Sacrifice
Stories
Object:
Contents
A Story to Live By: "Sacrifice"
Good Stories: "She Took Up Her Cross" by John Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: "Easter in September" by John Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: "The Need for Good Gossips" by John Sumwalt
An Invitation to Send Stories
As we reflect on Jesus' call to "take up our crosses and follow him" (Mark 8:34b), we would do well to remember these searing words which Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship almost seventy years ago:
"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.... When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time -- death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, New York: Macmillan, 1963, pg. 99)
A Story to Live By
Sacrifice
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."
Mark 8:34b-35
In his book The Turning Point, Glenn Plaskin tells about an event that occurred during his senior year in college, in the midst of the Great Depression. His family did not have the money for the first quarter's tuition, though tuition for a quarter at Northeast Missouri State where he attended was only twenty dollars -- and that included books! His father did not have twenty dollars. But he said, "Don't worry, son. We'll go to the bank, and I'll sign your note with you. We'll get the money." They went to the bank the next morning. The banker had tears in his eyes as he shook his head. The directors had instructed him that without collateral there were to be no loans and there were to be no exceptions. They went to private individuals who were known to lend money, but everywhere it was the same: no collateral, no loan. There seemed to be no way Glenn could go to college that year. But the day before he was supposed to leave, a big truck backed up to their house, and two men laid down some boards from the truck bed to the front porch. Glenn wasn't there that afternoon, but afterward he heard what happened.
There was one thing his mother loved more than anything in the world, besides her family and Jesus, and that was her Gulbranson piano. It was the only decent piece of furniture they had. But the men rolled it out of the house, onto the boards, and into the truck. The driver reached into the pocket of his overalls, pulled out some bills, and handed Glenn's mother a twenty, a ten, and a five. Then the men got into the truck and drove off with the pride of his mother's life. His father threw his arms around her, and she cried and cried. That night his mother couldn't even talk about it, so his father told him, "Son, you can go back to college tomorrow. Your mother sold her piano." Then he handed Glenn the money.
(from Glenn Plaskin, The Turning Point: Pivotal Moments in the Lives of America's Celebrities, New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1992)
Return to top
Good Stories
She Took Up Her Cross
by John Sumwalt
He called the crowd with his disciples and said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
Mark 8:34
In the latter part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, churches in the USA sent thousands of missionaries to foreign lands. My father used to tell with great pride about the extraordinary number of missionaries and pastors who had been called from our little country church in Loyd, Wisconsin. Over 35 persons had entered ministry in a period of less than fifty years. This was true of many churches in North America during that period. I came across the story of one of those who accepted the call in an obituary which appeared in my hometown newspaper in 1984:
Ethel Jordan, daughter of Charles and Mary (Mortimer) Jordan, was born in a log house in Greenwood Township, Vernon County, Wisconsin on August 24, 1882. She passed away on Monday, August 20, 1984 at Schmitt Woodland Hills, Richland Center, just four days before her 102nd birthday. When she was three, the family moved into Sauk County, where she grew up on the Jordan farm west of Valton. She graduated from the 9th grade at 14 and taught school for a short time after becoming 18 years old.
She was converted at age 22 at a tent meeting held in Valton. Missionary work in Africa became her supreme desire and interest and she began to prepare for that work. She graduated from God's Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1917. She was recorded as a minister by the Friends Church. She spent several years in home missionary work serving in rescue homes, city missions, and orphanages. In 1928, she went to Africa under the Foreign Mission Board of the Pilgrim Holiness Church (now the Wesleyan Church) and worked under their direction for all of the 20 years she spent in Africa. From 1938 to 1940 she spent a 2-year furlough in the United States -- then returned to Africa for another 10-year term ending in 1950. She spent 13 1/2 years working in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and 6 1/2 years in the Union of South Africa (now Natal province). Much of her work was done in pioneer evangelism and later in training of native preachers. She experienced being the first white woman some of the Africans had ever seen.
Following her return from Africa, Miss Jordan lived in Indianapolis, Indiana and did missionary deputation work. She moved to Hillsboro in 1959 where she lived for 14 years. She lived a short time in the home of her nephew, Ronald Nash, rural LaValle. She has resided at Schmitt Woodland Hills in Richland Center since 1975. She was a member of Beulah Wesleyan Church at Gillingham.
