Whispers and Yells
Texts: Psalm 19 and James 3:1-12
Summary:
James makes this observation about the tongue, that it is both a blessing and a curse. We use it to both bless God, and curse others... Yet this is inconsistent. By extension James means that if we praise God, yet curse others, we are in fact cursing God. What are we truly saying about our faith?
Full Text:
A number of years ago, I was participating in a massed choir concert where at least one of the pieces that we would be singing was Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Heaven’s are Telling.” Haydn’s setting is a glorious rendition of Psalm 19, as part of a larger work called “The Creation.” It is a great deal of fun to sing, particularly as part of the choir. However, I became an understudy to the lone male voice part in the trio, which had me quite nervous. I do have musical training, but solos or quartets put me front and center in a place that I don’t like to be. The time that I had sung it before, I had been simply part of the choir.
I decided to share my anxieties with my Dad, who knows the work rather well. “So what piece is it?” He asked. I told him… His voice changed, and I could hear the smirk crawl across his face. “Oh! The Heavens are Yelling!?” he laughed, “Don’t worry about it. Nobody remembers the trio in that… all they remember is when the choir yells. The trio simply is there to let the choir catch its breath!”
Of course at this point I’m killing myself laughing. For those of you who have ever heard it, my Dad’s pun is very appropriate. This is one of these pieces that is designed for a choir of hundreds: the music thunders forth… and yet it is contrasted with the quiet whispers of three people singing together. The trio sings for a bit, and then the choir yells. Yet typically, nobody actually remembers the solo parts… they remember the thundering music of the choir. Like my Dad says, the choir yells, the trio whispers. Admittedly, I don’t think I’ll be able to sing it again without a goofy smile creeping across my face.
Yet it is this contrast between whispers and yells that is not only part of the power of the music, but part of the power of Psalm 19. It begins by proclaiming “the heavens are telling the glory of God!” A powerful description about how the sky itself gives voice to praise God, and how each day is an endless proclamation of God’s presence and foundation in creation. Yet the very next verse it tells us that no words are ever heard. The proclamation is louder than we can imagine, and yet there’s not even a whisper of a word. Their very presence alone is a testament to the wonders of God. Haydn’s contrast of the yelling choir and the whispering trio captures it beautifully.
We have a contrast of our own today. Sitting beside Psalm 19 today is the letter of James. I gave James the full treatment last week, but there’s still a lot more wisdom there to tap into. In this part of James’ sermon, there is a wonderful but cautionary contrast. He talks about the power of the tongue, of pointing out how something so small can be so powerful… The heavens yell the glory of God without anything being said, the tongue whispers words of deceit… lighting destructive fires that threaten to consume everything that we have sought to build.
James makes this observation about the tongue:
9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
Words have power, far more than I think any of us realize. For James, his congregation, his community was living in a time of relative peace. As I mentioned last week, the memory of old persecutions had gone, the next one, which would be far more vicious, had yet to arrive. The community that James was a part of was beginning to turn inward. Not only had complacency started to settle in, but the very people who were called to be followers of Christ began to turn on one another. Human nature being what it is, the early church was no different, and the dark side was starting to bubble to the surface. Because they had no focus, no outside threats, they started judging each other, forming into different groups, and were sliding into names, murmurs, rumours, and threatened to mushroom into out-and-out gossip.
From our earliest years, we have heard the short little verse that says “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.”
Bunk.
Not true. We know, deep down, that as much as we might say those words… as much as we might say it to our own children… we know that the wounds from sticks or stones heal far faster than the barbs and daggers that words and names inflict. I have heard it said that for every one negative comment that one receives, we need ten positive words of encouragement to balance the damage. It may not even be this mathematical, but we do know that putting others down is damaging to the soul. The truth is that sticks and stones may break our bones, but names can truly kill us. We know from experience that a simple word or a label once sent people to showers without any water, the gas chambers of Auchwitz and other Nazi death camps during the Second World War. As James says, the tongue is like a fire… its damage can do irreparable harm.
For James, he wanted to catch this before it got out of hand. He doesn’t name names. He doesn’t call people up on the carpet. He simply says, that there is a responsibility for what we say, and most of all how we treat one another. James appears to catch this before things get out of hand within his own community, but we do know from our own experiences that sometimes they do.
With [the tongue], we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.
