17th Sunday after Pentecost
September 15, 2024
James 3.1-12
I have started a lot of sermons a lot of different ways, but I must say, Inever expected to start one with the words of the well-known philosopher,Katy Perry. Ok, obviously I’m kidding about the philosopher part, but notabout the source of the quote I came across this week. While coveringPerry’s acceptance of the Video Vanguard award at the MTV Video MusicAwards this week, People magazine brought up several portions of aninterview she did with Howard Stern (clearly, an obvious source for sermonfodder) a few years ago when addressing the alleged feud between herselfand Taylor Swift. When asked about the rift between the two of them andwhat caused it, here is what she said, “Gossip in life can take the elevator,but the truth takes the stairs. It just takes time.”
It wasn’t a full acknowledgment of what had gone down between thetwo of them, but it was a statement that whatever others were saying aboutthem didn’t matter, they were going to sort it out together, but it was goingto be a process that took time, because that’s what the truth requires—time.The gossip that ran rampant around them did nothing but feed and fuel amedia cycle that runs a lot faster than even the most high-tech of elevators,because that’s what gossip does, it runs and runs and runs and it sets fires atevery stage, leaving wreckage in its wake, uncaring of the damage.
I was slightly startled by how struck I was by this quote and evenmore startled when I realized that it had gospel relevance, but hey the Lordmoves in mysterious ways and sometimes you just have to turn to KatyPerry to find your inspiration. I would highly doubt that James would findthis amusing, and would probably be flabbergasted that the eloquence of hisletter, his words of wisdom and advice led me to someone who sang a songabout waking up in Vegas, but here we are. Gossip takes the elevator andeven if he would question the source, James would agree that when fueledthe words of our mouths, yeah, gossip is a high speed train running fast.
Let’s start with a little background here, because Lutherans have notalways had the best relationship with the book of James, thanks to Luther’sutter disdain for the entire book. At one point, Luther actually referred tothe book as “an epistle of straw” and advocated that it should be excisedfrom the New Testament altogether. For Luther, he felt that it flew in theface of the theology he was trying to get the church to sign on to, onefocused on grace and God’s redeeming power, as opposed to the work of ourown hands. Luther had no tolerance for a book that talked about faith inassociation with works and so he just wrote the entire thing off, andyet…there is so much here…
The historical theory behind James is that it was actually written byJesus’ brother, who in the years after the crucifixion became the leader ofthe Jerusalem church until he was martyred in the years leading up to fall ofJerusalem in 70 AD. He wrote his letter as a practical guide for how faith islived out. It’s not filled with deep theology and reflections on who hisbrother was, but advice on how to live as those who believe in the world hisbrother created, advice on how faith thrives and survives in a world on thebrink of insanity. He wanted people to know how faith could be put intoaction so as not to fall back into old habits where faith is simply preachedand not practiced. You can see where that made Luther a bit twitchy.
But let’s think about this…think about all these stories we hear in thegospel about Jesus’ relationship with his family. We have the momentswhere they tried to haul him out of the synagogue when he was preaching,rumors that they too thought he had lost his mind a little bit, the underlyingfear of what his reputation and actions were going to do to them. And wehave to imagine that James was right there for it, witnessing what washappening, for all we know, he too was like what in the world is going onwith my brother? It’s possible as the years went on he realized the impactall of those moments had on his faith, on his life, and so as he began toreflect, he realized there were things he needed to say, moments he to rethink because he hadn’t always gotten it right. So as he’s writing, he’sprobably thinking about all the times he witnessed the words of others, orhimself, adversely impact his brother, his life and his ministry.