(from the Richland Observer, August 23, 1984, Section 1, Page 8)
This obituary was of special interest to me because Ethel Jordan was the aunt of a man I greatly admired, my high school principal, Jordan Nash.
Return to top
Sharing Visions
Easter in September
by John Sumwalt
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1
The call came from the doctor that Dad had only a short time to live. At the age of eighty, after nearly fifty years of farming, this veteran of World War II was fighting a final battle with Parkinson's and heart disease.
My daughter Kati and I went ahead of the others, and we arrived at the nursing home outside Richland Center at about midnight. Exhausted after the two-and-a-half hour drive from Milwaukee, we spent an hour with Dad and then drove out to the farm to spend the night. We noticed as we drove into the yard that the Easter lily in the flower garden under the walnut tree was full of buds. Somehow I knew immediately that the lily would bloom on the day that Dad died. It was the same lily that had been in Dad's room during the Easter season. After the blossoms had all dried up, Dad had said, "Take it to the farm and set it out in the garden; it will bloom again." I did as he suggested and thought no more about it until I saw the buds that night.
We spent the following days at Dad's bedside, talking to him while he was still able, singing his favorite gospel hymns, and praying. Our family took turns being with him through six long days and nights. Each night when I returned to the farm to rest, I noticed the buds on the lily were getting heavier and heavier. Finally, after a long struggle, Dad passed over at about 1:30 p.m. on September 15, 1998.
After a prayer with the pastor and hugs for the nursing home staff members who had cared for Dad so well, we returned to the farm with heavy hearts. We saw it before we pulled into the driveway: a glorious white blossom. The first bud had opened. I didn't know an Easter lily could bloom in September, and I certainly didn't expect it in Wisconsin.
On the day of the funeral there were two more beautiful blossoms. Friends and family from all around the country gathered in the yard on that warm September afternoon after the funeral service. We sat in a circle under the walnut tree and wondered at this amazing sign of God's presence.
Return to top
Scrap Pile
The Need for Good Gossips
by John Sumwalt
... but no one can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
James 3:8-10
I heard some juicy gossip this week from a good friend by way of an e-mail letter. No, I am not going to pass on the juicy gossip. It wouldn't mean anything to you even if I did, because you don't know the people involved. But what I will confess is that I couldn't wait to pass on the gossip to another one of our mutual friends who could appreciate it as much as I did. (I have restrained myself so far, but I really wanted to pass it on!)
There is something in me, and I don't think I am unique in this respect, that takes pleasure in hearing about and passing on information about the misfortune of others. And now that we have e-mail I can do it much more efficiently and economically!
You know that I am speaking partially tongue in cheek, but you also know that there is painful truth in my confession. There is something in all of us that takes pleasure in hearing and telling juicy gossip, sometimes even at the expense of close friends and family. "I don't mean to gossip, but did you hear...? I just thought you ought to know ..."
Alice Longworth, Teddy Roosevelt's daughter, was a popular social figure in her day, and she liked to party and associate with all of the important people. She kept a pillow in her sitting room embroidered with the saying, "If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me."
We make light of our love of gossip, and at the same time we are aware of its dangers. There is probably not one of us here who has never been injured by malicious gossip. And no doubt none of us is guiltless when it comes to the sins of the tongue. It is so easy to hurt someone with a thoughtless word, "a slip of the tongue" we call it. I consider it a good day when I am certain that I have not hurt someone by something I have said.
All of you who have suffered from "foot in mouth disease" from time to time know what I'm talking about. You struggle to control your tongue, you are quick to make amends and undo the damage when you know you have hurt someone -- and you try to forgive yourself each time you have slipped again.
There are people, of course, who never learn, and who, because of low self-esteem, or in some cases just plain wickedness, make a lifelong habit of telling all they know to anyone who will listen.
There is a tombstone in an English country churchyard with an epitaph that reads:
Beneath this stone, a lump of clay,
lies Arabella Young
who on the 24th of May
began to hold her tongue.
What a thing to be remembered for.
