Dearest e-votees-
How easy it is to start a raging fire. How hard it is to extinguish.
Clear warnings come from our assigned epistle text about playing with fire. Will we heed them?
Peace,
Karl
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Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 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. 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. 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. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
One of my most vivid childhood memories is experiencing the woods around our campsite burning up as a mysterious fire which began in our Volvo spread its destructive grasp. What started small did significant damage before it was restrained. We never determined with certainty if the blaze was intentional or accidental.
One of the most compelling movie images I have seen in a while (and trust me I have seen quite a few) was the scene in Doubt when the priest played by Philip Seymour Hoffman delivers a preaching image regarding gossip. A woman is troubled in her soul about a dream she had and wonders if it has to do with her habit of gossip. When she talks to her priest he counsels her to take a pillow up to the rooftop of her apartment and stab the pillow with a knife. She comes back to report she has done as requested. He asks what happened when she stabbed the pillow. “Feathers.” she replies. The scene shows feathers flying away in all directions carried with the wind—beautifully shot. He tells her to go and retrieve the feathers. She says she cannot for she doesn’t know where they have gone. “And that is what gossip is.” proclaims the priest.
With our tongues we can start raging infernos. We don’t even need to say something directly. We can hint at it or just let a reckless assertion go unchecked. How easy it is to cast igniting sparks about and see what is ready to flare into blaze. Too many of us have pyromaniac tendencies when it comes to such things.
It used to be the case that at least we needed to say things face to face. People would be able to gaze into our eyes and perhaps challenge the wild assertion on occasion. These days we can start blazes with just a few strokes on the keyboard. The internet is a ripe fodder for blazes. We can twitter or blog or spam just about anything we so choose. We can easily obscure our identity. We can cut and paste and alter and repost with virtual impunity. Our audiences are larger than ever and accountability is at an all time low.
How careful are we with our tongues and with our typing? Does fresh and brackish water flood our conversations and our postings? Do the fig trees in our lives yield figs or some unnatural fruit? Do we find ways to put the best constructions on things or do we like to let festering insinuations enter into our thoughts and words and electronic communication?
The raging fire around the Los Angeles area that has been capturing attention in the news ought to capture our attention as well. Lives are destroyed and severe damage is inflicted when fires blaze—whether set intentionally or inadvertently. We need our tongues and our keypads to be tamed. That would be a great focus point for our prayers and our devotional practices.
Dear God, we make many mistakes. Give us courage to change our ways. When others burn us with their words and their actions help us find ways to forgive and renew. When we burn others give us courage and humility to do the hard work of restoration after the fire. Help our communications to be loving to neighbor and pleasing to you. Help us in this area of crucial growth, we pray. Amen.
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