September 16, 2012: "There's Power in the Word"

September 16, 2012: 16th Sunday after Pentecost

Isaiah 50:4-9;  James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38

PREACHER: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

"There's Power in the Word"

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

In August, 2005, as Hurricane Katrina was wreaking havoc in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, my family and I were on the road, heading north. We had just left Robert’s church in Texas to start a new life in Chicago. We watched the news every time we made a stop, and were horrified by the images we saw: thousands of people seeking refuge in the Superdome, residents stranded on their rooftops, and entire neighborhoods destroyed. It was a disaster that seemed to get worse by the day, even after the storm had moved on.

But it was a set of photos that ran in newspapers on August 30, 2005, that will always represent the Katrina tragedy for me. The day after Labor Day, having arrived safely in Chicago, I sat in my very first seminary class at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. The class was Christian Ethics, and the professor began the class by displaying two images, both representing the same event, but with radically different captions.

The first showed a young black man making his way through the flood waters of Katrina with a garbage bag and a carton of soda under his arm, and the caption read: “A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans.”

The second photo, much like the first, showed a white couple in similar water, also carrying items under their arms. The caption of this photo read: “Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store.”

Finding vs. looting. What was the difference? Both photos ran on the same day. Both depicted the aftermath of the same event. Both were carried by many news outlets. And yet one photo depicted “looting”, and the other “finding”. Readers were left with the impression that black people loot, white people find. Black people take advantage of the situation, while white people creatively find ways to survive. For me, this was an eye-opening moment. During the rest of the class period, we talked about racism and the media, about our responsibility and response as Christians to tragedies like Katrina, and most importantly, about the power of words.

From James, chapter 3: “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. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.”

Words have the power to create and destroy, to bless and to curse. This week we’ve seen the awful, destructive power of words uttered within a hate-filled amateur movie and promoted by so-called pastors. The fiery violence in the Middle East, though not all directly attributed to this film, has certainly been fanned by the choice of a few individuals to use their tongues to curse and demean a major world religion and its prophet.

Sadly, these events nearly eclipsed the coverage of another important story, the laying to rest of an American hero, Neil Armstrong. His famous words launched the world into a new era and gave us a vision of the future: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

From Isaiah chapter 50: “The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.”

Clearly, words have power. When I consider the passage we heard today from the Epistle of James, I wonder exactly what prompted him to write so openly about the destructive power of words. What in the world was happening in the early Christian community for him to write: “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”? But then, I look around, and I get a pretty good idea.
Unless you live as a hermit, you’ve seen the way humans carry on with griping, complaining, grousing, gossiping, engaging in triangles, speaking falsehoods, and generally being negative. And that’s just the in the parking lot, before we ever get into the church building!

Christians are not immune to the troubles of taming the tongue, and that’s why James’ letter is still meaningful to us today. We love to point fingers at the politicians and pundits who never let the truth get in the way of a good story, but we, too, have fallen short of the glory of God. We, too, use the same tongue to praise God in singing on Sunday morning, and to complain about a neighbor when he does something we don’t agree with. We, too, pray for peace and then fan the flames of hatred with negativity and rumors. We, like Peter, quickly confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and then just as quickly speak against his mission and purpose.

In Mark chapter 8, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” and they all had different answers. “Some say you are John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  But when Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” it was Peter who chimed in to say: “You are the Messiah.”Powerful words, indeed. Words that could change the world.

And if we stopped the reading right there, Peter would come out smelling like a rose. But in the very next verses, Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter, the same one who had so boldly confessed Jesus as Messiah and Savior, now just as boldly spoke against Jesus’ way of doing that saving.

To which Jesus answered with powerful words of his own: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Words have power. Words from the media have the power to shape the way we understand a news event. Words spoken in press conferences have the power to shape our understanding of who we are. Words spoken in families—and in churches—have the power to bless or to curse, to form community or to destroy it, to launch us into the future or to hold us back in fear. The words we speak to one another, and about one another, can change the world. As Christians, we are called to be mindful of how our words affect our neighbors and our communities. Our words can make a difference.

But as hard as we try, we, like Peter, often get it wrong.

We confess that we, like Peter, use the same tongue to bless and to curse, to confess Christ and then to actively undermine his cause. But thanks be to God, we do not put our trust in the words we speak or the deeds we do, but only in the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ! We, along with Martin Luther and other reformers of the church, understand our salvation, our justification, our hope and our joy to be based on sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura: Faith alone, Grace alone, and Word alone. Amen!

For it is written: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” And what are these words, my sisters and brothers in Christ?

In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence, and God said: It was good! 

The prophet Isaiah writes: Thus says the Lord: Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name: you are mine!

When the disciples were full of fear and doubt after the resurrection, Jesus said: Remember, I am with you always: to the end of the age.

Next week, through water and the Word, Gianna Grace, Cali Grace, Thomas Alec, Finley Michael, and Courtney Deborah will be delivered from sin and death and raised to new life in Christ. And at the font they will hear these words: You are baptized:  in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

And Jesus said: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and: follow me.

Sisters and brothers in Christ, words have the power to change the world. I ask you: What difference do these words make in your life? And how might trusting the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ, change the way you use the gift of speech this week?

Let us pray:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.