From Washington, D.C. to Ferguson, MO, from Iraq to Ukraine, we see what happens as words tear down community and set people against one another. Our two memory texts for this sermon series make it clear that God cannot possibly find such words and thoughts acceptable. As we move into the final intense 8½ weeks of campaigning before election day on November 4, fix firmly in your mind and heart a resolve to speak “only what is useful for building up, as there is need,” in politics as in all other aspects of your life.

• Scholar N. T. Wright said, “It isn’t just that bitter or sour speech is to be avoided. Your tongue gives you the opportunity to bring God’s grace to people, by what you say and how you say it, and it’s a shame to pass up this chance (verse 29) …You should behave as those on whom God’s Holy Spirit has placed God’s mark. The word Paul uses could refer to the ‘seal’ or official stamp on a document… The mark indicates who it belongs to and what it’s for… People who are enslaved to anger and malice may think they are ‘free’ to ‘be themselves’, but they are in bondage. If we are marked out by the Spirit’s personal presence living in us, think how sad it makes that Spirit if we behave in ways which don’t reflect the life and love of God.” Before you forward that e-mail, or post that tart response on a blog, ask, “Does this give grace? Does it build up? Can I picture Jesus sending this?”