The New Testament reading in church recently was a well-known passage from the Letter of James. In the NRSV translation of James’ Letter, Chapter 3 is headed ‘Taming the Tongue’ and here James is giving the young church community some sound advice about minding what they say.
At this time, Christians were meeting in small groups, in their homes; depending on shared letters from their leaders to teach them about spiritual matters. This was a time of political upheaval and the Christian church was very new, and scattered – and quite small, though growing quickly.
There were constant rumours and false teachings, and lots of scandal and gossip, and James warns against the dangers of all such chatter. In the New English Bible the general heading for the Letter of James is ‘Practical Religion’ – seems rather appropriate.
In Chapter 3 James writes,
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits ... The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body ... For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. James Chapter 3:5–8
Move forward a couple of thousand years and we can see that nothing has changed, really. Sure, there was no electronic media or tweeting or instant chatter back in the early years of the first millennium, but if that had been a ‘thing’ you can bet it would have been buzzing just as it is today.
Our world is so full of words, isn’t it?
A constant stream of language assails us, not only audibly and face-to-face. There’s social media, tweets, instant messages, phone calls, all clamouring for attention. News and fake news. Amazing offers. Personality tests. It can be quite overwhelming. It’s also a huge distraction.
Every time I check my email, I find an ever increasing amount of unsolicited mail. Some of it looks kind of legit, such as the two I got just this morning, informing me that my parcel had been returned because the address was incorrect and can I please come to Sydney or Rome (yes, Rome is in Italy!) to the central mail centre and collect the package. As if!
Other emails are quite entertaining and speak in very flowery English, with lots of affirmation of my ‘esteemed character’ and ‘personable generosity’, not to mention my apparently extreme integrity and trustworthiness regarding the gazillions of dollars which they want to entrust to me. I do love some of these, particularly this one:
The real geniuses [presumably me] simply have their bright ideas closer together don't miss this offer. We will be happy to amaze you with our work.
Sure there are kind words, instructive words, encouraging messages, lovely everyday conversations over a cuppa. But when it comes to media generally, it is not always so. There’s always someone with an opinion, wanting to share it with you. The opinion may or may not be based on anything factual – that doesn’t really matter, does it? It is so easy for ‘trolls’ and others to jump onto the interwebs and fling about their opinions and half-baked truths and false facts, while lurking in anonymity in the darkness of the electronic sphere.
Fake news? Yeah. Heaps of it. Nasty personal attacks? Sure, go for it. Snake oil miracles? Yep. Seems there are miracles and cures for any affliction you’ve got, real or imagined.
Words, words, words
A bewildering mass of truths and untruths. All with no care, and no responsibility, because the speakers believe they have a right to their opinion and if you’re upset that’s your problem, not theirs. It’s good to turn it all off sometimes and reach for a ‘real’ book, or spend time talking with a friend.
James was right and his words ring as true today as they did 2,000 years ago.
The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
Mind what we say!
Sheelagh Wegman, BA, IPEd Accredited Editor is a freelance editor and writer. She belongs to St David’s Cathedral in Hobart and lives in natural bushland on the foothills of Mt Wellington.
Sheelagh Wegman’s previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/sheelagh-wegman.html