The Words of Our Mouths Text: Acts 7: 54-60 A sermon preached by James F. McIntire Copyright 2014 James F. McIntire All rights reserved. May 18, 2014 5 th Sunday of Pascha Hope United Methodist Church Eagle & Steel Roads, Havertown, PA Phone: 610-446-3351 Web: www.havhopeumc.org Office: HopeUMCHavertown@verizon.net Pastor: HopeUMCPastor@verizon.net 2
Acts 7: 54-60 When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. 55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 Look, he said, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he died. Sometimes the words that come out of our mouths just don t make any sense and once they re out we wish we could quickly reel them back in. During a Miss USA contest the host asked this question of Miss Alabama: If you could live forever, would you and why? Miss Alabama answered: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever." Words. Words can convey feelings and emotions. Words can heal and they can hurt. Words can stitch together ideas that can t otherwise be united. But words can also slice apart and mutilate and mangle together ideas that should never be expressed. Words can be used like stones that we hurl at each other out of anger or frustration or fear or ignorance. Words, like the stones strewn around Stephen s bruised and limp body as it lay on the ground, can be used to smash relationships and even to kill each other. 3 In her book, Riding the Bus with My Sister, Rachel Simon tells of her experience with her adult sister Beth who has mental retardation and lives independently in a nearby community. Rachel recalls how much she has always loved words, which is probably why she s a writer, and how she is very aware of what words can do to others. She writes of her high school teen years: I like words people use. I like words. At night I go up to my room, and after I ve called my friends, I write lists of words as I hang out under this big blue clear plastic peace sign that I won at a county fair.. But there s one kind of word I never write down. Kids in the halls at school use it, and teachers who talk about John Steinbeck s Of Mice and Men. I don t need to write it because it bangs around every day in my head: DIMWIT, HALF-WIT, SIMPLETON, IDIOT, REJECT, SPAZZ, IMBECILE, GALOOT, MORON, DEFECTIVE And especially: RETARD They ll say these like it s nothing I go along because what else can you do? We all know about words that hurt. I hear words all the time that hurt me and hurt my family, words that others use to make fun of my daughter, Lindsay, who most of you know, has intellectual and physical disabilities. Those same words that Rachel Simon hears about her sister, Beth. So throughout my life I have chosen to switch up the old childhood taunt when it comes to the way we stone each other with words. Sticks and stones might break my bones but names will really 4
hurt me. Words cut through us like knives; words bruise us worse than any sticks or stones ever could. And unfortunately we have words piled up around us like an arsenal of rocks ready at the waiting for anything that we might consider threatening. The late 19 th and early 20 th centuries brought with them a model of social engineering that came to be known as eugenics a belief that we could better the human genetic pool by removing people through classifications based on their desirability to society. Along with it came the words that today we tend to use freely and dangerously. Idiot. In the early 1900s, Dr. Henry H. Goddard proposed a classification system for intellectual disability based on the Binet- Simon concept of mental age. Individuals with the lowest mental age level (less than three years) were identified as idiots; imbeciles had a mental age of three to seven years, and morons had a mental age of seven to ten years. The term "idiot" was used to refer to people having an IQ below 30. Idiot. Imbecile. Moron. Crazy. Dumb. Stupid. Retard. Have you ever used them? I have. We throw them around as if they are simply insults. But they are really weapons stones used to reduce each other to the point of elimination. In 1930s Nazi Germany these were labels that led to the death of thousands in gas chambers people with disabilities were the first ones to die. This week we gathered once again for our Annual Conference session the nearly 500 United Methodist churches in our Eastern Pennsylvania region send their clergy person and a lay delegate so that we might do our connectional business together budgets, appointing of pastors, celebrating ministry around the connection, ordination, worship, mission, etc, etc. We also attempt to iron out words words that set our common understandings of who we are as God s people called together to demonstrate that we are followers of Jesus, words that can show a clear witness of the love we have for each other. Words, if you will, that show that we are 5 willing to preach to the threat of death, the message of change that Jesus brought to us. To death. They covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Are we willing? To death? Every Sunday when we come to worship we imply yes, we re willing. Every day we do something to live out what Jesus taught which is contrary to what