Talk Like a Pirate -- FPC sermon excerpt
Avast, me hearties! Shiver me timbers! Arrrrrrr!
It’s coming this month. September 19th, to be exact. “Talk Like a Pirate Day.”
If you’re not familiar with this holiday, you’ve obviously been spending too much time doing useful and important things. But if you are in the habit of surfing the internet, then maybe you have stumbled across this ridiculous excuse for a holiday. It’s a day devoted to talking like a pirate. Just for kicks. Because it is funny. Because you can.
Just be careful not to go too far, and call a close friend a “scurvy bilge rat.” She might not be amused.
Talk Like a Pirate Day was invented by a couple of guys — no surprise there. They picked September 19 because it was not cluttered up with Christmas or the Super Bowl or any other important events. For years, the two of them celebrated the day in private, just talking like pirates to each other, but then humorist Dave Barry caught word of the holiday and wrote a column about it. He thought the idea was so original that surely the creators of the day needed to be on medication.
Dave Barry ended up inviting all of his readers to join the movement and celebrate the holiday. On September 19, do not answer the phone with “hello,” he recommends. Instead, answer the phone with “Ahoy, me hearty!” If the caller protests, saying that he is not a hearty, call him a scurvy dog who will soon be walking the plank and ending up in Davy Jones’ locker.
You’ll have fun … guaranteed!
Given that Talk Like a Pirate Day is just around the corner, it is fitting that we take a look at the advice of James about taming the tongue. “Look at ships,” says James, sounding like a salty sea dog: “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. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits” (James 3:4-5).
Makes you want to say “Aye!”
The tongue is a small but powerful instrument, able to have an effect that is every bit as influential as the rudder on a pirate ship. Think of the power of words you have heard, or that you have spoken, over the course of your life. “You are too small to be a good basketball player,” says a youth league coach. “Girls should steer clear of science and engineering,” advises a parent. “You can’t be a Christian and believe that!” scolds a member of a Bible study. “You are such a loser,” says a cool kid in the high school cafeteria. “Don’t tell your parents,” warns an abusive uncle, “no one will believe you.”
You know the devastating power of words. You’ve heard them. You’ve felt them. As a preacher, I have to take words very seriously — I know that what is spoken from the pulpit can either build up a congregation, or break it down. James knows the power of words as well, which is why he says in today’s passage, “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire” (vv. 5-6). He knows that the tongue can be used to discourage, dismay, deceive and destroy the precious children of God, and he describes it as “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (v. 8).
Is there any way for us to tame the tongue?
The challenge for us is to Talk Like a Christian, not Talk Like a Pirate. Talk like Jesus, not like Johnny Depp in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” This means that we do not use our tongues to “bless the Lord and Father” one minute, and then “curse those who are made in the likeness of God” the next (v. 9). It is not appropriate to offer up enthusiastic praise to God on Sunday, and then call your coworker a stinking bilge rat on Monday.
It’s coming this month. September 19th, to be exact. “Talk Like a Pirate Day.”
If you’re not familiar with this holiday, you’ve obviously been spending too much time doing useful and important things. But if you are in the habit of surfing the internet, then maybe you have stumbled across this ridiculous excuse for a holiday. It’s a day devoted to talking like a pirate. Just for kicks. Because it is funny. Because you can.
Just be careful not to go too far, and call a close friend a “scurvy bilge rat.” She might not be amused.
Talk Like a Pirate Day was invented by a couple of guys — no surprise there. They picked September 19 because it was not cluttered up with Christmas or the Super Bowl or any other important events. For years, the two of them celebrated the day in private, just talking like pirates to each other, but then humorist Dave Barry caught word of the holiday and wrote a column about it. He thought the idea was so original that surely the creators of the day needed to be on medication.
Dave Barry ended up inviting all of his readers to join the movement and celebrate the holiday. On September 19, do not answer the phone with “hello,” he recommends. Instead, answer the phone with “Ahoy, me hearty!” If the caller protests, saying that he is not a hearty, call him a scurvy dog who will soon be walking the plank and ending up in Davy Jones’ locker.
You’ll have fun … guaranteed!
Given that Talk Like a Pirate Day is just around the corner, it is fitting that we take a look at the advice of James about taming the tongue. “Look at ships,” says James, sounding like a salty sea dog: “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. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits” (James 3:4-5).
Makes you want to say “Aye!”
The tongue is a small but powerful instrument, able to have an effect that is every bit as influential as the rudder on a pirate ship. Think of the power of words you have heard, or that you have spoken, over the course of your life. “You are too small to be a good basketball player,” says a youth league coach. “Girls should steer clear of science and engineering,” advises a parent. “You can’t be a Christian and believe that!” scolds a member of a Bible study. “You are such a loser,” says a cool kid in the high school cafeteria. “Don’t tell your parents,” warns an abusive uncle, “no one will believe you.”
You know the devastating power of words. You’ve heard them. You’ve felt them. As a preacher, I have to take words very seriously — I know that what is spoken from the pulpit can either build up a congregation, or break it down. James knows the power of words as well, which is why he says in today’s passage, “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire” (vv. 5-6). He knows that the tongue can be used to discourage, dismay, deceive and destroy the precious children of God, and he describes it as “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (v. 8).
Is there any way for us to tame the tongue?
The challenge for us is to Talk Like a Christian, not Talk Like a Pirate. Talk like Jesus, not like Johnny Depp in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” This means that we do not use our tongues to “bless the Lord and Father” one minute, and then “curse those who are made in the likeness of God” the next (v. 9). It is not appropriate to offer up enthusiastic praise to God on Sunday, and then call your coworker a stinking bilge rat on Monday.
posted by Henry Brinton | 9:11 AM
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