As an Old Preacher, my life for the last fifty-plus years has been driven by the words I’ve written & spoken. As a would-be sage, I wonder if any of such words have come to roost in the minds & souls of those I’ve touched. Late-night turbulence brings my alter ego, who reminds me that I’m not particularly important, so why should anyone mark my rants and outbursts. Daylight calls me once more to the awful realization that phrases I offer to harm or heal call me to accountability both to God and to the greater community surrounding. Scripture passages for this weekend slap me for my ignorance. You can listen in, if you’d like…
Jeremiah 15:15-21 is particularly troublesome: the prophet laments the limited results of his hard and faithful work in behalf of God. And God answers (v.19), “If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them.” Utter what is precious? But I’m a teller of jokes, a buffoon FULL of worthless words! Is this why my acquaintances welcome me indifferently, but hope I’ll go away soon? Have I anything “precious” to share with others? I need to pull ‘way back…
Ah, well, enough about me. Paul, in Romans 12:9-21, gives LOTS of possible precious moments: Let love be genuine; be ardent in spirit; be present in suffering and persevere in prayer; extend hospitality….and one especially for me, “do not claim to be wiser than you are.” This passage continues to be the mission statement, our vision for Christian living. Ben Franklin suggests that when you have such a list of virtues, practice just one each week–and by the time you get to the bottom, you’ll have to start again from the top! Yep…
The Gospel remembers the humanity of Peter as he responded to Jesus in behalf of all of us: “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22) This was the same guy who shortly before this had confessed Jesus to be the Christ! Here was an ambivalence of words which Jesus respectively affirmed and rebuked, those which were earlier categorized as “precious” and “worthless”. I can’t say anything about Peter: he’s ME.
So I guess I’ve gotta refine my speech, concentrating on the precious and abandoning the worthless. This is hard, since my whole life is recognized for the trivial and the silly. Maybe with God’s help I can yield that which is meaningful, instead of rushing up to folks with my latest pun… Lord, help my words of today to be sweet and tender; tomorrow I may have to eat them!
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My wrestling with scripture texts for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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