An imposition is something you don’t want, something you wouldn’t cross the street for, let alone queue up for. Now when we use the word imposition out there in the non- churchspeak world, we, of course, use it in its modern context. Meaning that we will impose – or put – ashes – upon – your foreheads. For tonight, in a few moments, we will begin the imposition of ashes. And, in tonight’s case, to change the way you use the word imposition. To use the word voluntary as a noun instead of an adjective. To use communicate as a way of describing the distribution of the holy bread and wine instead of the means of exchanging information. There is, of course, another way to prove your fluency in churchspeak, and that is to use ordinary words in a new way.
As in, “Did you notice the priest’s hands were so wet that when she went to bless us with holy water she shot the aspergillium across the room?” (True story.) You correctly use, in a complete sentence, the word aspergillium. I know this because “purificator” got that ugly little red squiggle under it as I typed it.) And finally, when you feel fully confident and all grown-up, you pull out the grandest churchspeak word of all. (Microsoft Word, by the by, does not speak church. As you mature, you begin to try out some words that are a little more daring, like words that describe ordinary items in a church-ish way. Then a few that are a little more advanced – tabernacle, rood screen, and chancel.
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