Tag Archives: Words

Words

lbb psalm 141 3 jpgEpiphany
January 2, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 19

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. –Psalm 19:14

How often I have prayed these words but they never grow outdated or stale. Sometimes I couple them with Psalms 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Or James 1:26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

Words are important, not only for the facts they may or may not communicate, but also for the damage they can do that sometimes can never be undone. I dashed off a quick email to someone just yesterday volunteering my help in doing some writing. When I just perchance reread it after sending it, I found wrong words that in this case made the sentences nonsense but in other cases could have changed the whole meaning of what was intended.

There are a lot of words floating around through our world today probably resulting from fear and frustration or perhaps hopelessness, but that are hurtful to some and incendiary for others. If ever we have needed this scripture and God’s abiding presence guiding our language it is now.

Words, too, can be healing and soothing, lessening fear and giving hope. Let us strive to salt our language with these words.

Prayer: Lord, you challenged us to be the salt of the earth. Help us season the world with our words derived from your love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

The Fire of Words

Biblical SceneIn the Spirit
September 10, 2015

Scripture Reading: James 3:1-12

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

 How great a forest is set ablaze by 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 nature, 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 those who are made in the likeness of God. –James 3:5-9

I heard from a friend yesterday who lives in Washington State that the fire raging in the mountains near her were now 70% contained. Homes, wildlife, and the ecosystem in general has been changed forever from the spark off a cigarette or lightening hitting a single tree or the wheel of a train casting a spark into the dry grass. I doubt they have even had time to analyze how the fire started.

Words are like that. Once spoken they can never be pulled back into our mouths, erased from the minds of their hearers. Unkind, callous words seem to be in vogue today. If we cannot say something bad why bother to try to communicate at all. Part of that is a stubborn desire to hold on to beliefs and opinion we know are no longer valid but we have held them for years and they have come to define us. It is really hard for humans to change their basic definitions of who and what we are, particularly when we find we have been wrong.

For those willing to open their hearts and minds to new ways of being, Jesus freed them from the bondage of the way they once were. He said: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:30) Letting Christ guide our tongues will start the conversations that are so desperately needed to bring wholeness and justice into our world.

Prayer: Guard my tongue from hurtful and inflammatory words. Like you touched Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal and made his words pure, so cleanse mine. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.