the world teaches we say it yes, we re willing. Every word that we use that speaks the message of this radical world-changing itinerant preacher we say yes, we re willing. Every time we come together at a gathering like this past week 1,000 of us in an expo center in Oaks, PA we claim those words yes, we are willing. We seem to be saying with Peter, "Jesus, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!" (Luke 22:33) Fag. It s the word that Bishop Johnson had to report to us yesterday morning when we 1,000 followers of Jesus gathered under one roof in unity and solidarity, those followers who are prepared to die like Stephen for the message of love that Jesus lived. But that s the word she had to tell us about. A word hurled like a death-spiraling stone. A word hurled at a delegate representing Arch Street UMC. A word hurled at a young adult man as he walked into this space that promises to be filled with love and connection. He wore a rainbow stole to show his solidarity with LGBT people who are refused ordination by our denomination. For this, a word of stone was aimed at his heart. 6
You don t deserve that wheelchair. Our tax dollars paid for that for you and this is how you act. Words hurled at my friend on Friday. You might expect words of compassion and support and advocacy for people with disabilities people who the church has mistreated through it s 2,000 year history people who have been treated as scapegoats and items of pity and loathing, people who have been infantilized and shunned and ignored. Words of compassion? Nonsense Let s hurl stones of hate! She was wearing a rainbow stole as well. She must be evil. She must be put in her place. She must be eliminated. Women shouldn t be ordained. I ll never submit to the authority of a woman. You don t deserve to be Bishop. You are violating God s law. More words. A paraphrase of the words that Bishop Johnson read to us also. Words from an Email she received on Friday one of many, I m sure challenging her as a woman, claiming a biblical mandate that she be silent and submissive. Words hurled at her and at all women who dare to preach God s love and the all inclusive message of Jesus who surrounded himself with not only male followers but female as well. Words intending harm. Words hurled like stones to suffocate the Word of God. At ordination on Friday night we sang songs calling on the church to draw the circle wider. We sang words reminding us that each of us is a child of God no matter what someone else might call you, no matter what the world may call you, no matter even what the church may call you you / I am a child of God. We heard words calling us each to ministry, calling some to be set apart for specialized work in the church. On Friday night, the circle was wide. On Saturday morning we hear of words hurled at each other disgusting words of derision and hate and anger. 7 What are we doing??? What is wrong with us?!?! Our debates on social justice resolutions yesterday lasted until 8 pm. Words tweaked and deleted and referred and tabled. Resolutions accepted and denied and twisted and turned. Words hurled and accusations made. Biblical texts flung at each other as if they were given to us as weapons to be used against each other. We even debated whether or not we should support an effort in the Pennsylvania legislature which guarantees the civil rights of those people. When, near the end of the session, someone felt compelled to stand at the mic and lecture the Bishop that the church is dying because we are trying to be more inclusive and inviting, that we are losing people, she said, because of the LGBT conversations we are having. When she was finished and we moved forward with whatever was next, Lydia said to me, You know how to keep young people in the church? Never bring them to Annual Conference! Why subject new followers or unchurched young adults or youth who only know and live an inclusive life into this pit where words of stone are hurled to the death? While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then Stephen knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he died. Oh Pastor Jim, you're just exaggerating. These are words, not stones. Words are words. They can t really kill. They re just words. Many of us this week wore white paper doves. There were hundreds on a basket that was making the rounds through the hall. White cut out doves with a name, an age, and a sentence on them. The name of a person, his or her age, and the way that that person died people killed or who committed suicide because of being 8
bullied. Most of them called names or taunted or teased about sexual orientation. Bullied with words. My daughter, Lacey, wore one that said Rafael Morales, Age 14, bullied into suicide. Pastor Lydia wore one that read, Kenneth, Age 18, suicide after being bullied. Joanne Miles and I just realized this morning that we were wearing the same dove. Roy Jones 17 months old killed by his father for being too girlie. Roy Jones 17 months old killed by his father for being too girlie. What are we doing? Stephen knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he died. Brothers and sisters, drop the stones. Let us hurl at each other love. Amen. 9