Tongues on Fire

       I spent Thursday evening sitting and watching the girl's volley ball games from the "C" squad to the varsity team.  Going to games is a fun way to visit with different people but also to keep up with the youth and watch them as they change and grow.  Plus, there is popcorn and the band plays; it's a good time.
       Last night found me sitting in the stands at the football game.  As the game went on, I found myself reflecting on the cheering I'd been hearing and had been part of at those games.  There was a lot of cheering for our side, encouraging individuals, recognizing good efforts, and groaning when things didn't go our way.  But for the most part, there wasn't any booing or negative cheers against the opposing teams.
       Now granted, this is probably a more gentle form of football than can be found at larger venues, or college or pro ball.  (You know you are at a small town, small school game when the national anthem is sung by a second grader and one of the officials is introduced as John Smith, nephew of Joe.)  This is not to say that there wasn't competition or that the teams weren't trying their hardest - they do their best.  But there was mingling around the concession stand, talking amongst people, and most people were just enjoying the evenings.
       What got me in this mood was thinking about the events of this week.  There seems to be a strong cultural shift to polarizing people into sides separated by differing thoughts and/or beliefs.  And disagreeing isn't enough; the separation gets cemented by disrespect, disdain, and outright hateful acts and speech.  In this kind of divided thinking, we aren't just different, we (whoever we are) are right and they (whoever they are) are wrong.  This attitude shows itself everywhere from politics and international relations to church and family relations.
        It feels like we have forgotten to be nice and to remember that we need each other and have to live with each other.  
       And into this mix, there was thrown the Molotov cocktail of the movie defaming the prophet Mohamed and the Islamic faith.  Violent protests have spread in several nations taking the lives of Ambassador Stevens and three of his staff and causing other injuries and destruction of property.  And all of this, on both sides, has been done (once again) in the name of God.  
       The second reading for Sunday comes from the letter of James. In it, James writes about the dangerous power of the tongue and how much damage words can cause when they are either careless or abusive.  The burnt out U.S. Embassy in Libya is a graphic depiction of the destructive power of words.
      More invisible but also painful are the divisions and injury caused by words in our own communities, families and churches.  Sometimes our words are literally thoughtless, spoken unguardedly without thinking through the consequences.  But there are other times when we plan our words, thinking that we can strike out at someone else without wounding ourselves.
       The words of James remind us that as we are loved by God, we need to live that love in all our relationships.  As he says, we are to live so that our actions "are done with gentleness born of wisdom".   In a world where speech has become a bloodsport, with God's help, even our words should witness to God's love.  Read James 3:1-13