Often, what a gossip tells is true. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana once recalled the dirtiest campaign against him: "My opponent said some nasty, unverified, undignified, disgusting things about me," said Long. "Worst of all, much of what he said was true." (William H. Willimon, The Christian Century?, Oct. 31, 1990)
Democratic opponents brought up stories of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's divorce from his first wife in his last election campaign. In 1972, during the New Hampshire presidential primary, one of the state's most influential newspapers attacked the Democratic frontrunner, Edmund Muskie, partially on the basis of an anonymous letter accusing him of using the derogatory term "canuck" in referring to the state's French-Canadians. It emerged later that the letter had been sent to the paper by Kenneth Clausen, a political aide to Richard Nixon. The paper also accused Mr. Muskie's wife, Jane, of smoking, drinking, and cursing in an "unladylike" way. Not long after that Senator Muskie passionately defended his wife in a news conference and then began to weep. It was the beginning of the end of his campaign. A few weeks later the senator removed himself from the race.
We can do a lot of damage with our tongues. Families are divided, longtime friendships destroyed, careers are ruined, churches are split, reputations are irreparably damaged, all because of something somebody said -- "I'm just telling you what I heard. I don't know if it's true ..."
The writer of James understood the danger posed by the undisciplined tongue: "How great a forest is set ablaze by a fire. And the tongue is a fire.... no one can tame the tongue -- a restless evil full of a deadly poison."
Several years ago Ellen Goodman wrote a column about gossip vs. news in which she tells about a tribe in West Africa called the Ashanti that "cuts off the lips of members caught gossiping about their chief. But here," she writes, "we have to figure it out for ourselves."
James was right to use strong language:
"No one can tame the tongue -- a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so."
Jesus knew about the power of the tongue. One day he asked his disciples, as we hear in the Gospel reading, "Who do people say I am?" What are people saying about me? What's the word on the street? "And they answered him, 'Some say you are John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and still others say one of the prophets.' 'But who do you say I am?' Jesus asked them. Then Peter answered him (quite correctly), 'You are the Messiah,' and Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him."
In time they would tell the whole world about Jesus, but while he was teaching them they were to be quiet.
Part of learning to be a follower of Jesus is learning when to keep your mouth shut and when it is appropriate to tell what you know.
A number of years ago William Willimon wrote an article for The Christian Century about "Gossip as an Ethical Activity," in which he contended that talking about the personal lives of others need not be wholly immoral. He suggested that "gossip may be a primary means of building and sustaining community."
"Many times as pastor I have taken pastoral initiative with people, knocking on their front door and saying, 'Joe, Joan, I hear you're having some marital problems.' Sometimes they would say 'Oh, we see the church rumor mill has been hard at work' -- congregational gossip-making is a nasty intrusion into their personal lives. 'Call it gossip if you will,' I would counter, 'but I heard this as the genuine concern of some fellow Christians who care about you and are not sure how to show their care.' More often than not the information was accurate and the couple was grateful that we had made their troubles our own. Christians are members of a family, siblings by virtue of baptism who pledge to make their stories available to one another out of conviction that they become better people in the process. In baptism I 'go public' with my life, offering it to the familial scrutiny of others, taking responsibility for the lives of others."
Willimon adds: "The gossip of the church family... is sanctified. Gossip as a church activity without malice may well be, at its best, the moral casuistry of ordinary people, a primary means of congregational bonding ..." (William H. Willimon, "Gossip as an Ethical Activity," The Christian Century, October 31, 1990)
Return to top
**********************************************
An Invitation to Send Stories
We are collecting personal stories for a third volume in the vision series, to be released in 2004. The new working title is Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives. If you have any stories to share of your personal experience of the holy, please send them to jsumwalt@naspa.net.
New Book Released
We are happy to report that the second volume in the vision series, Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences, is now available from CSS Publishing Company. For more information about the book click here.
Special Pricing for StoryShare Subscribers
Sharing Visions retails for $19.95. CSS has graciously agreed to make the book available to StoryShare subscribers for just $11.97 (plus shipping & handling). To take advantage of this special pricing, you must use the special code SS40SV. Simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.
Praise for Sharing Visions
Bishop Richard Wilke, creator of the Disciple Bible Study series, writes: "I am rejoicing as I read the testimonies in Sharing Visions. What an inspiration! I recall my father, an unemotional man, telling me that his mother (who had died some years before) appeared to him in a dream and gave him counsel on a difficult decision he was wrestling with."
