I use words for a living. I speak, preach, teach, and write every day. I am called upon to pray at events, often at the spur of the moment. What I say and how I say it matters. And I take the words of the Book of James seriously; the tongue is a fire – a restless evil, full of deadly poison! I think that Jesus was trying to warn us about our words when He told His disciples to let their Yes be Yes and their No be No, because anything else comes from the evil one! And that is stuck right in the middle of His most important teachings, the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). This is why politicians generally use speech writers to carefully craft what they are putting out to the public. Words can heal and words can hurt. Who among us hasn’t said things that we wish we could scoop back into our brain? Who among us doesn’t regret something we said that hurt someone else?
For example, defund the police. This is an idiotic concept, taken at face value. I think the police need help in certain situations that they are not trained for, so we should provide professionals who understand mental illness. race, culture, neuro-divergency or LGBTQ fears. And I completely understand the racist origin of many police forces and the concerns many have about brutality and abuse; there are a few out there who should not be carrying a gun. But to put out a blanket statement that we should defund them? Complete insanity! Retrain – support – enhance – those are a couple of words that might work better. Because words matter.
Some people use incendiary words on purpose; they want to rile up the masses – they want to incite violence and fear and hatred. Their speeches are meant to cause division; their words are spoken to awaken our inner demons. Their message is often laced with insults and slurs and lies that can dredge up past wounds and present differences, leading to future devastation. Or they use imagery that is meant to conjure anger towards those who don’t quite fit into their angry rhetoric or agree with their perspective. Words matter.
No one can always say and do the right thing in every situation; that would take perfection, and none of us will ever be there, at least in this life. For me, the journey is about caring how my words are heard. That doesn’t mean we don’t speak the truth with love, because even that can be misconstrued. What it means is that we recognize when we are being manipulative and hurtful and dial it back so that our true meaning comes through. There will always be times when our words will be taken the wrong way, no matter what we say. Some people can be defensive about everything, and we can’t change that. My hope is that we can all remember that what we say matters and, in doing so, reject those who use words to break us apart. Seek to heal, not hurt. Because our words matter.
Prayer – Holy God, help us to speak the truth with love so that others might see the truth of what we say. Amen.
Today’s art is “The Pain of Anger” by Julie Raworth.