From the Same Mouth
Psalm 19: 1-4     James 3: 1-12
A Sermon by the Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart
Epworth United Methodist Church, Berkeley

“Use your words.” I was sitting in Espresso Roma Café when I heard this three-word phrase spoken over and over like a litany by different parents from different tables and at different volumes – to very small children.  “Use your words.”  When young children urgently need to communicate, particularly when they are in pain, or upset or angry, they are taught and reminded, “Use your words.”

We do learn to use our words... for good... and for ill.  Language has power to name, to express, to inform, to question..  Words have great power to hurt and to heal. To quote the film “Spiderman,” “with great power comes great responsibility.”

Our Scripture lesson from James chapter three is a meditation on the power of speech and a warning on its dangers.  James letter is filled with challenge to live the faith, talk the walk, choose the way everyday. He places speech at the center of thought, action, faith, building community.  Hear James’ warning in Eugene Peterson’s The Message:

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.  A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that.  By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue – it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer.  With our tongues we bless God... with the same tongues we curse the very men and women God made in his image.  Curses and blessings from the same mouth!
 
We all have the power, the ability, to build up...and to destroy. And we use our words to do both. Think about the times you have known just the right word to say to hurt, or to affirm, to build someone up, or tear them down, to move a meeting along, or to bring it to a standstill, to speak truth or to lie in silence.  Rather than focusing upon the big times when the fate of world hangs in the balance, words of diplomacy or demonization, let’s think for a moment about the thousands of random encounters we have each week – at home, in church, at school, in public places – that hold within them the potential for creation or destruction, for building up or tearing down.

We all have these moments every day.  We have been built up by another’s words.  We have been torn down.  We have built another person up. We have torn another down. Author Walter Wangerin describes this moment-by-moment choice as edification/demolition.

In the world of human relationship, we can be caught by impulses to heal or to hurt, to encourage or attack.  The sources of conflicting impulses, words of blessing and curse, may be complex, unconscious. Or they may be deliberate and strategic.  Think about the sources and consequences of Rep. Joe Wilson shouting “You lie!” at the President of the United States, interrupting his address to both houses. James describes the tongue as a fire – the smallest spark can cause a consuming blaze.  

We may desire to destroy in order to build.  We may tear another down in an effort to build ourselves up or because we feel torn down.  Everytime we speak:  edification/demolition.

Often James chapter three is used to teach against gossip.  Gossip does have a terrible reputation.  I loved a greeting card I once received that said, “Before you say something bad about someone else, walk a mile in their shoes.  Because then you’re a mile away... and you’ve got their shoes!”

But Gossip is a part of being kin.  It comes from the old English– god sib. James’ warning is larger and more inclusive:  all our words. From the same mouth we bless God and curse human beings created in God’s image...including ourselves.

James is an invitation to live what we pray:  “May the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts, and the living of this day be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer.” James warns of the destruction that takes place when our words and actions and faith are not aligned with, guided by, infused with the love and wisdom of God, when our words are not acceptable in God’s sight.

James is especially hard on teachers.  Teachers, preachers, parents, leaders, mentors, elders, all those who have authority over others will be judged more strictly.  

We all make mistakes.  But when we speak from a position of \authority, by role, power or experience, our mistakes are amplified, magnified in the lives of others.  Awesome responsibility. James 1:19 urges everyone to be “quick to listen and slow to speak, slow to anger for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.”

How do we “use our words” with care? How do we cease the double talk blessing and cursing inside our heads and in our interactions with others?

Today I offer one humble suggestion:  Hit the pause button. Pause long enough to listen.  Pause long enough to hear the heavens tell of the glory of God.  Pause long enough to honor Christ before us, behind us, below us, above us.  Pause long enough to use our words with care.  Pause long enough to ask God for help.  Pause long enough to see with quiet eyes.  Pause long enough to remember that God is God and we are not. Pause long enough to name the feeling that compels our speech.  Pause long enough to breathe.  Pause long enough to turn double talk into words acceptable to God our strength and our redeemer. Pause just long enough.  Not long.  Long enough.

We can practice this in this community. We can create a community of trust, where love of God and neighbor grow in our words, our listening, our worship, our work, our play, and our daily lives.  We all make mistakes.  But practice helps.

Pause. Listen. Give glory to God. Remember to love.

Language is powerful.  

Let us learn, unlearn, and relearn to “use our words” ...  with care.