Words Create Worlds
One phrase in the Rev. John Elford's sermon (University UMC, Austin, TX) from this past Sunday has stuck with me - "words create worlds." The phrase is attributed to Rabbi Heschel, but probably go back much farther in Jewish tradition. It reflects the creation of our world, when God spoke and new life emerged. It also speaks to the irrevocable nature of our own words. Once spoken, our words shape our reality - for good or bad.
I have had a lot of cause lately to be thinking about the nature of speech. We have all heard some astonishing rhetoric in the past few months. Some of it has been hateful and cringe-worthy, some of it encouraging and hopeful. But much of it has been said in haste, or anger, or depair, without much thought to the "world" that it is creating.
In thinking about the power of our speech, I am drawn, of course, to the book of James. A curious book in the New Testament. It doesn't seem to fit in with the other epistles. Instead of addressing a religious community and it's current issues, James is a gem of wisdom literature standing in the tradition of the Hebrew books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. And of course, it is famous for Martin Luther's attempt to remove it from the canon, calling it an "epistle of straw."
But James speaks realism to our current heightened climate, "How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire." (James 3:5b) James equates the tempering of our speech with wisdom. He states that bitter and angry speech does not come from wisdom. It creates disorder and disunity. But thoughtful speech reflects real wisdom which is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy." (James 3: 17). Wise speech does not mean that we cannot disagree or dissent, but it does mean that we must speak from love and not hate.
All too often, I think we forget that our words, once spoken, are difficult to take back. A story is told of a remorseful Jew who approaches his rabbi before Yom Kippur. "Rabbi, I spoke poorly about my neighbor. I know it is a great sin to spread gossip, and I desperately want to repent before Yom Kippur. What can I do?" The rabbi responded, "Take this bag of feathers and place one on each doorstep in the village." The contrite Jew eagerly carried out his rabbi's instructions. He returned in a few hours and proudly informed the rabbi of his actions. The rabbi replied, "In order to complete your process of repentance, you must return to each of those homes and collect the feathers again." Once again, this Jew rushed to fulfill the rabbi's order. Days later he returned with a long face and a heavy heart. "Rabbi, I tried my best to collect those feathers, but the winds came and blew them all over the city. I could not collect them all." The rabbi nodded and said, "Yes, my friend, that is the nature of our words. Once we have spoken them, we can not take them back."
So I have to ask myself? What kind of a world do I want to create? If my ideal world is one of love, of tolerance, of peace, of fairness and justice, then my words (spoken and written) need to reflect that. I can speak against the policies and opinions that I disagree with, as long as I do so with respect and integrity. I promise to try hard not to denigrate the person when disagreeing with their words or policies. Perhaps it will do me good to remember that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11: 1) and put my faith in the vision of a world shaped by compassion and love, rather than one shaped by fear and anger.
I have had a lot of cause lately to be thinking about the nature of speech. We have all heard some astonishing rhetoric in the past few months. Some of it has been hateful and cringe-worthy, some of it encouraging and hopeful. But much of it has been said in haste, or anger, or depair, without much thought to the "world" that it is creating.
In thinking about the power of our speech, I am drawn, of course, to the book of James. A curious book in the New Testament. It doesn't seem to fit in with the other epistles. Instead of addressing a religious community and it's current issues, James is a gem of wisdom literature standing in the tradition of the Hebrew books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. And of course, it is famous for Martin Luther's attempt to remove it from the canon, calling it an "epistle of straw."
But James speaks realism to our current heightened climate, "How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire." (James 3:5b) James equates the tempering of our speech with wisdom. He states that bitter and angry speech does not come from wisdom. It creates disorder and disunity. But thoughtful speech reflects real wisdom which is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy." (James 3: 17). Wise speech does not mean that we cannot disagree or dissent, but it does mean that we must speak from love and not hate.
All too often, I think we forget that our words, once spoken, are difficult to take back. A story is told of a remorseful Jew who approaches his rabbi before Yom Kippur. "Rabbi, I spoke poorly about my neighbor. I know it is a great sin to spread gossip, and I desperately want to repent before Yom Kippur. What can I do?" The rabbi responded, "Take this bag of feathers and place one on each doorstep in the village." The contrite Jew eagerly carried out his rabbi's instructions. He returned in a few hours and proudly informed the rabbi of his actions. The rabbi replied, "In order to complete your process of repentance, you must return to each of those homes and collect the feathers again." Once again, this Jew rushed to fulfill the rabbi's order. Days later he returned with a long face and a heavy heart. "Rabbi, I tried my best to collect those feathers, but the winds came and blew them all over the city. I could not collect them all." The rabbi nodded and said, "Yes, my friend, that is the nature of our words. Once we have spoken them, we can not take them back."
So I have to ask myself? What kind of a world do I want to create? If my ideal world is one of love, of tolerance, of peace, of fairness and justice, then my words (spoken and written) need to reflect that. I can speak against the policies and opinions that I disagree with, as long as I do so with respect and integrity. I promise to try hard not to denigrate the person when disagreeing with their words or policies. Perhaps it will do me good to remember that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11: 1) and put my faith in the vision of a world shaped by compassion and love, rather than one shaped by fear and anger.
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