Click here for the November 4, 2018 Bulletin

IT’S AMONG US BECAUSE IT’S WITHIN US
There is a dark impulse in America. One has to be blind not to see it or feel it. Last week was a week when some 14 bombs were mailed to high profile citizens, when a man in Kentucky tried to get into a black Baptist Church, didn’t succeed, and went across the street to a Krogers supermarket and randomly shot two African Americans in the back of the head in cold blood, when 11 Jewish worshipers at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh were shot to death by a man who shouted as he pulled the trigger “All Jews must die.” There is something historically, profoundly wrong in our land. It is not primarily the stuff for political debate, social theory, or blame games. It is not a matter of party affiliation or geographic region. It is, rather, a question of morality, something one doesn’t see written or talked about in media outlets, social media, or around the proverbial water cooler at work. It’s strange – we see it plainly but are reticent to actively speak out against it.
 
For churches, synagogues, and temples and their faithful believers, the rising level of hate, intolerance, prejudice and hate-inspired violence not only deeply offends our sense of common decency, it violates the Judeo-Christian moral code, it strikes a deeply-wounding blow at the heart of the social compact that has held us together since the American experiment first began. It makes us wonder if the phrase “In God we trust” has functionally come to mean “we are children of a lesser god.” It is vile, it reveals the savage instincts that still lie within the human breast, and, above all, it offends the Living God who, in the words of King David the Psalmist reminds us: “Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit….You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever…” (Psalm 52)  The current moral slide is about the thoughts in our hearts and heads, it is about the words we use to express them, and it is about the deadliest weapon employed to wound, to destroy, and to put down individuals or entire peoples: the tongue.  “Stop the words of hate.” pleaded Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life synagogue, the day after the gunman robbed his congregation of 11 believers in Pittsburgh. It seems that the words of St. John Chrysostom have been altogether forgotten or ignored: “You are a man and yet you spit the venom of a poisonous serpent. You are a man and yet you become like a raging beast. You have been given a mouth not to wound but to heal.”  Not to wound but to heal…..  Far from healing, it seems we are content to weaponize our words and are reaping the grim harvest.
 
You and I must claim ownership of this alarming state of morality in our country and not see it as “society’s problem” or “someone else’s problem”, or a problem that is “out there.” It is a social problem among us because it is a moral/spiritual problem within us. St. James tells us why: “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things…the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fore by hell.” (James 3:2-10) Furthermore, the Bishop James goes on to write: “If anyone things he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” (James 1:26) St. Matthew speaks of the same theme: “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” (Matthew 15:11) How seldom we remember the Biblical truth of St. James’ words: “No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless God our Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s image.” (James 3:1-12) You and I can be prone to this harshness, coarseness, criticism, pettiness, and tearing down of others.  We can give vent to our personal theories, philosophies, and conjectures without regard to their impact on others or the possibility that we may, in fact, be wounding them, dividing them, and leaving them cold. In this, we ignore what St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4: 29)  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth…..
 
Robert Schrauf, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Penn State University, did a study that revealed that, regardless of age or culture, we have far more words in our vocabulary that express negative rather than positive emotions and meanings (50 percent negative, 30 percent positive, and 20 percent neutral). Being prone to negativity, conscious or otherwise, in our language, if we gossip, if we speak badly about other people, if we express disparaging or prejudicial opinions, if we criticize and complain constantly, if we cling to negative language and words — we can destroy friendships, wound our brothers and sisters, hurt our family or church relationships, and corrupt the atmosphere of our home life, our workplace or worship-place. We can even slowly destroy our marriage or drain it of love. Ultimately we can mortally wound our very soul and with nothing more than our tongue, we can drag our own souls to complete estrangement from God. As the Apostle James pointed out, if we think that we are religious but don’t bridle, control, and tame our tongue, our religion is worthless. St. Basil the Great cautions: “The most common and multifaceted sin is the one enacted by the tongue.”
 
St. John of Dalyatha, an 8th century Syriac monk and spiritual writer, counsels us: “If your tongue is used to chattering, your heart will remain dark and foreign to the luminous intuitions of the Holy Spirit.” Careless and idle talking can be the doorway through which the tongue works its evil. We are terrified of being silent for long enough to turn our thoughts inward, and think about how well WE measure up to Christ before we lash out, criticize, or speak negatively of others. Oh yes, we condemn sin all day long — as long as it is someone else’s sin. We become blind to the damage we do with our words and deaf to what comes out of our mouth. If we are speaking ill of others, gossiping, hurling verbal invectives, spreading negativity or divisiveness, and criticizing – we will never repent or receive forgiveness until we learn to control and tame our tongue, cultivate “holy silence”, and daily remember that our words matter, their meaning matters, how we communicate them matters. Let us recall the sober words of the Lord Jesus: “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment you will give account for every careless and hurtful word you speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)  Think on THOSE words……Faithfully your servant,Fr. Dimitrios