At the request of some of those present in Thursday Chapel today, I have posted my sermon from the service.

Cheap Chatter!

James 3:1-12

Davis Chapel

September 17, 2009

In his book entitled Killing Giants, Pulling Thorns,Chuck Swindoll wrote of this epitaph, found on a old tombstone in an English country churchyard:

Beneath this stone,
a lump of clay,
Lies Arabella Young,
Who, on the twenty-fourth of May,
Began to hold her tongue.

Let me read it again:

Beneath this stone,
a lump of clay,
Lies Arabella Young,
Who, on the twenty-fourth of May,
Began to hold her tongue.

 

Kind of sad, isn’t it, that Arabella Young had to die in order to hold her tongue?

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.  In the past 7-10 days, the news has been filled with people who just have not learned to hold their tongues.

• First there was the outburst “You lie” from South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson during President Obama’s speech to congress.  He later apologized to the president.
• On Saturday, Serena Williams blasted the umpire at her U.S. Open semifinal match for a call that went against her-- was fined, and later apologized. 
• On Sunday, Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the MTV video music awards to say Beyonce should have won.  Later, he, too, apologized.
• Yesterday, thanks to Twitter, we learned that President Obama made an uncomplimentary comment about Kanye which, although meant to be “off the record” made national news. 

Today, with instant communication via Twitter, Facebook, the internet, cell phones, etc., nothing is “off the record”, and we are deceiving ourselves if we think differently.

• Finally, last night, I read where the Buffalo Bills player who fumbled the ball in the last minutes of Monday night’s game, possibly costing the Bills the game, had his home vandalized, apparently by “fans” distressed at the loss.  An obscenity and the score of the game were painted on the front lawn of his home.

In my opinion, we have crossed a line.  Apparently, I’m not alone.   The September 14^th edition of USA Today, had an article entitled, “What happened to civility?”

In the article, P.M. Forni, author of Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct and the head of The Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, makes this statement:

“American society is among the most informal in the world, and often that informality crosses over into incivility," he says. "Now, you add the informality of the Internet to this culture, and all bets are off. It's an age of total disclosure and total expression, with very little concern for the feelings of others."

Did you catch that last sentence?  "It's an age of total disclosure and total expression, with very little concern for the feelings of others."

The article continues with a quote from Jerry Bowles, co-founder of SocialMedia Today.com, which keeps tabs on the impact of social media on society.  Mr Bowles says, "The ability to comment about others from a distance and with anonymity is the Web's hallmark and its poison."

Now, to prove that I’m not totally anti-web or anti-technology, I read that article on line – and I checked that totally accurate encyclopedia of information – Wikipedia – for a definition of civility:

“Generally, civility is a social virtue that involves self-control or moderation and contrasts with pride, insolence, and arrogance.”

First of all, for me there truly is a sense of arrogance in thinking that everyone is really interested in everything I am doing at any time of the day. 

Secondly, the two words in that definition that definitely jump out at me are self-control and moderation.  Two words that take us back to the words of James.

 James admits that both blessings and curses come from the same mouth.  It happens to all of us.  Remember Peter, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.”  And then he denied Jesus 3 times.

Remember John, the very disciple who emphasized love for one another.  You may not remember that he also wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village (Luke 9).

James talks about the fact that the tongue is small but can do great things.  He also compares the tongue to a fire.  I couldn’t help but think of the huge forest fire in California – started by an arsonist – and all the damage that has been done.  How many fires are started by deliberate words – and how many are started by careless comments?  How many of us really believe that old rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  How many of us have been hurt by words?

James is not the only one in scripture to caution us about our tongues.  Check out Proverbs.

Here are a few just from chapter 15:

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 

Jesus says in Matthew 5:22:

 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, “You fool!” shall be liable to the hell of fire.

Sounds harsh, doesn't it?

And in Matthew 12:36-37, Jesus says:

I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

In the day where we are confronted with a constant barrage of words, we must be more careful than ever that the words we not only speak, but also type, text, or twitter are not just “cheap chatter”.  Contrary to the old adage, "Words are cheap", one thing we have learned.  Words are not cheap.  They are costly.  We MUST learn to think and not just to react.  We MUST remember that today our words travel far beyond our initial audience.  We MUST remember that we are followers of Jesus Christ and are Jesus’ representatives in the world.

Is it time for a new campaign?  WWJT?  What would Jesus Tweet?    “I’m walking with my peeps by the Sea of Galilee.”  “Today I spit in the dirt and made a blind man see.”  “Peter stuck his foot in his mouth yet again.”  Or my personal favorite, “Will these people ever get it?”

I want to conclude with a personal illustration.  Another comparison that James makes about the tongue is found in verse 3. It’s probably my favorite comparison because he talks about how the bit in the horse’s mouth makes the horse obey and turns the entire body. For some reason, I especially like that verse.

Most of you know, my horse is still in training – learning how to be ridden.  I’m used to riding horses who are older and much more experienced. Assisting in Dream’s training has been an incredible experience for me.  It’s a long process, that is best done slowly, so that the horse “gets it”.  Teaching her to respond to the bit was fascinating.  Last week, I rode her for only the second time.  Now, the trainer has been riding her, but this was only my second time to actually get up on her back.  It was absolutely amazing.  She seemed to have some difficulty with the going part.  I had to keep kicking her in the side to get her to move – just at a walk.  But a little tug on the rein did indeed turn her entire body in the direction I wanted to go.  And the stopping part!  She had that down pat.  I did not have to pull on the bit at all.  Just a gentle squeeze on the reins, and she stopped so abruptly that I almost went over her head.  You know that feeling when you’re a passenger in someone’s car and they slam on the breaks unexpectedly?  Your body keeps going forward.  Well, that’s what I felt last week on the back of Dream.

And I couldn’t help but think, wouldn’t it be great if we were all a little more like that – when it came to our tongue…and our twitter…

Slower to start,  but just a gentle tug – and we stop.

The next time you are tempted to speak, to text, or to tweet reactively, or out of anger, or out of hurt, remember that tug – stop – think -

And hold your tongue.

Don’t wait to be like Arabella Young in that churchyard in England.

Amen.

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