By the Rev. Robert Blezard
Revised Common Lectionary Reflection for Proper 19, Lectionary 24, Year B
September 15, 2024
Key verse: No one can tame the tongue – a restless evil, full of deadly poison. -James 3:8
The congregational president was miffed. Once again, the altar guild volunteer had forgotten to fill the oil candles before worship. And hadn’t she been told time and again to make sure they were topped off? And now, mid-way through the service, instead of burning brightly, the candles were just smoldering wicks.
The president found the volunteer and gave her a piece of his mind, with heated words, suffused with snark, anger and sarcasm.
The result? The problem was “solved” by the volunteer leaving the congregation, never to return. No amount of apologetic groveling by the president could repair the broken relationship.
Just about every congregation has experienced a scenario like this. Just about every person has. Careless words have such destructive power.
Such is the danger that James warns about in this week’s Epistle lesson, the third of a five-week Lectionary treatment of James’ work.
The careless human tongue can inflict enormous damage to community and relationships. Most everybody, every family, every community and every church bear the scars from words uttered in anger, frustration, or simply without thinking them through.
As stewards who are responsible for doing all we can to promote healthy communities and relationships, we can take James’ counsel to heart. His warning about careless words was true 2,000 years ago, and it takes on new relevance in today’s cultural climate of anger, distrust and hatred. For some time now (and assisted by the personal distance that social media offers), insults, threats, taunts and condemnations have become more and more normalized. And as the 2024 election draws nearer, the trend is only accelerating. Sad.
James uses a number of words and images to describe the destructive power of an unbridled tongue: Fire, restless evil, deadly poison! Wow! And James points out that the same tongue that blesses the Lord curses our fellow humans, made in the image of God (verse 9).
A sermon this week could invite parishioners to think of a relationship – personal or congregational – that was poisoned by thoughtless words spoken in anger. Ask them to consider it in the light of James’ teachings. Finally, the sermon could urge Christians to thoughtfully consider their own speech habits and ask God to show them not only where they need to improve but also how they can develop better patterns,
Certainly, avoiding thoughtless, anger-soaked, inflammatory language is a core element of loving our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31) and treating others as you would like to be treated (Luke 6:31).
A careful look at the Lectionary series’ selections from James shows that he has much to say about watching our language. A sermon could remind parishioners of what James said about language just two weeks ago.
“If any think they are religious and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless,” declares James 1:26, in the lection for Sept. 1, Proper 17B. And how are we to accomplish this? Excellent advice comes from that same lection: “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19B). Now that’s wisdom for our age!
The tongue can wound or heal, curse or bless. In our wise stewardship of our relationships, congregational life, community engagement and culture, Christians can set the standard for civil discourse. And in our current cultural climate, we certainly need it.
In worship
Before service, write on paper or cardboard insulting, hurtful words, such as Loser, Nerd, Sissy, Tomboy, Stupid, Jerk, Zero, Lunkhead, Turkey, Peabrain or Chicken. (Keep it generic, avoiding inflammatory slurs related to ethnicity, sexuality, body image and other sensitive issues.) Post them around the worship space.
Worshipers will wonder what the insults are all about, giving them food for thought as the service progresses. In preaching, you can reference the insults as examples of careless speech that harms and demeans. Then the insults will have reinforced the sermon message.
With youth and children
Here’s an exercise that will demonstrate the harmful power of hurtful speech.
Obtain enough travel-size tubes of toothpaste to give one to every youth. Then give them a paper plate and instruct them to squeeze out the toothpaste. They will have fun doing this!
When the tubes are empty, instruct them to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Impossible, right? Summarize with the point that our angry, hurtful speech is like the toothpaste on the paper plate. Once it’s out, it’s impossible to take back.
And angry, hurtful words can wound people. That is exactly why words are a favorite weapon for schoolyard bullies. As followers of Jesus, we want to be sure our words don’t hurt.
Previous reflections for Proper 19B:
2018 – Who do YOU say Jesus is?
2015 – The case of a teacher’s tongue
2012 – The gratitude attitude
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