The Park Road Pulpit

How many of you learned, as did I, in childhood to repeat the simple maxim, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”? Why would anyone tell a child such a lie? Even in the world of “grown-ups,” simple words are the most frequently used weapons of war, whether tossed about thoughtlessly or delivered with careful aim, words have always been killers. Each person in this room, with just a moment’s notice, could note specific incidents, recall specific words, simple words, which you have spoken and which have been spoken to you, which have cut deeply into the heart of some relationship, wounding, scarring, depriving someone of dignity, denying someone the joy of life.

In the ancient world, words were thought to be living things, entities which were given life when spoken. A blessing or a curse was just an idea until it was given birth, until someone “breathed into it the breath of life,”[1] and then, like that first human being, that word became a living thing.[2] With a mind of its own. And with its own individuality.

How long do you think it takes to outlive the accusation “child molester?” Even if you are innocent? Words still live forever.

The specific context of today’s command against “false witness” was the judicial system of the ancient Jewish world. The command was given to govern the relationships between neighbors -- that is, those who shared in the covenant community initiated by God’s calling of Israel as a people. “Going to court” in this ancient community was quite different than the proceedings that take place in the American legal process.[3] Ancient courts were less formal -- judges could be found in the gates of the city, and anyone could come to the gates to present a case. Ancient courts were less formal, but these courts were more final. On the strength of the testimony of two witnesses one might be stoned to death for an offence.[4] There was no trial by jury. There were no appeals to a higher court.

Given this context, it should be easy for us to understand the importance of the command against bearing false witness. For the weight of one’s word literally could mean life and death.

In my childhood, I fought on a rather regular basis with my sister. Adair, who is fifteen months older than I, was mature for her age. And bossy. I was naïve and kind (!), but I will admit to being touched with the slightest little mean streak. I could be provoked. As we grew, like all siblings do, we learned to fight. Where to hit. How to hurt. And how to let words do this dirty work for us. And we each had a word reserved for just the right moments in our battles. I’m embarrassed by the word I used. Oh, it was not profane by any means. It was much worse than that. It was filled with venom. It was a word that only one who knew Adair, personally, could possibly know all that it meant to her. I knew how much it must have hurt when it was said. Consciously, very deliberately, I reserved the word for retaliatory strikes,[5] because I knew when she had the upper hand, with one word, I could win. And I did. If that was really winning.

Sticks and stones may break my bones… But words cut deeply into the marrow of our individuality. Words find their way into the hollows of our deepest secrets. Words pierce selfour -confidence. Words break our spirits. Words shatter our hopes. Words destroy our dreams. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words kill people -- and leave their victims living but dying within the shell of a shattered image. For God said, let us make humankind in our image[6]… Our image, untainted by false witness, is our birthright. For God has called it “very good.”

The arrogant lies, the self-interested cover-ups perpetrated by the CEO’s of some of America’s largest companies have, in the last few months, left thousands of honest, hard-working women and men unemployed, robbed of their retirement savings, unsure of their future. While thousands have been left financially devastated by such disasters, a National Public Radio feature this week indicated that the CEO’s of the largest 25 American companies, to recently claim bankruptcy, have claimed an astonishing 3.3 billion dollars for their failed leadership.[7] The chief executive of the Enron corporation, whose scandal we have heard so much about this summer, was second on the list, walking away with a reported $242 million dollars!

Though President Bush could accuse the Democrats of using “fuzzy math” in the last election,[8] in defending his own past record in personal corporate dealings, he has suggested that accounting is not always a “black and white issue.”[9] That was good news for accountants the world over! But in a manner of speaking, he is right. The most important issues do not hinge on simple accounting procedures themselves -- the issues that change people’s lives (and this is true with Enron, Arthur Andersen and all of the corporations whose corruption has been made public of late), that which makes a difference in people’s lives always comes down to a witness. A testimony. A word. “Yes” or “No.” Someone, in some office, somewhere gave approval.

Sticks and stones may break my bones… but someone’s word may very well, still cost you your life savings, your children’s financial security, even your very life.

I do not know the politics of our nation’s relationship with Cuba, or the complex diplomacy demanded of our negotiations with Iraq. I do not understand the complicated economics of international affairs. I do know the human cost of the word, “embargo.” It is a word spoken by a nation of power. It is a word spoken against the poor and the helpless. It is a word that leaves women destitute and children hungry. It is a word with far more than immediate political consequences.

