C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for June 8, 2008 A preacher once told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17." Words are powerful. They carry so much more meaning than the guttural and nasal grunts that create them. They have a context, they come with revealing body language and unspoken attitudes. Words have the power of life and death. On the one hand, with your words you can manifest your highest purpose. On the other hand, with your words you can betray the desires of your heart. With your words you have the power to either destroy or heal another person’s spirit. If you are impeccable with your words, these words produce the fruit of your deepest desire for a more peaceful world. Words can also be confusing. I mean think about it- a house burns up as it burns down. You fill in a form by filling it out. Noses run and feet smell. When the stars are out they are visible, but when the lights are out they are invisible. Quite a lot and quite a few refer to the same quantity. Sitting up and sitting down describe the same action. A fat chance is the same chance as a slim chance. On the other hand, overlook and oversee have the exact opposite meaning. When I wind up my watch it starts but when I wind up this sermon it ends. Just in case English isn’t a strange enough language, we have oxymorons like virtually spotless, fresh frozen and jumbo shrimp. By the way, did you hear about the psychic dwarf who escaped prison? The headlines read “small medium at large”. English can be a confusing language, and sometimes we use confusing language either mindlessly or else to thinly veil an agenda. Civil war, friendly fire, and collateral damage are all oxymoronic phrases intended to soften the effect of war. Calling a recession a necessary downturn is intended to dull the pain and prevent blame being laid. Using words mindlessly or deceitfully is part of the old agreement. According to the old agreement words are used to put a wedge between you and others. In the old agreement, you use words to confirm your delusion that you are an island in a world where community is the natural order of things. You put others down in order to bolster your own sense of self. You thinly veil an agenda in order to increase your power. According to the new agreement, words bring you closer to others, and bring healing to the world. The Power of Words Words are powerful and their effect can go either way. The philosopher Xanthus ordered his servant Aesop to prepare his best banquet for an important occasion. Aesop prepared the tongues of many animals, cooked in many fashions. When Xanthus questioned him, Aesop defended himself by showing how the tongue is the best, being the organ that teaches, comforts, cheers, advises, promises and inspires. "Well," said Xanthus, "if that is the case, hurry and prepare another feast; and give us this time the very worst you have." Aesop obeyed, but the second time he again prepared tongues. "Why is this?" asked the angry Xanthus. "Master," said the wise steward, "the tongue is the worst as well as the best. By it comes treason, lying and slander. It is the organ of anger and deceit. It cheats and curses and boasts. All evil is in the tongue." Let me offer a personal, a religious and a national example of the power of words. 1. Personal Power of Words When I played my first game of football at the age of 8, my grandfather came to watch. He had been an outstanding footballer in his day. I scored two tries that day (touchdowns) and was feeling pretty pleased with myself. At the end of the game, I walked towards my grandfather, waiting for his praise and all he said to me was- “Do you realize that you didn’t make one tackle the whole game?” I was heart broken. You know, those words have plagued me to this day. It seems so silly. He said many positive things at other times, but that negative response stuck with me. Maybe there were words spoken to you as a child that have stuck with you, plagued you like a curse! Maybe you have had to overcome some hefty personal demons and rise above the destructive words spoken to you as a child. “You will amount to nothing. You are hopeless, silly or a failure.” The new agreement is to speak impeccably. In every situation, speak as if your words will stay with the other person for a life time. What words would you be pleased to have stay with another person for years to come? Imagine the positive power you can offer someone by affirming that they are loved and accepted. You have the power to build another person’s belief in themselves and life with your words. Your words have the power of eternal life. 2. Religious Power of Words The second example is a religious one. The old religious agreement locked you in dependence on an external God and on an infallible church. Traditional religion has its own oxymoronic language, intended to blindly keep people in dependence. Maybe you were taught to believe in oxymorons such as “virgin mother”, “scientific creationism”, “inerrant Bible” and maybe most insidious of all “saved by grace”. Grace implies you are accepted and acceptable as you