StoryShare, September 14, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
A Story to Live By: "Sacrifice"
Good Stories: "She Took Up Her Cross" by John Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: "Easter in September" by John Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: "The Need for Good Gossips" by John Sumwalt
An Invitation to Send Stories
As we reflect on Jesus' call to "take up our crosses and follow him" (Mark 8:34b), we would do well to remember these searing words which Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship almost seventy years ago:
"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.... When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time -- death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, New York: Macmillan, 1963, pg. 99)
A Story to Live By
Sacrifice
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."
Mark 8:34b-35
In his book The Turning Point, Glenn Plaskin tells about an event that occurred during his senior year in college, in the midst of the Great Depression. His family did not have the money for the first quarter's tuition, though tuition for a quarter at Northeast Missouri State where he attended was only twenty dollars -- and that included books! His father did not have twenty dollars. But he said, "Don't worry, son. We'll go to the bank, and I'll sign your note with you. We'll get the money." They went to the bank the next morning. The banker had tears in his eyes as he shook his head. The directors had instructed him that without collateral there were to be no loans and there were to be no exceptions. They went to private individuals who were known to lend money, but everywhere it was the same: no collateral, no loan. There seemed to be no way Glenn could go to college that year. But the day before he was supposed to leave, a big truck backed up to their house, and two men laid down some boards from the truck bed to the front porch. Glenn wasn't there that afternoon, but afterward he heard what happened.
There was one thing his mother loved more than anything in the world, besides her family and Jesus, and that was her Gulbranson piano. It was the only decent piece of furniture they had. But the men rolled it out of the house, onto the boards, and into the truck. The driver reached into the pocket of his overalls, pulled out some bills, and handed Glenn's mother a twenty, a ten, and a five. Then the men got into the truck and drove off with the pride of his mother's life. His father threw his arms around her, and she cried and cried. That night his mother couldn't even talk about it, so his father told him, "Son, you can go back to college tomorrow. Your mother sold her piano." Then he handed Glenn the money.
(from Glenn Plaskin, The Turning Point: Pivotal Moments in the Lives of America's Celebrities, New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1992)
Return to top
Good Stories
She Took Up Her Cross
by John Sumwalt
He called the crowd with his disciples and said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
Mark 8:34
In the latter part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, churches in the USA sent thousands of missionaries to foreign lands. My father used to tell with great pride about the extraordinary number of missionaries and pastors who had been called from our little country church in Loyd, Wisconsin. Over 35 persons had entered ministry in a period of less than fifty years. This was true of many churches in North America during that period. I came across the story of one of those who accepted the call in an obituary which appeared in my hometown newspaper in 1984:
Ethel Jordan, daughter of Charles and Mary (Mortimer) Jordan, was born in a log house in Greenwood Township, Vernon County, Wisconsin on August 24, 1882. She passed away on Monday, August 20, 1984 at Schmitt Woodland Hills, Richland Center, just four days before her 102nd birthday. When she was three, the family moved into Sauk County, where she grew up on the Jordan farm west of Valton. She graduated from the 9th grade at 14 and taught school for a short time after becoming 18 years old.
She was converted at age 22 at a tent meeting held in Valton. Missionary work in Africa became her supreme desire and interest and she began to prepare for that work. She graduated from God's Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1917. She was recorded as a minister by the Friends Church. She spent several years in home missionary work serving in rescue homes, city missions, and orphanages. In 1928, she went to Africa under the Foreign Mission Board of the Pilgrim Holiness Church (now the Wesleyan Church) and worked under their direction for all of the 20 years she spent in Africa. From 1938 to 1940 she spent a 2-year furlough in the United States -- then returned to Africa for another 10-year term ending in 1950. She spent 13 1/2 years working in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and 6 1/2 years in the Union of South Africa (now Natal province). Much of her work was done in pioneer evangelism and later in training of native preachers. She experienced being the first white woman some of the Africans had ever seen.
Following her return from Africa, Miss Jordan lived in Indianapolis, Indiana and did missionary deputation work. She moved to Hillsboro in 1959 where she lived for 14 years. She lived a short time in the home of her nephew, Ronald Nash, rural LaValle. She has resided at Schmitt Woodland Hills in Richland Center since 1975. She was a member of Beulah Wesleyan Church at Gillingham.
