First Baptist Church of Asheville Podcast
Sermon: Beginning With the Benediction
"From the same mouth, come blessing and cursing. This ought not be so." James writes, "After comparing the human tongue to a bridle on a horse, a rudder on a ship, and finally a small fire capable of setting an entire forest ablaze." Then another metaphorical way, James, approaches the human tongue like we might step wearily around a poisonous snake. Recently I was on the bike ride with Aaron and my dad, we were going through Bint Creek and we came upon this couple that had stopped and I thought, "Well, they must have a flat tire." No, they were looking at a timber rattler just stretched out right across the path. Once we've seen it, when someone has pointed it out to us, our senses heighten, the primordial fear rises, the adrenaline courses. We take every precaution so as not to be the recipient of whatever toxin it's been storing up for its prey. Whatever metaphor we might use for the human tongue clearly James is concerned about it, its effects on people. Remember that James is riding in the earliest years of the church's existence. The ethical implications of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are just beginning to catch on. One of the ideas gaining traction throughout the Mediterranean was that every human being, not just your family, not just your tribe, not just your group, but every human being, all of them, whether they're a believer or not, is made in the image of God, in the likeness of God. This was new. As well Jesus has taught the church to expect that he will be present to us in our neighbors, present to us in strangers, and sometimes especially present to us in our enemies. So when we speak to one another and when we speak to any human being whatsoever, we should consider that we might be speaking unwittingly to an angel or even to Christ himself. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing, it ought not be so. In this second sermon of a three sermon series on James, we come again to an aspect of the art of belonging. Last week I spoke with Gil being an aspect of faith, and I tried to show that genuine belonging takes practice. There are gifts of grace, practices that enable deeper belonging over time, prayer, generosity, communion. When we practice prayer, generosity, communion, we invoke God's power to do these things. The spirit deepens our faith and expands our wisdom and strengthens our fellowship. The art of belonging stems from a faith that follows. Today, I want to say belonging is at stake when we speak to one another. This would seem rather obvious, but the vitriol that we've been witnessing in ourselves and our relationships, our families, our congregations, our workplaces, our politics suggests what we know to be true in our heads is not made it all the way to our hearts. The toxicity has made us sick. Author Rachel Condon recently wrote, "We are in the 1920s of cigarettes when it comes to social media. Everyone's got a light cough, but we're convinced it must just be fallen season. Wash your hands," she said, "it's the cigarettes." I trust that if you've gathered here today, you know this in your heart. You know that something has gone deeply wrong with language when we and our neighbors can live in such different language worlds. This has happened rapidly over the last 15, 20 years. You remember back just speaking of national politics, you remember back like in the late 70s when Jimmy Carter got in a lot of trouble for saying he committed adultery in his heart for sometimes he had a wondering eye? Everybody went nuts. They were only crazy. Can you imagine him saying that today? We wouldn't know he had said it. It would not have rise to the level of media. That's how far this has gone. Our lives have become so determined by internet algorithms that cordon us off into cell groups where truth is optional. We make up facts that correspond to our prejudices. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. It all not be so. James wrote after spending all morning on Facebook. Belonging begins with benediction. The word benediction means say well, speak well. And what a benediction does is bless. And to bless is to confer God's favor on another human being. To bless someone is to say to them, I commend God's favor and safe keeping to you. I wish for you not my will, but God's. I hope your destiny in God will be made manifest in the living of these days. Not only belonging, but creation itself begins with a litany of benedictions. God says let there be light and there's light and God says it is good. And God separates the waters from the waters and he says it is good. And God creates the sun and the moon and the stars and says that's good. And God creates the sea monsters and the living creatures. Everything that moves, every kind, everything that swarms in the waters, every winged bird of every kind and God says that's good. And the cattle and creeping things and the wild animals and presumably mosquitoes. And God saw that it was good and God created human kind and the image of God. God blessed them and it was so. And at the end of it, God saw everything that God had made and God adds an extra word. And it was very good, blessing, blessing, benediction, benediction all across the very first chapter of the scriptures. You might say Jesus does the same thing, the Sermon on the Mount. There are two versions, one in Matthew, one in Luke and they both begin with what? How does Jesus preaching ministry begin? With benedictions, blessings, speaking well. I really like Matthew's version for its comprehensiveness. There's a lot of blessings, a dozen blessings, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers. But also love Luke, there aren't as many blessings but they're very personal, blessed are you. Blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who are hungry now, blessed are you who weep. Now the disciples and everyone within Earshot know that they belong to one who blesses. Paul's letters are woven with benediction. Here's one from 2 Thessalonians. