old” style using “thee” and “thy” and “thine.” It’s not completely like listening to someone read the King James bible. She doesn’t put “-eth” (“cometh” and “sayeth” and such) at the end of verbs. But she does say things like, “How does thee feel today?” To me, it was completely normal. My grandparents (her mother and father) spoke the same way as did my aunt (her sister). It was not something they “put on.” They really spoke that way, all the time to everybody. That was just their language. That was normal.

When we (me and my siblings) were kids, my mother explained on several occasions that it was called the “simple” language. You see, in the days when everybody used that kind of language, there were two ways to address people. When you spoke to someone, one would normally use the more formal “you” to address them if they were not immediate family or close friend. If it was someone with whom one had a more intimate relationship, then they would address with the informal “thee.” For example, if you were at the hardware store, you might ask an employee, “Do you have drywall screws?” But if you were addressing a family member you might say, “Where did thee put the drywall screws?” “You” was formal and “thee” was informal. The two were never confused. Some modern languages (such as German) still have such a differentiation between the formal (“sie”) and the informal (“du”) “you.”

Quakers believed, however, that, in Christ all their relationships were fundamentally changed. Christ leveled the playing field, as it were. Consequently, Quakers (or, more properly, “Friends”) addressed one another with the informal “thee” regardless of relationships or status. Neighbors, co-workers, and even community officials (as well as family) were addressed as “thee” because Christ brings that kind of family “status” to all believers. Even God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – were addressed with the informal and more intimate “thee” because of the new relationship established by Christ for the believer. This is why, when you read many older translations of the Bible, especially the psalms, God is always addressed with “thee” and “thou” and “thine.” It was an expression of the intimacy established through Christ by God with believers, his adopted spiritual children.

It’s interesting to note that most people who continue to use “Thee” and “Thou” and “Thine” when addressing God in prayer and worship use those words to imply, not a sense of informality but of formality. They doesn’t necessarily mean to imply a lack of intimacy with God. Indeed, many use it as a sign of deep respect, of God’s transcendent being, that though God calls us to intimacy with himself we must be ever mindful of his “otherness.” “Thee” is considered the appropriately formal way to address God. Not quite the opposite but something different from how it was first intended.

I recently heard someone pray addressing God with “thee” and “thou” and “thine.” This person later shared that this was the way he was taught to address God and that to address God as “you” was a breech of protocol; it was too cavalier.

I’ve often thought that so much of the time, many people want to come to God in a rather cavalier manner. “God is always with me; he’s my friend, my buddy.” While, in one sense, that certainly is true, it is only one aspect of the relationship between God and his people. While God certainly brings us into intimacy with himself through the person of Jesus Christ, God is still the Almighty, the Sovereign. He is still transcendent while he is imminent. He is the friend of sinners while he is still the King of kings and Lord of lords. We must never forget that part of what happened in the Incarnation is that God sacrificed simply in taking on human flesh. God the Son never sacrificed his ontological being as the Second Person of the Trinity. What he sacrificed was using that aspect of his being for the sake of his being: “Though he was in the form of God he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.” Simply in taking on the form of Man, God sacrificed. Jesus himself made it clear that he came to serve, to be a servant. He gave up the right to his authority as God and served, not just the Holy Father but also unholy man: “Rather he emptied himself and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate and it was thus that he humbled himself…” How much greater, then, was the sacrifice by his death on a cross: “…obediently accepting even death on a cross.”

We’d like to think it doesn’t much matter how we address God. Perhaps the auditory shape of the sounds we make doesn’t much matter. What matters, however, is what “shape” our heart is in. Perhaps in addressing God in prayer and in worship it does matter what words we use because we invest those words with meaning. What is our intent when we approach God? What is condition of our heart? With what attitude do we come to God? Might it not be possible that the words we use are a revelation of the shape of our heart?

“Thee?” or “You?” I don’t know if one is more appropriate to use in addressing God than the other. More than likely, however, giving careful attention to the words we use in prayer and in worship (including the songs we sing) might just bring our attention to the thing to which God gives his attention – our heart.