(from the Richland Observer, August 23, 1984, Section 1, Page 8)
This obituary was of special interest to me because Ethel Jordan was the aunt of a man I greatly admired, my high school principal, Jordan Nash.
Return to top
Sharing Visions
Easter in September
by John Sumwalt
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1
The call came from the doctor that Dad had only a short time to live. At the age of eighty, after nearly fifty years of farming, this veteran of World War II was fighting a final battle with Parkinson's and heart disease.
My daughter Kati and I went ahead of the others, and we arrived at the nursing home outside Richland Center at about midnight. Exhausted after the two-and-a-half hour drive from Milwaukee, we spent an hour with Dad and then drove out to the farm to spend the night. We noticed as we drove into the yard that the Easter lily in the flower garden under the walnut tree was full of buds. Somehow I knew immediately that the lily would bloom on the day that Dad died. It was the same lily that had been in Dad's room during the Easter season. After the blossoms had all dried up, Dad had said, "Take it to the farm and set it out in the garden; it will bloom again." I did as he suggested and thought no more about it until I saw the buds that night.
We spent the following days at Dad's bedside, talking to him while he was still able, singing his favorite gospel hymns, and praying. Our family took turns being with him through six long days and nights. Each night when I returned to the farm to rest, I noticed the buds on the lily were getting heavier and heavier. Finally, after a long struggle, Dad passed over at about 1:30 p.m. on September 15, 1998.
After a prayer with the pastor and hugs for the nursing home staff members who had cared for Dad so well, we returned to the farm with heavy hearts. We saw it before we pulled into the driveway: a glorious white blossom. The first bud had opened. I didn't know an Easter lily could bloom in September, and I certainly didn't expect it in Wisconsin.
On the day of the funeral there were two more beautiful blossoms. Friends and family from all around the country gathered in the yard on that warm September afternoon after the funeral service. We sat in a circle under the walnut tree and wondered at this amazing sign of God's presence.
Return to top
Scrap Pile
The Need for Good Gossips
by John Sumwalt
... but no one can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
James 3:8-10
I heard some juicy gossip this week from a good friend by way of an e-mail letter. No, I am not going to pass on the juicy gossip. It wouldn't mean anything to you even if I did, because you don't know the people involved. But what I will confess is that I couldn't wait to pass on the gossip to another one of our mutual friends who could appreciate it as much as I did. (I have restrained myself so far, but I really wanted to pass it on!)
There is something in me, and I don't think I am unique in this respect, that takes pleasure in hearing about and passing on information about the misfortune of others. And now that we have e-mail I can do it much more efficiently and economically!
You know that I am speaking partially tongue in cheek, but you also know that there is painful truth in my confession. There is something in all of us that takes pleasure in hearing and telling juicy gossip, sometimes even at the expense of close friends and family. "I don't mean to gossip, but did you hear...? I just thought you ought to know ..."
Alice Longworth, Teddy Roosevelt's daughter, was a popular social figure in her day, and she liked to party and associate with all of the important people. She kept a pillow in her sitting room embroidered with the saying, "If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me."
We make light of our love of gossip, and at the same time we are aware of its dangers. There is probably not one of us here who has never been injured by malicious gossip. And no doubt none of us is guiltless when it comes to the sins of the tongue. It is so easy to hurt someone with a thoughtless word, "a slip of the tongue" we call it. I consider it a good day when I am certain that I have not hurt someone by something I have said.
All of you who have suffered from "foot in mouth disease" from time to time know what I'm talking about. You struggle to control your tongue, you are quick to make amends and undo the damage when you know you have hurt someone -- and you try to forgive yourself each time you have slipped again.
There are people, of course, who never learn, and who, because of low self-esteem, or in some cases just plain wickedness, make a lifelong habit of telling all they know to anyone who will listen.
There is a tombstone in an English country churchyard with an epitaph that reads:
Beneath this stone, a lump of clay,
lies Arabella Young
who on the 24th of May
began to hold her tongue.
What a thing to be remembered for.
