This morning I slept in. Yesterday I was at specialist clinical examinations: we had to be on the bus to the examination hall at 7:15 and by the time I got home (I had flown to Auckland the previous night) it was 7 PM.
I did manage to see my parents and remind myself that Auckland is indeed a beautiful place. Caught up with many people I have worked with when I lived there: but that is not where I live now. So today I have been lazy. Besides, this morning’s sermon would be out-of-order for the lectionary, so let’s look at what was
For the text for today is so appropriate. On a day when the Federales take in a film maker at midnight, in a week where an ambassador is murdered by a mob because that film is made… we are aware that speech matters
1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. 3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue-a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
When I was examining yesterday I had to pay great attention to what people were saying. As is the case with many clinical examinations, it was a scenario using an actor: I had to monitor what the actor said, how the candidate spoke, and what he told me his or her assessment was. I was weighing words.
And throughout the criteria there was a comment — to let minor errors go. We all make mistakes.
One of the reasons we need freedom of speech is precisely because we all make mistakes. It is a reason to tolerate dissenters, the outspoken, the cross-grained. You need correction when you make errors. You do not want unity — of thought, of speech, of action.
Because in debate there can come wisdom. Now, for this reason, we need to defend our lives, property, and our tradition of free speech and free debate. We must not let the mob rule
Because free speech, particularly when it is true and without error, can be mightily offensive. And in this fallen age, no one speaks without error.
.
One thought on “Speech must be free, despite mistakes.”
Comments are closed.