Y’all Come!

[2] Y’all are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all humans, [3] revealing that y’all are a letter from Christ, ministered to by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 YALL

I grew up in Oklahoma. I thought everyone said ‘y’all’ to refer to more than one person. As it turns out, they don’t. English doesn’t officially recognize ‘y’all’ in polite circles. English is kind of odd. Most other languages have a word for the second person plural pronoun. In Spanish, for example, they have ‘vosotros’, though many countries no longer use it. It’s considered a bit stuffy, kind of like ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ in English.

American ingenuity intuitively recognized the need for clarity when speaking to a group. We have coined several terms to improve upon the King’s English. ‘Y’all’ is used universally throughout the southern United States and as far west as Oklahoma and Texas. In the urban Northeast, you might hear “youse” or “youse guys”. In Appalachia and parts of Pennsylvania, you might hear “you’uns”, which is often further contracted to “y’uns”.

The above verses are from a translation of the Bible called the ‘Y’all Version’. Where the Greek uses the second-person plural, it is translated as ‘y’all’. This gives the text an interesting slant. When Paul said that the church at Corinth was a letter from Christ to be read by all people, he was referring to the whole church. That’s really powerful. The Spirit has certainly written on the heart of every believer. Each of us has our own part of the story, our own unique paragraph, but to understand the whole letter, we need the whole church.

As we gather with the saints this week, let us take a moment to reflect on the importance of this occasion. Jesus came to Earth as a physical manifestation of God’s love. God loved us so much that he gave us his son. Jesus said “Y’all go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Jesus loved the world so much that He gave them His Church. This is a group project. Jesus sent the world a love letter, and that love letter is us. Y’all are the light of the world!