Good Gossip 2/5/12
February 18, 2012This is the audio file for my sermon from 2/5/12, preached at the Franklinville Presbyterian Church. The text can be found below.
<Isaiah 40: 21-31; Mark 1: 29-39>
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you, O Holy One, our Rock and Redeemer. Amen.
Yiddish folklore offers a telling tale about gossip-makers. One such man had told so many malicious untruths about the local rabbi that, overcome by remorse, he begged the rabbi to forgive him. “And, Rabbi, tell me how I can make amends.” The rabbi sighed, “Take two pillows, go to the public square and there cut the pillows open. Wave them in the air. Then come back.” The rumormonger quickly went home, got two pillows and a knife, hastened to the square, cut the pillows open, waved them in the air and hastened back to the rabbi’s chambers. “I did just what you said, Rabbi!” “Good.” The rabbi smiled. “Now, to realize how much harm is done by gossip, go back to the square.”
“And what then?” asked the man.
“And collect all your feathers.”
This anecdote reflects a truth that many of us have grown up with in our lives: That spreading falsehoods or unsubstantiated stories can have a damaging effect, one which is almost irreparable. I think also of a little bunny in a certain Disney animated movie who shared with us the line, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” More directly connected to the teachings to the early church, the apostle James writes in his letter, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight reign on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.”[1] Then further on he writes, “Although ships are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it makes great boasts.”[2] In short, all of this is teaching us to be very careful when it comes to what we say about others.
The art of gossip has long existed in the various societies in our world, and has long been something which causes harm and pain. To a degree, our church has even been afflicted by stories spoken about us in the community, stories which are not wholly accurate or even connected to the life of the one spreading the gossip. It comes as no surprise that we are taught from a young age that gossip and tale-telling is to be avoided at all opportunities, and that the only things we should speak of one another are those things which build up an individual and edify the body of Christ. In example of such an end, it would be wrong of me to say that Tom Brady is a pretty-boy who cries when he loses a game. That’s a prime example of what I’m referring to about gossip, and so I shouldn’t say that.
But I wonder if we’ve so hammered into our psyches the concept of not spreading stories which we cannot fully back up that we have actually hindered ourselves from doing the work that Christ set before us in the Great Commission? Because, I’ll be honest, there are many occasions on which I still wonder if everything we have in our Scriptures from thousands of years ago is true. My faith is real, and dynamic, and honest, and because of that, I have to live with the doubts and uncertainties that sometimes come creeping in, the occasions when I wonder, “Did any of that really happen?”. While my faith always brings me back to the certainty of what I know, for myself, to be true, it leaves enough of a grain of doubt that I sometimes end up lumping the stories of our faith into the category of, “Well, I can’t fully prove it if someone were to ask, so I best not say anything at all.” I know that these stories have a very real truth for myself, and I would hazard a guess that they do for all y’all as well, but to make that assumption about others…? To then tell them the stories of faith when they may need more substantial proof, proof which I can’t give to them? All too often, to not risk damage to myself, the church, or to the other, I often keep my mouth shut.
But it is to this possibly skewed understanding within me, and perhaps in some of you as well, that Isaiah speaks. Originally, it is to a people who have forgotten what they know of God’s promise and presence. They go along through life with little hope and guidance because they cannot remember the good news that they have received, and the relationship in which they have lived as a nation for generations. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?…The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth! He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable! He will give strength to those who need it, life to those who are close to death!”
To a people who, incredulously, are keeping their mouths shut, forgetting the truth of the good news they have received, Isaiah speaks these words, bringing back to memory all of who God is and who God continues to be for the people who have an intimate, true knowledge of the Divine Person.
And generations later, when the people were yet again having trouble remembering this, Jesus comes along and heals all who are brought to him, the sick and infirm who are brought to him by the gossip of, “There is one at Simon and Andrew’s house who can make you well, who can make you whole.” Though it was a rumor to the people who heard it, perhaps uncertain that it could be believed, and without immediate proof at hand, still the people who were hurt and infirm, sick and possessed came to Jesus and received that which they needed most – restoration. They came because they believed the gossip, and in their faith they were healed.
But the story does not end there. Isaiah continues to speak and Jesus continues to heal, the only change is in the time and place. Because now the words of recollection that Isaiah gives to the people, now the healing that Jesus provides is to us, here and now, to those of us who gather Sunday after Sunday and to those who are waiting to hear the invitation for the first time.
In our heart of hearts, through doubts and uncertainties, we do know the truth of what we hear, what we have received. We know the good news that is present still. In our faith, we come again and again to the Table in which we are nourished and made whole, confessing ourselves and receiving grace and forgiveness.
But again, the story does not end there. We are called to go out and gossip for Christ, or to put it in less cheesy terms, to spread the good news of the gospel for all to hear. We are called to invite people into the story, to remind them of what they may have heard in part, and to invite them to experience the whole truth of what it is.
At the end of our gospel reading from this morning, Jesus retired to a private and secluded place that he might rest and be restored, because he knew that the work of the night before was just the beginning, that there was much more to do, many more to heal and teach. Similarly, when we gather here it is so that we might rest and be restored, because we know that the work is just beginning, and that there are still many who need the invitation we have to offer. Just as we have been refreshed by gathering in each other’s presence, and God’s presence as well, at this Table, so, too, do we have work ahead of us. We are called to go and gossip about what we have received, knowing that the only proof we can offer is in the experience of the individual. We are called to invite people in, that they, too, may be touched by Christ’s healing hands. As we continue to prepare for such work, let us pray…Amen.
Gossip, I learned in Anthropology, serves as a way to get members of a society to stay within bounds of acceptable behavior. One strays, and tongues wag. I like your sermon b/c it makes me think differently about gossip as gospel, probably the two words have a common etomological root, something to do with news.