Meditation on James 3:1–12
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, NY
Pastor Karen Crawford
Sept. 15, 2024
Today, I am filled with gratitude. Today is the first day of Sunday School!
We have families bringing young children to church, helping us to be true to our vow and our calling to nurture the children in faith, hope, love, and service. Praise God!
And we have volunteers willing to make the commitment to teach the children about God’s love, through our curriculum, which connects with our lectionary scriptures each week. And through their example, the way they walk the walk and talk the talk. Through the way they live their lives!
I don’t have to tell you that it’s hard to find Sunday School teachers these days. Will you raise your hand if you have ever helped with Sunday School or Vacation Bible School? Thank you for your service! It’s a big commitment, isn’t it, especially when it means, in our situation, that our teachers will teach every week and not be able to join with their church family in the second half of worship? Our teachers always miss the message, the music, the pastoral prayer and sharing of joys and concerns. They miss the sacraments—Baptism and Communion.
I don’t have to tell you that fewer young adults are attending church with their children than, say, in the 1960s, when our congregation had grown with the town of Smithtown and built the Christian Education wing. They completed it in 1963, when the Rev. William Brown, Jr. was minister here. For a number of years, says our Church and Community (Second Edition)history book, the church claimed the highest Church School enrollment in the Long Island Presbytery.
Who was here in the 1960s, when the congregation was overflowing with children and youth? That must have been amazing! By 1972, however, there was a downward trend in enrollment. Listen. “In the age group 2 years through 6th grade, there were 400 registered in 1972. This dropped to 365 in 1973 and at the end of 1974, there were 302 registered. A dedicated teaching and support staff of 80, including 37 teenagers, is required (by 1975) to conduct classes at both 9 and 11 o’clock each Sunday.”
Times are a little different now, aren’t they?
But today isn’t the day to mourn what we no longer have. Today is the day to count our blessings.
Today, as we commission Sunday School teachers and bless the children and their backpacks, we celebrate and appreciate the Lord’s goodness and our beautiful church family. We give thanks for the gifts of the Holy Spirit poured into the flock, for the loving relationships that abound, and our growing in faith and faithfulness.
James tells us in our reading today that not many of us should be teachers because God will judge those who teach with a greater strictness. Of course, he is preaching to a congregation of teachers because every disciple of Jesus Christ is called to teach. The Lord tells us this in Matthew 28! The risen Christ returns to his followers and says to them in verses 18 through 20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spiritand teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Yes, we are all called to be teachers and share the gospel with the world around us, with our congregation, families, neighbors, people we work with, people we run into at Stop and Shop, Trader Joes and Whole Foods….
And what is the one thing that every teacher needs to teach? In James’ time and community, there were no curriculum guides, printed materials, or video clips, of course. They only had their faith as it had been taught and modeled to them; the Scripture they had learned in the synagogue, for we believe that James’ congregation was Jewish; their own stories of what God had done in their hearts, minds, and lives; and their own voices, their speech!
James, possibly the James in Acts 15 who was a half brother of Jesus and led the Church at Jerusalem, includes himself with all the other disciples when he says, “For all of us make many mistakes” with our speech, with our teaching. He urges us to be “perfect” and not make any mistakes with our speech.
At the same time, he assures us that it is impossible to be perfect in our speech!
He uses some concrete examples as lessons for us—as if he, too, is a Sunday School teacher with an object lesson. He does this in the example of Jesus, who often used object lessons to help us in our understanding and obedience to God’s word. Jesus used all sorts of familiar images and objects from his world, such as a camel going through the eye of a needle; a coin with Caesar’s picture on it to answer a question about taxes; a fish with a coin inside its mouth to show how God provides for the disciples to pay taxes; a sower, seeds, soil, rocks, and weeds to talk about the faithful being patient and persevering; birds that are fed and flowers with fine clothing, and God seeing a sparrow dropping from the sky to illustrate how lovingly God cares for all Creation and especially for us; fig trees that, like those who are called to follow Christ, bear good fruit; a candle and a bushel basket and a lamp on a stand to urge us to share the gospel and let the light of Christ shine on the world.