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Bless you, bless you, it is good, blessed are you, blessed are you. God our Creator and our living Lord Jesus Christ and the authors of scripture all sound like they're not only blessing us but teaching us how to bless one another. You too have the power to bless. All you need are words whether spoken or signed by hand. At your baptism the spirit conferred upon you the power to bless. You need no seminary degree, no high school diploma, no voter ID, no registration at all. You need only the Holy Spirit descending on you like a dove and resting on you and empowering you and pouring into your heart and mind any good word to share that can rest lightly and gently on the heart of another. Years ago the actor Michael Douglas appeared on the tonight show with David Letterman. And it was there that evening that he shared with the nation that he had staged for throat cancer and that his treatment was imminent and David Letterman was quite taken with his diagnosis and was asking him many questions, how are you doing, what's the treatment going to be like, how is your family, what does stage four mean, you could see the genuine care and affection that he had for Douglas and at the end of the segment he looks at Michael Douglas and he says, "Can I do something for you?" And Douglas says, "Oh, I don't know. You can give me a hug." Letterman's not really a hugger, he stood right up and they embraced on national television. Well, with apologies to Dave Letterman and Dave if you're watching, I love you. I'd love for you to move to Asheville, come join our church and we'll put you on communications. I'm just kidding, we'll put you on finance. We who carry the mantle of baptism have an even greater lexicon to add to the hug God being your head and in your understanding. How many people have told me, "Reacher, I like your sermon and all but I really look forward to the benediction." Good. You bless me by saying that. We who long for belonging have been given art supplies including a pallet with a spectrum of benedictions to use. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace now and forever. We who have been blessed by the artists of the cosmos now have blessings of our own to choose. My youth minister years ago wrote his own benediction for the youth and the love of God the Father and the peace of Christ the Son and the power of the Spirit. Bless and keep you everyone. You can make up your own. Some of you were touched years ago and I told the story of my chaplain residency. I had no idea what I was doing wondering around a hospital walking in and out of the rooms of perfect strangers. One day I walked into an expansive suite of a room. Large family was gathered there, a tall, elegant gentleman lay in the bed, fully alert, smile broadly when I walked into the room knowing I was a chaplain. I felt welcome immediately. We had a wonderful conversation and at the end before he let me go he said, "I would like to bless you. You've blessed me, you've prayed for me, but now it's my turn." He was an Air Force Captain, not a minister. So what? He asked a nurse to bring a little paper cup of olive oil and they did and he dipped his thumb in it and he traced the sign of the cross on my forehead three times, the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. And you know that personal touch sometimes, how it can feel, electric? Someone touches you on the forehead perhaps to bless you or grabs your hand or places their hand on top of yours to comfort you. You can feel it. Human heart has electricity in it. It's not a surprise when we hear the story of Jesus feeling power go out of him when the woman clings to his robe. I felt that the power of the Spirit conveyed to me in that moment. You have the power to do this too. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing, this ought not be so, it's not going to be so here, not today. May I bless you now? Blessed are you who are gathered here. Blessed are you who labor for Christ's sake. Blessed are you who handle raw Scripture with bare hands. Blessed are you who give cups of water to people with parts, throats. Blessed are you who care for children. Blessed are you who anoint the sick with all. Blessed are you who walk into prisons with nothing but a Bible and the shirt on your back and a song in your heart. Blessed are you who visit people in their homes, whether it's to share a story or a piece of pie or a piece of communion bread and a thimbleful of wine. Blessed are you who sit beside the dying, blessed are you who have seen the hearse pull into your own driveway. Blessed are you who bear the many and various burdens of people in your life. Blessed are you who know how to count a friend's tears. Blessed are you when keeping the face still breaks your heart. Blessed are you who endure slights and passive aggression and angry online messages. Blessed are you when people tell you you can't do it. Blessed are you when people walk out on you. Blessed are you who have been disenfranchised. Blessed are you who are underprivileged. Blessed are you who have lived your whole life on the margins. Blessed are you who lament and wet your bed with tears. Whether of sadness or of worry or worry, depression or frustration. Blessed are you who work with your hands. Blessed are you who work with words. Blessed are you who awake early on Sunday mornings with a higher pulse and a quickness to your breath as the anticipation of communion and fellowship, the spark of love and the voltage of the word begins to course through your veins. Blessed are you who wonder if God really cares for you. Blessed are you who are on the verge of losing your faith. Blessed are you who have lost your faith. Blessed are you who wonder if anything will ever change. Blessed are you who show up when sometimes you'd rather stay home. Blessed are you who stand firm when you'd rather run. Blessed are you who tell the truth. What are you who bless?