The language of hatred

Ah yes, I read somewhere that "the power of life and death are in the tongue."
What awesome power, to be able to lift up, enhance and promote life with one's words.  What a GREAT privilege to use one's word to defend the defenseless, lend power to the powerless and voice to the voiceless!  What an opportunity to heal wounds, fill hearts and engage minds in positive building.

Silence in need is the withholding of said power.  It validates the tearing down, corroborates with the emptying out, lends itself to the beating up.

And then, there is the language of hatred.  Intolerant, vilifying, de-humanizing, objectifying, lying, stereotyping, profiling, antagonizing, provoking, demeaning, hurting and striking out.
It is the language of those who feel inadequate, fearful, unstable, insecure and just plain hateful.
I hear it a lot on the TV, on the street and on the radio.  I read it in the papers, blogs and posts.
I hear it aimed at folk who have been systematically held down for hundreds of years.
I hear it used against some whose people were systematically wiped out.
I hear it used against folk who have been exploited and then used in order to justify throwing them out.
I hear it used against folk who want to practice their faith in the same neighborhood in which they have lived for years.
I hear it used against 51% of our population, sometimes by those among the 51%.
I hear it used against "bleeding hearts" and "do-gooders", as if those are bad people.
I hear it used against those who have been held down, back and out by the rest of us, and who live on the streets.
I hear it used against people of other sovereign nations that we have invaded and occupied, or whose resources and people we exploit, waste and destroy for the profit of our own corporations.
I hear it used against parents trying to get a living wage for their 50 hours of work each week, so that their children can live.
I hear it used against parents who accept public assistance so that their children can go to a doctor.
I hear it used against people who contribute to society and who just want what everyone else wants in life, and who happen to be lesbian or gay, bi-sexual or transgendered.
I hear it used against people who do NOT value profit over people.
I hear it used against young people for how they dress, what music they listen to and what slang they use.
I hear it used against "those people" because they are "not us".

It comes from some pretty ignorant, fearful, insecure and hateful folk.
And sometimes, it comes from some loving folk who are just plain fed up.

And it shapes our discourse.  It affects our conversations.  It shapes our interactions and relationships in society, in church, in home, in school and at work.  It builds walls and not bridges.
The language of hatred tears down and does not build up.  It rips out and does not plant.  It destroys and does not enhance life.  It separates and does not bring together.

The language of hatred is easy to find.
The language of love is more elusive.
The silence in the face of that is deafening.

What comes out of YOUR mouth?  It reflects what is in your heart and mind.  Putting it out in the world around you CREATES the world within which others live.  It also creates the world within which YOU live.

Pastor Jamie