Hush Y'all!

Two of the lections from last Sunday's lectionary readings (a three-year schedule of readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, Gospels, and New Testaments to be used in Christian worship ... covers the whole of Scripture in that three-year cycle) set tongues a-waggin', literally!
In the 3rd chapter of James, there's quite a discourse on how powerful our mouths can be, usually in destructive ways. In the 8th chapter of Mark, we find Peter's confession of Christ immediately followed by his reproof of Jesus when he started talking about hard stuff. The truth from James' letter ... salt water and fresh water don't come from the same spring, but we let hurtful words spew from the same "well" that God would ordain as a spring of helpful words.

So, from last week's sermon, let me share 5 guidelines that might help us help our mouths and what comes out of 'em be better representations of love, mercy and grace.

• If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. (Building yourself up by tearing others down just makes you a cowardly bully.)
• You don't have to say everything you know. (Wielding your knowledge as power, or some sort of weapon, shows how selfish you are.)
• If you're not a part of the problem, and you're not a part of the solution, then you're not a part of the conversation. (Enough said. Now, mind your own business.)
• You don't have to convince the world to still be right. (Stop trying to reason with unreasonable people; have confidence in yourself and the One who goes before you.)
• When you tell a half-truth, then you've told a whole lie. (Your version of the truth isn't necessary ... just the truth, the whole truth, and nothin' but the truth, so help you God!)

Jesus didn't chase down the Rich Young Ruler to offer him a better deal when the invitation to come to Christ was too hard; Jesus stood silent before Pilate because he knew you can't reason with unreasonable people. He knew the power of words and the temptation we still face to use our words as weapons, lures, and the like.

Somebody might wanna forward this to Joe Wilson, Serena Williams, and Kanye West. Better yet, let's just guard our own tongues and see what happens ...