Taming the Tongue

Scripture Lessons: Isaiah 50: 4-9 and James 3: 1-12 Sermon Title: Taming the Tongue Preached on September 16, 2018 This passage of Scripture that I’ve just read from the book of James reminds me of two quotes about the power of words – one from the great Jewish theologian, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who said that “words create worlds.” That the stories that we hear and the words we let in create the world that we inhabit, so the child who is told that she is beautiful and brilliant is very different from the other who is told that she’ll never amount to anything, and this difference has less to do with genetics or opportunities than the story that each is told which informs how she sees herself. In the same way, those who find themselves sucked in to the 24-hour news cycle, can’t help but live in a world of fear and anxiety. The words we hear create the world we live in; for you may want to call the people who never watch the news “ignorant,” but you know what I call them? Happy. Likewise, a Scientist subscribing fully to the Big Bang Theory, believing that we humans are nothing more than the result of a random collision of forces millions of years ago, may also live as though her very life were but a random collision of forces without meaning or purpose. That happens, because the words we let in create the world that we inhabit Another option to living out the Big Bang of course, is that in addition to the Science that we learn, we Christians have the benefit of the Creation account in Genesis. The words of this account don’t nullify rational thought but compliment it with God’s story. So, we believe that God spoke, not randomly but on purpose, and all that we know was created, which then enables us to live in a world, not of random collisions, but of faith, hope, and love. It’s not so complicated. Rabbi Heschel’s point is simple enough – words matter. Another Christian theologian named Damayanthi Niles speaks of the importance of words as well, for she said that with our words we create stories that become the baskets we use to carry our relationships in. The words that we speak and the words that we hear create the stories that either hold us together or tear us apart, like how the story of grandma who always cooked our favorite yeast rolls will forever cast her as someone who we can trust, but the story of the grandfather who was invited to speak at the Boy Scout meeting but showed up drunk will forever cast him as one who cannot be depended on no matter how many times he apologized – for regardless of what he said, what James would add to our understanding of the power of words, is that when our words fail to materialize into our actions, the fabric that holds our relationships together frays and even breaks. You know this already, because you’ve seen what I’m talking about in action nearly every day of your life. Whether it be a parent, a teacher, or a president – when the people we trust lean too heavily on the phrase: “do as I say, not as I do,” we hear the words of a hypocrite. Likewise, a pastor who ignores you can’t show up one day out of the blue and bring you comfort. It won’t work. If you hear words of forgiveness preached by someone who you’ve seen yell at a waitress for bringing out the wrong drink order, you question the real state of his heart, for as James asks: “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?” No. That can’t happen. Either from your depths you produce living water, or you don’t. It doesn’t matter what you say if your actions reveal that the true state of your heart is that of a brackish cesspool. You know who has a good heart? Rev. Joe Brice. His gallbladder wasn’t so good, so he had it removed, but that guys heart can be a spring of living water. I know that because last Wednesday morning I got to hear Rev. Joe Brice preach a funeral, but it was a hard one to do, because neither one of us have been here very long, so Joe had to start this funeral sermon by acknowledging the fact that he’d only known Vera a short while; and, that in the time he’d known her, he knew she’d not been in her full stature, so his experience of her wasn’t enough to really express the fullness of her life. Joe just acknowledged all that. He said, “I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing Vera very well. Just a brief time when she was hospitalized. But I have had the pleasure of learning so much about her from her family and friends. You know, some people ask me, “Isn’t what you do as a pastor so difficult, you know the hospital visits, the funeral services?” Yes, there are difficult aspects to this role” he said, “but mostly dealing with the Christians is the hard part, but there is such a deep joy that continually washes over me when I have the honor to walk sacred steps with people during the holiest times of their life journey.” After saying that he looked at the family: “It is a joy and an honor to be trusted with the stories of Vera’s life.” Then he told the stories – the stories that he collected from her children, grandchildren, and friends and he was able to tell them because he sat with them and listened. He also told the Gospel story – and together, all of that captured a woman; so, together at the funeral, we were all able to give thanks to God for her as we entrusted her to God’s care. It was a good funeral, even though Joe didn’t know her as well as he would have liked. He got to know her by listening to the stories that the family told. But have you ever been to the other kind where the preacher refers to the deceased by the wrong name? We use our words to weave the cloth that might hold us together, and these words can be so lifegiving that even at the grave we are inspired to rejoice singing our “Halleluiah’s” for by a preacher’s words we may be reminded of the great story that changes everything we know – the story of Christ’s redeeming death that brings new life – but then by a preacher’s actions, some are led to question everything they know. Words are so powerful. And when they are rendered empty by the speaker’s actions, they can cause a crisis of faith. Therefore, “not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters,” is what James says, “for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” Think about that school teachers – the power that you actually wield is almost as great as the power that parents think you wield. And so, it is with preachers. I remember well going in to Dr. Jim Speed’s office just after High School graduation where I told him I planned to go on to Presbyterian College to major in religion, in preparation for studying to become a Presbyterian Minister. You know what he said? He said, “Be careful Joe, because you’re talking about getting involved in every person’s most important relationship. Between them and their God.” He’s exactly right about that, because when the person who preaches forgiveness betrays you it hurts in such a profound way, it does something to the world that the preacher’s words have testified to. It’s not just that the clergy is discredited, it’s that the faith he or she inspired in the people who listened is discredited. That’s happening now to our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic church, but truly, this is something that happens everywhere, so I want to tell you something else Dr. Speed told me. It was right after I graduated seminary, and I drove up here to ask him the secret to being a pastor. The secret to being the pastor of a church that grew as much as this one did. You know what he said? “Don’t give me too much credit Joe. Marietta was growing then. Pretty much all I had to do was keep the doors open and avoid doing anything stupid.” That sounds easy, but you’d be surprised how hard I’ve worked to avoid doing anything stupid. As James said, “All of us make many mistakes,” so ultimately who is it that can be trusted completely? Who is the teacher who always deserves to be heard? Edith Foster read this passage from Isaiah: The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. The Lord God has opened my ear, And I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward, I gave my back to those who struck me, And my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. By his endurance and his steadfast love, we see that the Suffering Servant that the Prophet Isaiah describes not only has the tongue of a teacher but lives the life of one who deserves to be heard. And this Suffering Servant of Isaiah describes the Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks to us words of rebuke that we don’t want to hear and words of love that we fear we don’t deserve, and he speaks them both from a heart of faithful and undying devotion, from a heart that is the spring of Living Water. So, we preachers – if we only point to ourselves, any who listens will eventually be disappointed, for none of us a perfect – but those of us who testify to Him are worthy of being heard. There’s a preacher out in Denver named Nadia Boltz-Weber, and each time a new group of people joins the church that she serves, she says to them: “Sooner or later I’m going to disappoint you. That’s because I’m a human being and I can’t help it, but still, after I’ve disappointed you, you may be tempted to leave this church to go someplace else, only if you do that you’ll just find another human pastor who’s going to disappoint you there too. I encourage you instead, to stick it out, because in that moment when you realize your pastor isn’t perfect, you grow instead to trust in the Lord who is.” Among all the words of this present evil age, I charge you to be discerning. I get so tired of hearing about “fake news” because it’s not as though some news is fake and other news is true – it’s that all the news we hear is imperfect until we come face to face with the Good News. It’s what He says that can save us. So, if you listen to the news for two hours a day, red from the Gospel for four until you get straightened out. If your boss tells you you’re a loser, come to this baptismal font and hear the truth – that you’re a child of God. And if you hear words that make you hopeless, don’t you ever forget that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Amen.