This Sunday’s reading from the letter of James, chapter 3, is all about the damage our tongues can do. James describes the tongue as “a restless evil” and worries that we can at one and the same time claim to love God and yet say things that bring hurt to others: “With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.” (v9) James uses the word ‘cursing’, suggesting a deliberate abuse, but perhaps the bigger problem is all those little things we might say (or do) without thinking through how they might be received, or passed on, or in some way damage someone else’s self and life. James’ plea is that if we love God and love our neighbour, we have to train ourselves always to think before we speak, to say what God would want to hear us speak, and to live out blessing; in all situations, we should speak with gentleness and wisdom. Perhaps this is particularly important whenever we have differences of opinion, or concerns that are precious to our hearts.
The passage from the start of James, chapter 3, recognises that we all make mistakes, and opens with the advice that anyone carrying the responsibility of teaching others is particularly in the spotlight on being careful in what they say. We might heave a sigh of relief if we are not professional teachers, to pass on this burden but in a sense, as Christians witnessing to the Gospel in word and action, we do all share in this responsibility. James shows how much this is a daunting task, and yet if we read on beyond this extract from his letter, we are promised God’s heavenly wisdom to shape our tongues and lives whenever we work at drawing close to God. Whenever we have set God in our hearts and understanding, we are better prepared to ‘think God first’ in all our speaking and doing, and God understands just how hard we can find this!
Henry Walford Davies, drawing on the prayers of St Anselm, summed this up in his hymn:
God be in my head
And in my understanding
God be in mine eyes and in my looking.
God be in my mouth and in my speaking.
God be in mine heart and in my thinking.
God be at my end and in my departing.
I invite you to take a moment to dwell in this prayer as you listen to it sung by the Choir of King’s College Cambridge. https://youtu.be/UCik9Us_K2A
And I invite you also to join with many others around the country on Friday 27th September in praying for our schools, for pupils and for their teachers, and to become a part of the hope that one day every school in the UK will have a church community regularly praying for it. There are three schools located within our Benefice: Buckland Church of England Primary School, Longworth Primary School and St Hugh’s Prep School.
Lucy G
Image: WW2 poster (from Google Images free-to-use)
Choir of Kings’ College Cambridge, singing Henry Walford Davies’ hymn https://youtu.be/UCik9Us_K2A