“Our Tongues Trip Us Up Every Time” 

(James 3:1-12) 

  Before the scripture reading:

Here are some quotes that may kick-start your thinking about today’s reading: 

Words can inspire and words can destroy. Choose yours well. ~ Robin Sharma

            One kind word can change someone’s entire day. -Unknown

            Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs. -Pearl Strachan Hurd

            Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble.  Yehuda Berg

             To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable in others because Christ has forgiven the inexcusable in us. C.S. Lewis

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgement.  For all of us make many mistakes.  Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is mature, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.  If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.  Or look at ships; though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.  So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire!  And the tongue is a fire.  The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell.  For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil full of deadly poison.  With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse.  My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.  Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?  Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs?  No more can salt water yield fresh.

…This, my friends, is one of those “difficult” scripture readings.  When I say difficult I usually mean humbling and a text that takes me to a place that would be easier not to go.  But it’s also difficult because the language is so extreme. Listen to verse 6 from the Common English Bible translation: “The tongue is a small flame of fire, a world of evil at work in us.  It contaminates our entire lives.  Because of it the circle of life is set on fire.  The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell.”  

…Now, this right here is language that grabs our attention and shocks us into listening closely.

Though this subject of the tongue being out of control is something that has gotten a lot of play from preachers over the years, it is still so important to talk about.  Yet, we preachers are challenged with how to discuss this topic in a way that’s new and captivating. 

            But it must be discussed because the topic of the out-of-control tongue hits home to most of us.  That makes all of this so very humbling.  …Usually if it hits home with me, then, more than a few of you are going to be able to relate to what I have to say about it. 

So, I want to talk about it both in terms of the power of words and language, but also the dangers of what comes out of our mouths.          

When I entered seminary way back in the 70’s, the academic world of theological studies focused on the power of language, the power of words to transform people.  Scholars talked about language and words as world-creating.  This resonated with me because, even as a child, I had known that there was something wrong when I read or heard writers or speakers discuss all people, yet they used the word man or mankind.  My 12 year old self wondered, “Why do they do that?  Why do they leave girls and women out?”  But, like most everyone else I just began to accept the excuses made.  “Well, you know it means everyone.” 

As a seminarian in the middle of a rebellion against exclusive language, I was given a way to think and to talk about this.  So, if women and girls are left out when we use certain language like man and mankind, we are taught very early that we are second-class citizens.

            Oh, I was passionate about this, and I still am, but not only as it affects women.  The thing is, language is so powerful in so many ways.  When we use war-making language to discuss being in mission for Christ in the world, we are placing in people’s minds a picture of who we are as Christians.  And that picture of warrior needs to be balanced with our understanding of Christ as peace-maker. 

When we say things about other groups that insinuate that they are less than we are, we have introduced that idea into our own heads as well as the heads of our listeners.  For example, when we use terms like Polack or Mick or Dago or Wetback or Hillbilly to refer to various ethnic groups or Hebe or Rag Head to refer to people of certain religions, or Fairy or Dike to refer to gay folks, it seems like we are trying to raise ourselves up by putting others down.  It seems like we are suggesting that, somehow, we are better than they are.  When this name-calling is used to win elections by hurting others, it is especially grim.  Using language in this way changes the minds and the hearts of the speakers and the hearers.

Language is powerful and world-creating.  In the midst of a presidential election campaign that is probably going to get increasingly ugly, remember that language can be a potent weapon that does not always indicate the truth.  But once untruths are given voice and sent across the airwaves and cyberspace, the words are already working on minds and insinuating themselves into people’s psyches and their thoughts.

And so, our Biblical writer, James, speaks pretty strongly to us about the way we talk.  Because, we need to be spoken to.  His people needed to hear this almost 2000 years ago, and we need to hear it today.  Sure, we all make mistakes when our tongues are out of control.  We accidently say something before we think or maybe we’re having a really hard day.  We all mess up, and we all need to ask forgiveness for speaking out of turn, for not considering the feelings of others, for doing damage with our tongues.  That happens because we’re human. 

But there is no excuse for intentional mean-spiritedness or bullying.  There is no reason for gossip or talking behind people’s backs, for discussing in detail everyone’s lives.  There is no excuse for systematic negativity and bad-mouthing.  Our being human doesn’t let us off the hook for temper tantrums, for name calling, for out-and-out ugliness, or for speaking before we engage our brains. 

We all have stories about times when our tongues were out of control.  This is one of my stories that you may already have heard from me, but it does bear repeating.  It comes from early in my ministry when Laura-Lea, our now 49 year old daughter, was about 8 or 9.  Son, Dylan, was a toddler and still taking naps, and so, when we got home from church on Sundays, the first thing on my mind was feeding those kids, getting the toddler in bed for a nap and making sure Laura-Lea was OK—so that I could lie down for my nap. 

In those days I would have been up really late the night before getting my sermon ready, exhausted from trying to raise kids, run a household and be a preacher. 

So, we would get home from church Sunday after Sunday, and I would be ordering everyone around, getting impatient when things weren’t going according to my plan.  Well, I must have been particularly bossy and mean one day, and Miss Laura-Lea called me on this behavior.  She sounded like James when she said to me, “How come you’re always so nice at church, Mom, and then we come home and you are so mean to us?”

James had it just right when he said, “With our tongue we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we can also curse those who are made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come both blessings and curses.”

These words from our mouths are creating worlds.  Children are affected by what we say.  Students are affected.  Spouses are affected.  Employees and co-workers are affected.  Church family members are affected.  People can be steered in the wrong direction by our self-centered, thoughtless, defensive, uncompassionate words.

And in the same way, words are powerful when used for good.  Words are world-creating.  Just as we are told in scripture, God called the creation into being, and when God looked at all that had been created, God called it good.  THAT’S what we’re talking about here.      James is making this big deal about our speaking and our words and our tongues because it IS a big deal.  James pulls us into a deeper appreciation of speech, our speech, God’s speech and Jesus’ calling us to a higher way of being. 

If both blessings and curses can come out of the same mouth, then we can get better about this.  We can do better because it is God’s desire that we work to create a better world through our healing words, our kind words, our honest genuine care for others in what we say. 

We can even take this a step further and name what we aspire to, “the language of faith,” that is, an all-out intention to convert the world to a more loving, more compassionate place.

Is it possible that the tongue, our tongues, can be tamed?  That’s the question.  …Well, none of us is going to be perfect.  We’ll shoot from the hip sometimes.  We’ll react out of our own foolishness or nastiness. 

But I believe that we can transform the world if each of us makes a pledge to watch our tongue, to fully intend to speak the language of faith, rather than be caught in the trap of the language of the world.  We’ve been made in the likeness of God, and therefore, have been given the gift of the language of faith.  And so our challenge is to use our words to be clear and direct and loving, not manipulative and mean-spirited, not greedy and power-grabbing or just to sound like smart alecks.

…So, here it is, friends, use your tongue, use the language of faith, for the blessings, for the truth, for building others up and for creating a better world.  We can begin to do this, starting right now.