Did you know the longest word in English has 189,819 letters and takes three and a half hours to pronounce – correctly. Seriously! It’s the chemical name of Titin (or connectin), a giant protein “that functions as a molecular spring which is responsible for the passive elasticity of muscle.”

The three longest words in The Oxford Dictionary are: antidisestablishmentarianism – opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England – 28 letters; loc-cina-ucini-hilipilification – the estimation of something as worthless – 29 letters; pneumono-ultra- microsocopic-silico-volcano-coniosis – a lung disease contracted from breathing in very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis - 45 letters.

One of the longer words in the New Testament Greek language is anakephalaiossathai – translated into English as “to unite all things.” The word is 19 letters long and is found in Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1:7-10 (ESV)

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[a] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

The phrase is used to describe what God is up to through Jesus. This is the only place in the Bible where this word occurs. “Ana” means “again”; “kephale” means “head.” So anakephalaiosasthai means to “bring things together under one head.”

According to St. Paul, God will refurbish everything, including us. The world, today, including us, is fractured, broken. It brings God pleasure to bring it all back together in unity – in Jesus. All of it...all of history. All of everything – every human included – put back together as it should be: including broken bodies and broken hearts. All things. Poverty, abuse, racism – all things made right again. Even fractured relationships. All things restored, reconciled, renewed – anakephalaiosasthai. According to Paul, this is what brings God pleasure. This is what God is up to in our world.

We would not know what God is up to simply by listening to tonight’s radio or television newscasts! What we hear mostly is about what went wrong in our world today. Bad news sells!

We need to listen to what God tells us through St. Paul to learn the good news about what God is up to in and through Jesus.

So don’t forget – anakephalaiosasthai – it will bring God and us pleasure! Pastor Dennis Drews