A long-time friend (thanks Dawn!) – we went to different churches and youth groups in high school – asked me if had seen the story about a Catholic priest in Ecuador – Father Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari – who had died during worship. It seems that he had just finished a sermon about how all of us will die, but there is more beyond this life, when the giant crucifix on the wall behind him came loose and landed on him, killing him. You probably had the same response that I did – at least, I hope you did – one of shock and sadness and concern for that poor congregation. That, however, was the preliminary story; the story that followed was about a Baptist minister in Texas named Jonathon Shelly. Shelly made light of the tragedy – he actually said it was God’s sense of humor! He then said that the priest died because of his heretical Catholic views! It should also be noted that this Baptist minister (I call him that with vinegar in my mouth) is known in his community for having children and teenagers come up to the front of the church to smash statues of the Virgin Mary and other people who are venerated.
We have all used words that cause injury, whether we mean to or not. The last 20 years have allowed more vile and hurtful words to be spoken, thanks to the internet, but the inclination that humans have to hurt others with words is as old as humanity. And saying that “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me” is one of the biggest lies we tell our children. We only have to look at the devastation brought about by bullies in every child’s life to this as fact. It isn’t that we shouldn’t tell the truth, but our words matter. And the words of those who serve as clergy matter even more; in fact, we are warned about it in Scripture. James 3 begins, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”, but the entire chapter is about how we who teach and preach are expected to control what we say. Verse 6 says, “And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell!” The writer of James meant business!
Maybe we have become so indifferent to hearing profanity and vicious insults that they have become normal; I choose to not live that way. You might not like what I write or say, but I work really hard to make my words, in whatever form, be as honest and truthful as possible. Occasionally, emotion seeps in and skews the message, and we all suffer from that. But to use words the way Shelly did – to believe that terrible things happen because God gets mad or is punishing us – these ideas, while fairly popular, are products of evil minds. Blaming God for Fr. Molinar’s death is immature and ignorant; calling it God’s sense of humor and justified breaks the 3rd Commandment. Words that show us truth and a need for repentance are necessary for us to live a better life; words that injure are, like James wrote, set on fire by hell. We all should be more careful about our words, because they matter.
Prayer – Holy God, help us to control our words so that they mostly help rather than injure. Amen.
Today’s art is art created by third graders and Katie Jaglowski.