As James is deeply reflecting on the vast and various things thatimpact our faith and how it operates in the world through our actions, hehones in on what he identifies as the biggest determiner of how that is goingto play out—our words. If faith without actions is dead, then faith withhypocritical words is false. He lays it out pretty starkly, without mincingany words, “With it we bless the Lord and Creator, and with it we cursethose are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessingand cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” If that isn’tclear enough he draws comparisons between the inability of a fig tree toyield figs and olives, or a spring of water to gush out both fresh water andsalt. It is not possible. It can’t be both. He likens our tongues to thesmallest flicker of fire which can set off an entire blaze. One word canimpact the whole world, one word can impact our entire body and soul, oneword can seep poison throughout our life of faith.
And the thing is…we know this. How often do we tell kids to thinkbefore they speak, that if they don’t have anything nice to say then to not sayanything at all? How many of you were threatened with or getting your mouth washed out with soap for things you said? How many ofus have said to a kid that we don’t say things like that? All of us. And yet,it’s almost as if we think that once we hit a certain age, those things nolonger apply because the world is complicated and require hard things to bedone and it can’t all just be sunshine and rainbows all of the time. So surewe know all of this, probably would nod along with James like amen, man,but when confronted with the reality of it in our own lives we want nothingto do with seeing how the things we say have a direct impact on our faith.
I mean let’s start small…you know that moment when you’re behindsomeone in the grocery store and they’re walking just a smidge too slow?Or they’re blocking the aisle and you can’t help but grumble somethingunder your breath? Tiny little flame that fans you away from kindness andlove. When that colleague at work lingers a little too long in your officetalking about absolutely nothing work related and then you vent to your co-workers later because isn’t it annoying? Another little flame that flickersyou away from care of neighbor. When you see that Facebook post andcan’t help but just let your fingers fly in comment and push send before eventhinking through what you said? That little flame flickers against your faith.When you heard the news about the most recent shooting here in the city andyour words were harsher about that than about any other string of shootings because of the race of the kids involved? Those flames startcreeping against professing that God shows no partiality. When the newscovers something about LGBTQIA+ rights or banned books or drag queensand words fly out of your mouth in heated frustration because why doeseveryone have to talk about this stuff all the time? The tiny spark ignitesangst in your heart that has nothing to do with God. Let’s be real and let’sgo there, how many of us had any number of conversations about thepresidential debate this week? Maybe we threw out comments aboutchildless cat ladies or pets being eaten. Maybe we said somethingdisparaging about one group or another. Those sparks quickly becomeflames that draw us away from any ability to see the world through the eyesof God who made it and only through the lens of our own biases, prejudice,and sometimes all out hatred.
We cannot bless God and curse one another, it just doesn’t work. Wecannot profess a faith in a God who died on the cross for all and thenexpound who we think that doesn’t include. I mean break down the Lord’sPrayer. We say “Our Father,” but would also quickly say who we don’tthink God watches over and loves. We say “Hallowed be thy name,” butthen will tell others, in the name of God, in the word of the Lord, why theyare less than worthy of love and grace. We pray for God’s kingdom to and God’s will to be done, but once Jesus starts talking to us about justiceand oppression and care for the poor and the marginalized, well then God’swill becomes our will and we’re designing the kingdom to our ownspecifications. “Give us this day our daily bread,” but please do not giveanyone else any hand outs, there are people just scamming the Welfaresystem so they don’t have to work, and ya know there are a lot of lazypeople out there, but by all means give me my bread, and let’s keep raisinggrocery prices. We ask fervently for forgiveness, over and over and overagain, but there is that family member we’re never going to talk to againbecause of that one thing they said that one time that we don’t even reallyremember all that well. Lord, deliver us from evil…unless we’re the onesinterested in perpetrating it for wealth, power, or our world’s addiction toviolence, then we can rethink deliverance. Suddenly a lot of tiny flameshave become a raging fire and we can’t differentiate what is a faithfulresponse and what is just our own desires.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but Katy Perry was right, the truth takestime, and it takes some grace with ourselves to learn from our mistakes andcorrect the words of our hearts, but we cannot forget that it is a faithfulcalling to do so. May the words of our hearts and the words of our lipsreflect the stairs of faith, and not the elevator of hate. AMEN!!!