in search of civility

Kent M. Organ, Interim Pastor
Texts:  James 3:1-10; Matthew 5:21-24, 12:35-37

   American political discourse  has become increasingly coarse  and damaging  to “the dialogue that ought to be  at the essence of democracy.”  Scorn and derision have become “the common coin  of political argument.” This past year,  much of that has come  from the highest level of government.

    It was one thing  for  a Presidential candidate  to engage in ridicule and name calling. But it didn’t cease  after January 20. Critics were dubbed  “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,” “Jeff the Flake,” “Liddle Bob Corker” and, of course, “Pocahontas.” Then there are also “Leakin’ James Comey,” “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd,” more recently “Sloppy Steve Bannon.” But most dangerous of all,  there is  “Little Rocket Man.” Contempt breeds contempt. And so, we now hear as retribution  words such as  “fool,”  “idiot,”  “unhinged,”  and “crazy.”

    Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis once wrote  that “Our government  is the potent, the omnipresent  teacher. For good or for ill,  it teaches  the whole people  by example.” What are we being taught  in this  acrimonious time?

    Now, the acrimony didn’t begin  with the current Administration. Think of  the divisions and hostility  during  the Clinton, Bush, and Obama years. We wonder, where is all this heading  for us  as a people?  This  Martin Luther King Memorial weekend  is a propitious time to think about this – and, here in worship,  to do so  Biblically  and theologically. 

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    Clearly, in a democratic society, we need to learn  how to deal with differences.  They are here to stay.  As our society becomes more pluralistic – racially, ethnically, religiously – the need for understanding and tolerance  increases.  In politics, in education, in economic spheres, even in the church,  issues will continue to be before us  to which we bring  different experiences and perspectives.  But the encounters  can be constructive; they need not be  destructive, barbarous.  Our ability to deal civilly  with one another  is crucial to the preservation  of community.

    What’s at issue  is not so much the substance of the debate,  but the manner in which we conduct it;  not the solutions to be reached, but the way in which we come to them.  I think the Christian understanding of the human condition  can make a contribution.  

    All of us, we believe, are made in the divine image;  all of us share a common humanity,  and have enormous  potential – which argues for respect.  Yet all of us are flawed – we see things from our own  limited frame of reference;  we act from  mixed  motives – and that argues for humility.  An attitude of respect toward others, and  of humility  about the correctness of our own position, would go a long way toward  restoring civility.  It’s an attitude Christians  ought to be able to bring  to discussion and debate, whatever our view on the issues at stake.

    As citizens and as Christians,  we should take seriously what both of today’s lessons emphasize,  that the absence of civility  is anything but  a trivial matter.  Jesus essentially equates incivility  with murder  in his “You heard it was said…. but I say to you” teachings.  We have seen all too often  incivility leading to murder.  Jesus  virtually equates  attitude and act.  Words  can kill, he says.  Abusive language  can inflict  mortal wounds  on the mind and soul and heart  of another person.  Apparently, we don’t get away  with telling God,  “It was just talk; it didn’t mean anything.”  The way we talk – even the way we think – is an indication  of the way we live.  Jesus says, “You will have to give an account  for every careless word you utter.”

    And the Book of James  issues a warning  about the harmful effects of uncivil language  which one contemporary translation renders this way:  “It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.  The careless or wrongly placed word  out of your mouth can do that.  By our speech we can ruin  the world,  turn harmony into chaos, throw  mud  on a reputation, send the whole world  up in smoke  and go up in smoke  with it.”

    As Christian citizens, we can refuse  to use  disrespectful, hurtful speech, which is where  violence  begins.  We can refuse to participate in the language of divisiveness,  of the demeaning of character  and demonizing of foes.  We can insist  on civility  from those in the media, in politics, in sports, in schools – and  in the churches. 

    We can  examine  our own behavior,  review  our own habits of speech.  Every one of us contributes daily  to either  the barbarism  or  the civility of our common life.  We speak respectfully  or we ridicule.  We tell and listen to bigoted jokes,  or we don’t.  We gossip or we don’t.  We spread rumors or we won’t.  We express our opinions with humility or with arrogance.  We speak disparagingly of people of another race or religion or life-style or political party,  or  we refuse to do that.

