Individuality and Togetherness
(sit down please in sign language) While I was in college a couple of my friends took American Sign Language to fulfill their humanities requirement. As in studying any language, they delighted in learning new words and culture. In particular, they greatly enjoyed one practice their teacher suggested for remembering vocabulary and learning how to put words together: sign singing. Singing in sign language relies heavily on expressive face and hand movement in order to differentiate it from regular speech. Quickly all of their ASL study sessions became in essence sign karaoke. They would get together and sing in ASL. It was a sight to behold. They were all sign singing the same songs together but they were also all very individualistic in their expressive style. In the passage from Philippians we heard this morning, we hear an interruption of Paul in his own writing. "At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow... every tongue confess him, King of Glory now..." This part of the...