James opens a window into First Century Christianity when he teaches us to tame our tongues, as if we were horses, keeping our bodies in check with a bridle. He tells us to look at ships, a popular mode of travel in ancient times, especially when you live on the water. We can almost hear the wind blowing when he says, “Though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them,” but they are guided by only a small rudder, “wherever the will of the pilot directs.” The tongue is a small member, as well, yet “boasts of great exploits.”
My image of a dry, rocky, desert region in the biblical world is set aside when he uses the metaphor of a forest fire—set ablaze by the tongue, which is a fire. It’s as if James truly is talking to us—in our time and place. All of us can imagine a forest fire!
Friends, this message from James cannot be more relevant, particularly in a presidential election year. Amen?
Everything we say, dear ones, can never be unsaid! We can’t take it back, though we can ask for forgiveness and vow to be more careful in our speech so as not to hurt anyone. Everything we listen to on the 24-hour cable news, ROKU, Youtube, Satellite radio, or a podcast cannot be unheard. Our ears, minds, and hearts hold onto these powerful words that can build up, encourage, and bring life, healing and wholeness, or break down, cause resentment, and destroy relationships and a person’s sense of self, strength of character, and purpose.
Words can do all that and more!
Words can divide and stir conflict and unrest in a family, church, community, nation, world.
Words can also bridge divides, mend what is broken, put out fires, bring unity and peace.
The next images carry us back to Genesis, when God created “every species of beast and bird, reptile and sea creature,” and invited the human being to name and tame them, be a steward of God’s Creation. These wild animals can be tamed, but not the tongue, James says.
“No one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” With it, we both curse and bless the Lord and Father. From the same mouth comes curses and blessings! A spring cannot pour forth both fresh and brackish water. A fig tree can’t yield olives or a grapevine figs. He might be gesturing toward the sea when he says, “No more can saltwater yield fresh.”
Dear friends, I am so happy that we HAVE children in our church family! I am OVER THE MOON. I can’t tell you how happy I am that God has entrusted us with children and youth to guide, bless, care for, learn from, and love. And I am so glad and thankful that we have good and kind people, willing to take up the cross and follow Jesus, though it means a weekly commitment to nurture our church’s children in the faith.
But, sisters and brothers, they need our help. They need our encouraging words, our prayerful support. We need more adult and teen helpers, perhaps taking turns, on a rotating basis. We need substitute teachers. We need someone to give our teachers a break on Easter Sunday, so they can worship with their families.
And here’s what else we can do, even if we cannot all be in the classroom. Let us remember that we are ALL teachers! Every time we open our mouths, we are teaching someone something. We are revealing who we are and what we believe. Every time we speak to our children and youth, greet them as they come into church or leave for Sunday school or eat with us in parish hall. Or, every time we fail to greet them or eat with them in the parish hall. Every time they hear us talking to each other, telling stories about our church, families, vacations, and places of work, they are watching and listening. They are learning from us!
The question is, what are they learning? Is what they hear and see helping them with their journeys of faith?
The good news is that we have assistance with this important labor of love. We are not alone in this difficult task of teaching and discipling, with a call to be perfect in our speech, when NO ONE is perfect in speech—because the tongue cannot be tamed!
The risen Christ promises his disciples, after commanding them to baptize and teach the nations what he has taught them, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Will you pray with me?
Let us pray.
Holy One, thank you for being our example of perfect, self-giving love and grace for sinners, who cannot tame our tongues. Thank you, Lord, for the promise that you are with us always, even to the end of the age. Help us, Lord, to speak life and shine light into the darkness with our tongues, to use words to build up, heal and make whole what is broken, and unite and bring peace where there is strife and conflict. We thank you for your blessing of Sunday School, for our children and young families, and for the good and kind volunteers who are willing, able, and available to teach. We ask that you help us raise up more volunteer leaders so that we may continue to be faithful to nurture our children and youth and grow in faith and faithfulness. Strengthen and guide us, Lord, your Church, as we seek to take up our crosses and follow you. Amen.
Sharing God's Love and Grace 