are. Saved implies that you are dead in your sins and need to be rescued. Which is it? Acceptance or needing to be rescued, dependence or grace? The new agreement is to speak impeccably. May your words reflect the desires of your heart for radical acceptance and intelligent inquiry. Maybe we need a new creed. Instead of reciting a list of unbelievable and ancient superstitions, we could recite something more like this I believe that the word is filled with beauty and wonder 3. National Power of Words The other example is a national one. Now, I need to say first that if you have any ambitions to one day be the President of the United States, you should leave the building now. This next part of the sermon could come back to haunt you, like Jeremiah Wright’s sermons have haunted Barack Obama. Many people such as former White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan, have suggested that for the last 6 years we have not been given the whole truth. Marianne Williamson says: “How can we, who fail to speak words of life and love, be surprised when death and destruction visit our world?” The Bible and Impeccable Speech The Bible offers some very profound teachings about both the power of words and also ways to renegotiate relationships once a promise has been broken. Several passages in the Bible emphasize impeccable speech in a similar way to Don Miguel Ruiz’s “Four Agreements”. The first agreement is to speak impeccably. 1. Plain Speech The Sermon on the Mount encourages plain speech. While the old agreement was simply not to lie, the new agreement is to not even make promises unless you know you can keep them. Let your yes be yes. While the old agreement suggested it was particularly damaging to swear by God, the new agreement knows no such distinction between God and life. Do not swear at all. The Sermon on the Mount suggests being so impeccable with your word that you don’t just yes or nor. You say yes, yes and no, no. What is being suggested is a depth of passion and integrity. It’s more than emphasis. This is encouraging you to speak deeply held convictions and certainties and nothing more. 2. Compromising Oath What about the situation when someone is trying to force you to make an oath or promise that will compromise your impeccability of speech? Maybe you feel that the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag compromises the right of atheists and other faith groups to be full and equal participants in this country because of the phrase ‘under God’. In Matthew 26, Jesus offers a wonderful example of letting your yes be yes when someone else is trying to force you to make a pledge. Jesus is brought to trial and asked under oath if he is the son of God. His answer is brilliant. He says, “You have said so.” Try it out some time. If someone is trying to pigeon hole you and asks, “Are you a Christian, or are you a Democrat?, try answering “So you have said.” It’s a disarming response, but also one that refuses to be typecast for the sake of the other person’s agenda. 3. Renegotiating Pledges The new agreement is forgiving and recognizes that we all, even world leaders, make mistakes. There will be times when each of us will fail to be impeccable in speech. There is a way to make amends. There is an allowance made in Leviticus 5 for renegotiating promises that you once made without careful thought. By performing a set of rituals, Leviticus allowed for the forgiveness of flawed speech. Now, im not suggesting that either Leviticus or the Sermon on the Mount has any moral claim on life today. The Bible offers a universal spirit and metaphor for living a life of deep love and forgiveness, whatever that means in a particular context. Just as your best will change from one moment to another, so your promises will need to be renegotiated from one moment to another. The new agreement is open and forgiving. This is not to say that if a world leader remains unrepentant and dogmatic in their position that impeachment is not an option. This country has shown that it is forgiving. Think of Richard Nixon, and more recently think of Bill Clinton. I have no doubt that the same renegotiation would take place if current leaders acknowledged mistakes in Iraq and sought new solutions. Be Impeccable with Your Word There is an incredible healing power that takes place when promises and pledges are renegotiated. Consider the example of Australia. The history of that nation is built on a lie; the denial of genocide of Indigenous people, and lies about the stolen generation. When the current Prime Minister was campaigning last year, he promised that one of his first acts as PM would be to apologize to the Indigenous People. Early this year, Kevin Rudd followed through on this promise. He let his yes be yes yes, and he began a process of renegotiation with the Indigenous people of Australia. Of course, it will take a lot more than that. Maybe that’s the spirit of the elaborate rituals in Leviticus. But the apology is a great place to start. What a wonderful beginning. An incredible healing has begun.
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