Beware of Your Tongue's Deadly Fire Power
Daily Scripture
James 3:4-10
Bishop Will Willimon’s most recent book, The Church We Carry, is a plea for Christian unity. The church Willimon grew up in and always thought of as “home” disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church. Yet, despite the pain and ugliness of that process, he still finds hope. Each day, we’ll share a short excerpt from his book.
4 Consider ships: They are so large that strong winds are needed to drive them. But pilots direct their ships wherever they want with a little rudder. 5 In the same way, even though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts wildly.
Think about this: A small flame can set a whole forest on fire. 6 The tongue is a small flame of fire, a world of evil at work in us. It contaminates our entire lives. Because of it, the circle of life is set on fire. The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell.
7 People can tame and already have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish. 8 No one can tame the tongue, though. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. 10 Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it just shouldn’t be this way!
Daily Reflection & Prayer
“Congregational disagreements over inclusiveness are nothing new. I figure that half of the New Testament is a debate over Paul’s shocking claim, ‘God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles’ (Acts 28:28). I entered the ministry during the fight over the racial integration of The UMC, a fight we won with a vote one afternoon at annual conference in Columbia but not on Sunday morning at 11:00… in Greenville.” *
The apostle James found one habit of speech particularly ironic. “With [our tongue] we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth,” he wrote. Applying this passage, Pastor Hamilton asked, “Does the Lord give us an exemption from practicing the Scriptures when it comes to our political leaders… and others with whom we disagree? Are we allowed to lay aside the Golden Rule?” **
- Sociologists know that in wartime, soldiers use dehumanizing nicknames for people on the other side. It seems to become easier to kill people if we stop thinking of them as people, as human. Have you ever seen similar results in religious or political “combat,” when a dinner table remark can start a “fire”? Have you ever made friends with a person, then found you hold different views, and realized that a casual slur or online comment might burn down your rapport with your friend?
- Pastor Hamilton wrote, “Part of the polarization… in our country today is a result of pastors and church leaders who have abandoned the teachings of Jesus and the apostles regarding the way we speak of those with whom we disagree. Part of the healing of our nation must come from the church modeling for our society how we are to love those with whom we disagree.” *** Do you agree with James that blessing God while cursing people “just shouldn’t be this way”? Are you willing to rethink the ways you use words?
Prayer
Lord God, sometimes those who disagree with me bug me so much that I wonder “where they came from.” But, like me, they ultimately came from your creative heart. Help me move toward seeing them as you see them. Amen.
GPS Insights
Emily Stirewalt
Emily Stirewalt, who serves as Resurrection's Silverlink Pastor specializing in pastoral care of elderly adults, wrote today's Insights. She is an ordained Elder in the Missouri Annual Conference and has served since 2007. She is married to Randall, a special education teacher. They have two daughters, Elliott and Marlowe. Emily enjoys binge watching "Friends" or "Golden Girls."
Have you ever met a stranger through the walls of two porta-potties? Let me tell you about the time I did.
My little family has gone to the SantaCaliGon Days Festival in Independence, Missouri for the past four years. It is held in downtown Independence, Missouri every year during Labor Day weekend. We all love the fair food, like corn dogs and nachos. The girls convince us to get their faces painted like a unicorn or tiger. My husband loves the historical play area for the kids that teaches them how the settlers loaded wagons to head west in the 1800s. I love shopping for new fall crafts and decorations.
But last year, September 2024, we were gearing up for a national level election. And it turned out that a hometown festival like this one is a different kind of place during an election year. We were bombarded with booths for candidates, local parties and all kinds of swag from both parties. After stopping at our preferred booths, one of my girls needed to go to the bathroom.
Enter the port-a-potties. I had never taken a child to one of those before. And it did not go smoothly. I overheard that the mom next to me might be having some of the same issues as I was. Lots of questions from the child. Some fears. Some hesitancy to get out of the port-a-potty as fast as humanly possible. (Little people are a trip.) I took a chance and shouted to the other stall that I was cheering that mom on and that she was not alone. We shared a laugh through those thin walls and found solidarity in how much the world is not set up for children.
We exited about the same time, and I noticed she was wearing a hat. A hat promoting a candidate I did not plan on voting for in about six weeks. I am certain she saw the yard sign I had for the candidate running against the one she was supporting. She looked at it and seemed a bit worried about what we might say to each other next. I simply told her I was glad she did not think I was weird for talking to her through a port-a-potty and told her she was a good mom. She told me the same. I found myself wondering: if we had been able to see one another sooner, would we have been able to look past the political division our swag marked us with?
It does not matter how different we are, how differently we see things. If we start to dehumanize those who are different from us, we have lost Christ. Period. Your tongue is a sharp tool. Use it very wisely, my friends. And make sure those you are voting for do too.
© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Willimon, William H., The Church We Carry: Loss, Leadership, and the Future of Our Church (p. 158). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.
** Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008, p. 22.
*** Ibid., pp. 22-23.
