Just Words

Just Words

Chris Cox

"It's just words, folks. It's just words."

Growing up, I always heard that childhood standby: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." I understand why we're told that. You don't want your kid to haul off and sock a seven year old because they're called a doo-doo head. But that saying is a lie. Words wound. In some ways, a word is worse than a stick or a stone because you can't see the damage done.

Words are powerful. Take away language and our civilization would be in a huge mess. Words convey what is most important to each of us. We express love, needs, and hatred with words.

The One Who Came Back

The One Who Came Back

Chris Cox
Weekly Lectionary

"Why do you guys let me hang around? I'm not one of you."

"When you're outcasts like us, don't matter where you come from."

I remembered that conversation as we sprinted through the streets. Ten of us, lepers all. There was no community for us except each other. I don't remember how I ended up with them, but I was always acutely aware that I was the outsider. I saw the disgust when we came into town and then disgust heaped upon disgust when people saw me. I was worried the others would turn on the Samaritan. Abandon me. Those words assured me: None of that matters when you're already an outcast.

Face Pressed Against the Airplane Window

Face Pressed Against the Airplane Window

Chris Cox

We speed down a runway at 180 miles per hour and escape earth's gravitational pull. We ascend above the clouds and soar at 10,000 feet; achieving something that humanity could scarce dream of for generations. We hurtle through the sky at something like 540 miles per hour before descending back down to earth at a somehow controlled plummet to land. It's a marvel to me. Even wedged in a space too small for my six foot one frame between two total strangers, I still think flying is amazing.

Don't Worry, Be

Don't Worry, Be

Chris Cox
Sermon Manuscript

I only remember three songs that were played in the cafeteria that day. This was around 1990, so every third girl wanted to play “Right Stuff” by New Kids on the Block. I brought a Disney cassette and requested “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” because no matter how far I travel back in my memory, I’m still a dork. And then the third song was one that I apologize for mentioning because for the rest of the day it will be trapped inside the brains of those who know it: Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

I bring up that ode to positivity because, as we continue in our series on the Sermon on the Mount, we come to Jesus’ admonishment to not worry. I think that we sometimes we gloss over the passage and water it down to where Jesus is standing on the mountain singing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” And that song is a lovely sentiment, but it often doesn’t stand up to the things in this life that truly cause us concerns: job pressures, financial stress, challenges in family, a rancorous political season, your pastor asking you to preach a sermon when you haven’t even figured out how to operate voicemail on your phone.

Morning

Morning

Chris Cox
Weekly Lectionary

Five years ago, I preached for the first time as an adult in a seminary class. That sermon began with a story set in Nashville. Tomorrow morning I'll preach a sermon at our new church just a few miles away from where that story took place. The symmetry is kind of beautiful even as I worry about what I will say tomorrow (which is ironic because the sermon is on not worrying).

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