Often, what a gossip tells is true. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana once recalled the dirtiest campaign against him: "My opponent said some nasty, unverified, undignified, disgusting things about me," said Long. "Worst of all, much of what he said was true." (William H. Willimon, The Christian Century?, Oct. 31, 1990)
Democratic opponents brought up stories of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's divorce from his first wife in his last election campaign. In 1972, during the New Hampshire presidential primary, one of the state's most influential newspapers attacked the Democratic frontrunner, Edmund Muskie, partially on the basis of an anonymous letter accusing him of using the derogatory term "canuck" in referring to the state's French-Canadians. It emerged later that the letter had been sent to the paper by Kenneth Clausen, a political aide to Richard Nixon. The paper also accused Mr. Muskie's wife, Jane, of smoking, drinking, and cursing in an "unladylike" way. Not long after that Senator Muskie passionately defended his wife in a news conference and then began to weep. It was the beginning of the end of his campaign. A few weeks later the senator removed himself from the race.
We can do a lot of damage with our tongues. Families are divided, longtime friendships destroyed, careers are ruined, churches are split, reputations are irreparably damaged, all because of something somebody said -- "I'm just telling you what I heard. I don't know if it's true ..."
The writer of James understood the danger posed by the undisciplined tongue: "How great a forest is set ablaze by a fire. And the tongue is a fire.... no one can tame the tongue -- a restless evil full of a deadly poison."
Several years ago Ellen Goodman wrote a column about gossip vs. news in which she tells about a tribe in West Africa called the Ashanti that "cuts off the lips of members caught gossiping about their chief. But here," she writes, "we have to figure it out for ourselves."
James was right to use strong language:
"No one can tame the tongue -- a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so."
Jesus knew about the power of the tongue. One day he asked his disciples, as we hear in the Gospel reading, "Who do people say I am?" What are people saying about me? What's the word on the street? "And they answered him, 'Some say you are John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and still others say one of the prophets.' 'But who do you say I am?' Jesus asked them. Then Peter answered him (quite correctly), 'You are the Messiah,' and Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him."
In time they would tell the whole world about Jesus, but while he was teaching them they were to be quiet.
Part of learning to be a follower of Jesus is learning when to keep your mouth shut and when it is appropriate to tell what you know.
A number of years ago William Willimon wrote an article for The Christian Century about "Gossip as an Ethical Activity," in which he contended that talking about the personal lives of others need not be wholly immoral. He suggested that "gossip may be a primary means of building and sustaining community."
"Many times as pastor I have taken pastoral initiative with people, knocking on their front door and saying, 'Joe, Joan, I hear you're having some marital problems.' Sometimes they would say 'Oh, we see the church rumor mill has been hard at work' -- congregational gossip-making is a nasty intrusion into their personal lives. 'Call it gossip if you will,' I would counter, 'but I heard this as the genuine concern of some fellow Christians who care about you and are not sure how to show their care.' More often than not the information was accurate and the couple was grateful that we had made their troubles our own. Christians are members of a family, siblings by virtue of baptism who pledge to make their stories available to one another out of conviction that they become better people in the process. In baptism I 'go public' with my life, offering it to the familial scrutiny of others, taking responsibility for the lives of others."
Willimon adds: "The gossip of the church family... is sanctified. Gossip as a church activity without malice may well be, at its best, the moral casuistry of ordinary people, a primary means of congregational bonding ..." (William H. Willimon, "Gossip as an Ethical Activity," The Christian Century, October 31, 1990)
Return to top
**********************************************
An Invitation to Send Stories
We are collecting personal stories for a third volume in the vision series, to be released in 2004. The new working title is Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives. If you have any stories to share of your personal experience of the holy, please send them to jsumwalt@naspa.net.
New Book Released
We are happy to report that the second volume in the vision series, Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences, is now available from CSS Publishing Company. For more information about the book click here.
Special Pricing for StoryShare Subscribers
Sharing Visions retails for $19.95. CSS has graciously agreed to make the book available to StoryShare subscribers for just $11.97 (plus shipping & handling). To take advantage of this special pricing, you must use the special code SS40SV. Simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.
Praise for Sharing Visions
Bishop Richard Wilke, creator of the Disciple Bible Study series, writes: "I am rejoicing as I read the testimonies in Sharing Visions. What an inspiration! I recall my father, an unemotional man, telling me that his mother (who had died some years before) appeared to him in a dream and gave him counsel on a difficult decision he was wrestling with."
StoryShare, September 14, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