I cannot solve the crisis in the Middle East. It is bewildering in complexity, bringing with it more despair with every headline event. And I also cannot understand our President’s words of national condemnation for the recent Israeli air strike against a Palestinian target. The attack took out the leader of a known Palestinian terrorist faction, and also killed more than a dozen innocent civilians. Perhaps I am simple minded and idealistic. Maybe I am still naïve, but I cannot understand condemning this act while simultaneously conducting our own war on terrorism, which routinely results in exactly the same collateral of innocent life.[10]

Sticks and stones may break my bones… and even if a nation decides that it must use the very deadly “sticks and stones” of an advanced military arsenal, it is still the words that leave the most carnage.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (And who is your neighbor?[11]) You shall not use words to injure your sister. To hurt your spouse. To belittle your children. To wound your colleagues. You shall not use words to deceive. To make a great name for yourself at the expense of another. To honor things more than people. You shall not use words to condemn the needy. To crush those who are already poor. To cover your own guilt.

Sticks and stones may break my bones… but bones heal. Who among us is not carrying the wound of a word that will not heal? In fact, who among all the people of the earth is not carrying the wound of a word -- the vulgarity of an individual, the false witness of an impersonal corporation, the powerful imprimatur of a government -- whose weight brings death?

Sticks and stones may break my bones… Oh that we would just hammer out our differences with such simple weapons. Words cause so much more damage!

I have spoken of the gravity of a word spoken in the childish “cut-downs” of siblings, of the power of a word spoken in the anonymity of the corporate boardroom, of the weight of witness spoken from the bully pulpit of the world’s remaining superpower nation. What is true in each of these examples is true for all of life: Truth -- and only truth -- can set us free.[12]

The trouble is this: Truth is never simple. Truth is always packaged in perception. And in self-righteousness, “being right” masquerades for Truth with insidious and seductive power. No, truth is never simple.

In his book, which Amy and I have enjoyed so much in preparing this sermon series, Bishop Spong offers this insight:

There is nothing objective about your experience or mine. The minute we think there is, we violate the ninth Commandment. "You shall not bear false witness" is thus a call to escape the ignorance that plagues and distorts all human beings. "You shall not bear false witness" is a call to a new awareness, to a new sensitivity. It is a call to come out of the ignorance of our killing prejudices, the blindness of presuming that our view of life is objective, the slavery that comes with identifying our partial truth with the ultimate truth.

"You shall not bear false witness" is a call to a life that is open, free, vulnerable, and risky, but that is where life is lived, and that is where its meaning is found.[13]

So, speaking the truth, bearing witness to truth, giving life through our appropriation of truth is a weight that we must learn to feel. It is a burden which we must learn to bear if we are ever to be set free.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but only the weight of “simple truth” will set us free.

[1] Genesis 2.7.

[2] The Hebrew suggests that the human being, at that point, became a “living soul.” In Hebrew thought, humans were not physical beings with a soul “inside,” but the human being was, holistically, a living soul.

[3] See, for example, Amos 5. 10: “They hate the one who reproves in the gate…” and Amos 5.12: “… [they] push aside the needy in the gate…” The prophet cried out against Israel’s injustice in its own court system, because the poor and needy were being misrepresented in their judicial pleas. Amos calls for a reform of the system, “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate…” (5.15).

[4] Jewish law required two witnesses to substantiate a legal claim.

[5]I knew how hurtful this one word was. In fact, even as a child it always hurt me a bit when I used it, so, in my mind, I never used my word unless she had drawn “first blood” with her word. But my memory may not be clear on this score!

[6] Genesis 1.27

[7] The interview, broadcast the week of July 29, 2002, was with a man who had conducted detailed research on these companies. I was a bit confused by the reporting because the research list included the largest 25 companies to have claimed bankruptcy (I do not recall the time-frame involved), but the $3.3 billion figure comprises the earnings of just over 200 corporate executives. The figure, $242 million for Key Lay is an exact quote from the interview.

[8] As best I can tell, the comment was first made in a debate with Al Gore on October 10, 2000, concerning the issue of tax cuts, and who would benefit from them. See http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa100600f.htm.

[9] According to ABC News, “The president, in a July 8th press conference, dismissed the Enron comparison. ‘In the corporate world, sometimes things aren't exactly black and white when it comes to accounting procedures.’ He cited ‘an honest difference of opinion’ between Harken and government investigators.” See http://abcnews.go.com/ sections/ business/ Nightline/bury_bush_harken_020719.html.

[10] According to ABC News, “President Bush called the Israeli missile strike ‘heavy-handed,’ joining other world leaders in sharp criticism of the attack, which leveled an apartment building and destroyed other nearby buildings in a crowded neighborhood of Gaza City overnight. .. In a rare U.S. criticism of Israel, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, ‘This heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace.’” See, http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/dailynews/ mideast020723_hamas.html.

[11] Jesus asks this question to the lawyer who questions Jesus about the law. See Luke 10.29 and the parable of the “Good Samaritan.”

[12] John 8.32.

[13] The Living Commandments, John Shelby Spong. http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/ showbook?item_id=540.