Critics of the church as a whole often point out hypocrisy in our ranks. Too often they are right. The church espouses God’s all encompassing love and freedom, and yet in many cases can be seen to control and exclude. Yet from the outset, from the earliest of our leaders, the warnings against being hypocritical have been there all along. Maybe we need to take our own advice! James points out that with one moment we praise God, and yet with the same mouth we criticize others… people who are made in the likeness of God… By extension James means that if we praise God, yet curse others, we are in fact cursing God. To borrow what James says, this ought not to be so! God calls us to something better than that… to see the world with God’s eyes, and to love the world, in all of its brokenness, with the way that God loves… maybe in doing that we might find our souls revived and hopeful.
This is why it’s such a powerful contrast to Psalm 19. The heavens and all creation let out deafening praise to God, yelling for all to hear… and yet without speaking a single word. The whispers in the early church threatened to light a fire that would split and ultimately consume this early congregation. For James, it was far more important to realize the immense responsibility that we have as human beings. The gift of language is a gift to be used wisely, because it has immense destructive potential, and yet has the power to transform us as well.
I suppose if there is one bit of wisdom that comes from this contrast is that often far more can be said when words are not used. As St. Francis of Assisi was once thought to have said, “preach the gospel always, use words if necessary.” Sometimes the loudest and most powerful statements come when no words are needed. James was incredibly concerned about how gossip, and mean-spirited language can undermine the integrity of a community. It can be doubly harmful within the context of a Christian community, because we expect better of ourselves. Yet we know from James, that the very dark side of humanity can and does bubble to the surface. For James, the importance was being aware of the power of the tongue. What we say can impact on our relationships with each other, it can be used to heal and support, but just as easily be used to rip, tear and destroy. As James reminds us, this can even happen within the church, so we need to be acutely aware of the power that words really do have. For James, there is no such thing as “idle chatter,” but whatever we say and do must be to build up and support one another.
As Psalm 19 reminds us, sometimes the most powerful language comes when we say nothing at all. Reaching out and holding someone’s hand can be far more effective than any amount of words of condolence. By their very presence alone, the heavens tell volumes about the glory of God. Maybe by saying less and doing more we can catch a glimpse and understand what both the Psalm writer and James were after.
Amen.
Summary:
James makes this observation about the tongue, that it is both a blessing and a curse. We use it to both bless God, and curse others... Yet this is inconsistent. By extension James means that if we praise God, yet curse others, we are in fact cursing God. What are we truly saying about our faith?
Full Text:
A number of years ago, I was participating in a massed choir concert where at least one of the pieces that we would be singing was Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Heaven’s are Telling.” Haydn’s setting is a glorious rendition of Psalm 19, as part of a larger work called “The Creation.” It is a great deal of fun to sing, particularly as part of the choir. However, I became an understudy to the lone male voice part in the trio, which had me quite nervous. I do have musical training, but solos or quartets put me front and center in a place that I don’t like to be. The time that I had sung it before, I had been simply part of the choir.
I decided to share my anxieties with my Dad, who knows the work rather well. “So what piece is it?” He asked. I told him… His voice changed, and I could hear the smirk crawl across his face. “Oh! The Heavens are Yelling!?” he laughed, “Don’t worry about it. Nobody remembers the trio in that… all they remember is when the choir yells. The trio simply is there to let the choir catch its breath!”
Of course at this point I’m killing myself laughing. For those of you who have ever heard it, my Dad’s pun is very appropriate. This is one of these pieces that is designed for a choir of hundreds: the music thunders forth… and yet it is contrasted with the quiet whispers of three people singing together. The trio sings for a bit, and then the choir yells. Yet typically, nobody actually remembers the solo parts… they remember the thundering music of the choir. Like my Dad says, the choir yells, the trio whispers. Admittedly, I don’t think I’ll be able to sing it again without a goofy smile creeping across my face.
Yet it is this contrast between whispers and yells that is not only part of the power of the music, but part of the power of Psalm 19. It begins by proclaiming “the heavens are telling the glory of God!” A powerful description about how the sky itself gives voice to praise God, and how each day is an endless proclamation of God’s presence and foundation in creation. Yet the very next verse it tells us that no words are ever heard. The proclamation is louder than we can imagine, and yet there’s not even a whisper of a word. Their very presence alone is a testament to the wonders of God. Haydn’s contrast of the yelling choir and the whispering trio captures it beautifully.