    I want say something  about the means available to us  when we have differences. And, specifically, I want to caution  about the reactive use  of social media. Have you had this experience? Someone does something that makes you angry, and so  you fire  off  a retaliatory email, or text message, or Tweet. And what happens is  that instead of reducing the tensions, what you did is:  you escalated them. Oh, the damage we can do. So, please, be careful  with the temptation to knee-jerk texting and emailing. Remember the old-fashioned counsel to “count to ten.” Calm down. Think about your feelings. May pray about them. Sleep on it. Then consider responding – best in a face-to-face conversation. Know what I’m talking about? 

    Those of us who are parents and grandparents, teachers in school or in church, leaders of Scout troops or coaches of teams – we can engage in what Theodore Parker Ferris  called  “basic training.”  Training  in things  such as:  consideration,  courtesy,  kindness,  listening,  telling the truth,  caring about other people,  including those  whom  you don’t  really like.  

    Aristotle expected  that  it was too much  to ask people  to be good.  About the most that could be hoped of  ordinary people, he said,  is that we learn and teach  good habits – the habits of decency, respect and kindness,  the habits  that fashion  a civilized, civil  person.

    Or consider  Jesus’ belief  that  what comes out of us  is  what is  inside of us.  “The good person brings good things out of a good treasure,  and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure.”

    Stephen Covey  emphasizes this  inside-out approach in his Seven Habits:  Start with the self, he urges.  Even more fundamentally,  start with the innermost  part of the self, which is your character.  The inside-out approach  says  that if you pay attention  to what goes in,  you don't have to worry so much  about  what comes out.  Which is no  small part  of what the church is here  to help us with.

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    This weekend we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Part of the legacy Dr. King left us  which warrants celebration  is his  example  of civility. Issues mattered to him, and he fought hard and long  for racial justice, for integration, for the poor, for the end of the Vietnam War, among other things. In doing so, he was often the target  of  incivility,  of verbal abuse on the streets of Skokie,  of physical violence – he was punched, he was stabbed – of unjust imprisonment. He endured relentless  death threats. But, remarkably,  he did not descend  to the level of his adversaries. In the face of violence,  he practiced  non-violence. Confronted with attacks  against himself  and his people, he responded by persistently  calling on this society to live up to its ideals.  He serves as an example  of how to engage the issues,  fight hard  for what you believe,  and yet  do so  without degrading, dehumanizing, or demonizing  those who disagree.

    To Dr. King, it was at the heart of the Gospel  to recognize  that love  could really change  a situation of conflict.  That was the purpose of aggressive  non-violent action  in Selma, Birmingham, and elsewhere:  love  reaching out toward the oppressor,  love  forcing negotiation.  He was not naïve  about the persistence and power  of evil.  But his evangelical Christian faith  insisted  that even the most hardened sinner  runs the risk of being converted.  He really believed  that ruthless Southern sheriffs  and politicians  were sheep  who had strayed from the fold.  And that however powerful evil is,  love  is more powerful still.  Said Coretta Scott King,  “He refused  to lose faith  in the ultimate redemption of humanity.”

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    There was an unusually public, unusually positive and bipartisan meeting  at the White House  last Tuesday. A made-for-TV event, certainly. But hopeful, in that the topics were  DACA  and immigration reform. But two days later  there came  that unbelievably  racist vulgarism  about wanting Norwegians to immigrate,  and not  people from  “s---hole” countries. So here’s my take-away. We, as Christian citizens,  can’t  merely wait  for  public figures  to do what is right  on our behalf.  We mustn’t sit around  in hopes that Washington – or  Springfield – will do justice  and love kindness for us. That kind of apathy  is no way to honor  the legacy of Dr. King.  

    Because, friends, we each  and together  have important roles and responsibilities. So join me, please, in our striving, consciously and intentionally, to reflect and express –  in the living of our days – the civility  of Jesus Christ.  


     – With thanks to Eugene Bay, David Broder, Martin Marty and James McClendon