When there is an emergency and essential services are needed, we value the privilege of knowing they are there and ready. Where there is a fire we are grateful to members of the fire services, grateful for their faithfulness, for their bravery in facing dangers and risking their lives. A tiny spark is often found to have been the cause of devastation, and even loss of life.
Recent widespread fires in the east, particularly in Indonesia, have been in the world news. Not only has there been destruction of life and property, but also the suffering through smog and smoke in the area, and the frightening feeling that things are "out of control".
It could be dangerous to allow our imagination to enter into the feeling of a person who had deliberately started fire (too awful to contemplate). In the short Epistle of St James (Chapter 3), the saint draws attention to the potential dangers that can so easily be sparked off by just one word, or even a pointed silence.
St James put it clearly: "A whole forest can be set ablaze by a tiny spark of fire, and the tongue is as dangerous as any fire with vast potentialities for evil. It can make the whole of life a blazing hell.
"No-one can tame the human tongue . . . the poison it spreads is deadly. We use the tongue to bless our Father, God, and we use the same tongue to curse our fellow humans, who are created in God's likeness. Blessing and curses come out of the same mouth. Surely, this is the sort of thing that never ought to happen."
We have failed to keep our tongues from evil speaking, lying and slandering, or clever undermining of another's good name. In the epistle, St James alerts us to the need for careful control of the tongue: "We all make mistakes in all kinds of ways, but the man who can claim that he never says the wrong thing can consider himself perfect, for if he can control his tongue he can control every other part of his personality.
"Men control the movements of a large animal like the horse with a tiny bit placed in its mouth. And in the case of ships, for all their size and the momentum they have with a strong wind behind them, a very small rudder controls their course according to the helmsman's wishes. The human tongue is physically small, but what tremendous effects it can boast."
The rein and the rudder are little, but powerful in controlling. For the believer, the controlling of the tongue is achieved through reverence - reverence for the ever present King of Love, and His reverence for each person. Jesus did not either isolate or humiliate. He did not ignore or speak ill of the thief beside Him on a cross. He said to him: "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."
"Good manners" is the answer. Children express that reverence - awareness of God - in a hymn:
"God is always near me,
Hearing what I say,
Knowing all my thoughts and deeds,
All my work and play.
God is always near me,
Though so young and small,
Not a look or word or thought,
But God knows it all.