We have a contrast of our own today. Sitting beside Psalm 19 today is the letter of James. I gave James the full treatment last week, but there’s still a lot more wisdom there to tap into. In this part of James’ sermon, there is a wonderful but cautionary contrast. He talks about the power of the tongue, of pointing out how something so small can be so powerful… The heavens yell the glory of God without anything being said, the tongue whispers words of deceit… lighting destructive fires that threaten to consume everything that we have sought to build.
James makes this observation about the tongue:
9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
Words have power, far more than I think any of us realize. For James, his congregation, his community was living in a time of relative peace. As I mentioned last week, the memory of old persecutions had gone, the next one, which would be far more vicious, had yet to arrive. The community that James was a part of was beginning to turn inward. Not only had complacency started to settle in, but the very people who were called to be followers of Christ began to turn on one another. Human nature being what it is, the early church was no different, and the dark side was starting to bubble to the surface. Because they had no focus, no outside threats, they started judging each other, forming into different groups, and were sliding into names, murmurs, rumours, and threatened to mushroom into out-and-out gossip.
From our earliest years, we have heard the short little verse that says “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.”
Bunk.
Not true. We know, deep down, that as much as we might say those words… as much as we might say it to our own children… we know that the wounds from sticks or stones heal far faster than the barbs and daggers that words and names inflict. I have heard it said that for every one negative comment that one receives, we need ten positive words of encouragement to balance the damage. It may not even be this mathematical, but we do know that putting others down is damaging to the soul. The truth is that sticks and stones may break our bones, but names can truly kill us. We know from experience that a simple word or a label once sent people to showers without any water, the gas chambers of Auchwitz and other Nazi death camps during the Second World War. As James says, the tongue is like a fire… its damage can do irreparable harm.
For James, he wanted to catch this before it got out of hand. He doesn’t name names. He doesn’t call people up on the carpet. He simply says, that there is a responsibility for what we say, and most of all how we treat one another. James appears to catch this before things get out of hand within his own community, but we do know from our own experiences that sometimes they do.
With [the tongue], we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.
Critics of the church as a whole often point out hypocrisy in our ranks. Too often they are right. The church espouses God’s all encompassing love and freedom, and yet in many cases can be seen to control and exclude. Yet from the outset, from the earliest of our leaders, the warnings against being hypocritical have been there all along. Maybe we need to take our own advice! James points out that with one moment we praise God, and yet with the same mouth we criticize others… people who are made in the likeness of God… By extension James means that if we praise God, yet curse others, we are in fact cursing God. To borrow what James says, this ought not to be so! God calls us to something better than that… to see the world with God’s eyes, and to love the world, in all of its brokenness, with the way that God loves… maybe in doing that we might find our souls revived and hopeful.
This is why it’s such a powerful contrast to Psalm 19. The heavens and all creation let out deafening praise to God, yelling for all to hear… and yet without speaking a single word. The whispers in the early church threatened to light a fire that would split and ultimately consume this early congregation. For James, it was far more important to realize the immense responsibility that we have as human beings. The gift of language is a gift to be used wisely, because it has immense destructive potential, and yet has the power to transform us as well.
I suppose if there is one bit of wisdom that comes from this contrast is that often far more can be said when words are not used. As St. Francis of Assisi was once thought to have said, “preach the gospel always, use words if necessary.” Sometimes the loudest and most powerful statements come when no words are needed. James was incredibly concerned about how gossip, and mean-spirited language can undermine the integrity of a community. It can be doubly harmful within the context of a Christian community, because we expect better of ourselves. Yet we know from James, that the very dark side of humanity can and does bubble to the surface. For James, the importance was being aware of the power of the tongue. What we say can impact on our relationships with each other, it can be used to heal and support, but just as easily be used to rip, tear and destroy. As James reminds us, this can even happen within the church, so we need to be acutely aware of the power that words really do have. For James, there is no such thing as “idle chatter,” but whatever we say and do must be to build up and support one another.
As Psalm 19 reminds us, sometimes the most powerful language comes when we say nothing at all. Reaching out and holding someone’s hand can be far more effective than any amount of words of condolence. By their very presence alone, the heavens tell volumes about the glory of God. Maybe by saying less and doing more we can catch a glimpse and understand what both the Psalm writer and James were after.
Amen.
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