Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sticks and Stones (sermon preached on September 16, 2012)



Sermon preached on September 16, 2012 at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Washington, DC. 
Isaiah 50:4-9a, James 3:1-12, and Mark 8:27-38

Does anyone know the following nursery rhyme?
Sticks and stones
May break my bones
But words will never hurt me.
And do you think that it is true? I don’t. My experience has been that words can be extremely hurtful. As a child, until about 12 or 13, I was quite small, difficult to believe I know, and very bad at sports – totally uncoordinated – and the other kids certainly let me know that. Unco’ was the name they called me. I can relate much better to the refrain of another song called ‘sticks and stones’ by a songwriter called Dave Barnes, it goes:
I'd rather have sticks and stones and broken bones
Than the words you say to me,
Cause I know bruises heal and cuts will seal
But your words beat the life from me.

And so I also agree with James, the author of today’s epistle. He has a lot to say about the power of words, how they, and the tongue that produces them, can be dangerous, harmful, and very hurtful. That makes this letter another good example for Biblical teaching that is both current and timeless: it is still just as valid today because we haven’t changed that much since it was written. There are also a couple of key theological insights hidden in what seems to just be a rather polemic passage about guarding our tongues!

So what are James’ main issues with our use of words, with the way we use our tongues? He starts off by focusing on those who have a particular responsibility as church leaders, here specifically as teachers of the faith, which of course includes preachers. They “will be judged with greater strictness,” he writes. They, we are trusted to tell the truth, to be correct. Yet it is so easy to make a mistake, so easy to teach something wrong: none of us can really achieve that perfection that would be needed to make no mistakes at all. The problem of course with the sort of mistake or error James is referring to, and had experienced in the early Church, is its impact. Erroneous or false teaching affects not just the teacher, but all those who are taught. It could – and did and still does – lead people astray. But if we cannot avoid making many mistakes, if perfection is not attainable, what is the solution? We find an answer in the OT reading from Isaiah: God’s servant has been “given the tongue of a teacher, that he may know how to sustain the weary with a word.” But this teacher is also called “to listen as those who are taught.” Those who teach must always be ready to learn and so humility, the recognition that we do not know it all and need to learn, as much as to teach, is a mark of a good teacher, leader, or preacher. It’s no wonder James recommends that “not many of you should become teachers!”

But before you all relax because you think this can only refer to Robin, or myself or Susan as the official “teachers” here at St. David’s I’m afraid James does not restrict his warnings and his message to those in leadership positions, they apply to all Christians. As followers of Christ we are all expected to at least try to attain much higher standards of behavior than others!

My first thought on reading the second paragraph of the Epistle was that James is overdoing it a bit. “No one can tame the tongue,” which is a fire, a restless evil, and full of deadly poison. But good things come out of our mouths too, surely? Hopefully some of what I have to say right now is good! And don’t we have countless examples in the Bible of words doing good? The word that creates: “Then God said, let there be light,” (Genesis 1:3) the word that heals: “Only speak the word, and my servant will be healed,” (Matthew 8:8) the word that strengthens: “I sustain the weary with a word,” (Isaiah 50:4) or the word that saves: “The Word was God … and became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1: 1; 14) But even if God’s word, the word of life and truth, is always good, are ours? No they are not. As I said a moment ago our words can often be dangerous, harmful, and very hurtful or as James puts it, “from the same mouth comes blessing and cursing.” I’m sure we have all experienced and can remember plenty of examples of hurtful, harmful, and untruthful words in both our private, as well as professional lives. As the current election campaign shows, public speakers and politicians are also not immune to this vice, regardless of whether they identify themselves as Christians or not.

“My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so,” is how James sums up his feelings about this sort of behavior. Well, it’s certainly not polite, and it’s certainly not what we have been brought up to do, but what is wrong theologically? James places great importance on the practical application of faith. “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” was the last line of last week’s reading from this epistle. Which by the way is why Martin Luther disliked this letter so much, an Epistle of straw, was what he called it, as James’ letter seemed to contradict the concept of salvation through faith alone that was one of the rallying cries of the Reformation. In this case I’m siding with James. Faith and works, word and example, are not opposites: they complement each other. “With our tongue we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God,” is the example James gives for a faith without works in the context of the use or abuse of words. The problem is not just that this behavior is hypocritical. 
Blessing and praising God while cursing, denigrating, or hurting others is more than that, it is blasphemous. The other human, James reminds us, is made in God’s likeness by God. We cannot claim to love God if we do not love what God has created in God’s image. This is behind the idea of the innate dignity and value of every human being that is such a central part of Anglican theology. It is not earned, it is not dependent on their behavior or whether we agree with them, it is given by God in creation: “God created humankind in his image, God blessed them.”(Genesis 1:27-28) So how can we curse what God has blessed, is James’ question?  If we truly follow Jesus’ summary of the law and the prophets, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, then we can’t.

I started this sermon today with a question about a nursery rhyme, what’s worse I asked: sticks and stones or words? Well that is as much a false and misleading choice as is the choice between faith or works. Any form of harm to another, either physical or verbal, is wrong of course and an example of the sin of not loving our neighbors as ourselves that we will all confess to in a moment. In our Baptismal Covenant we are called to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.” 

What this reading from James also tells us is that sometimes the words we use can be the example with which we proclaim the Good News.
Amen