Fr Matthew Reese

“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. […] 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.” — James 3:6-10

Dear Friends,

From time to time, I suspect we’ve all heard a passage of scripture that speaks so clearly to us—so penetratingly—it feels as if the whole Lectionary was constructed for just us to hear just those words in just that moment.

I joked that, as a seminarian, I seemed to always be assigned lessons that left no option but a sermon against clericalism.

And if there’s one takeaway from today’s readings, it’s surely “woe to you preachers!” For as James writes “… you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

Today we are reminded of the power of words. We are reminded that what we say, and how we say it, has real and meaningful consequences.

For those of us in the pulpit, it is a reminder of our duty to preach the Good News as faithfully, honestly, and humbly as we can. (In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus warns his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come!”)

But the message is far greater than that. “With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.”

We are creatures of great contradictions—capable of such extraordinary faithfulness and beauty, and also such meanness and vengeance. (For a textbook example, see two of today’s Psalms, 94 and 95).

It is not always easy to see that the people in front of us—even the people we think are “against us”—are also made in the likeness of God. But they are. In all the messy ways that we are. And God calls us not to agreement but to love.

So today, let us speak with a kind word, because this truly is blessing to God.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew