We live in a world where vitriolic rhetoric is the norm, not the exception. It’s disturbingly sad the way so many in our world speak hatefully about other people. Often, even worse, what they are saying is at the very least a half-truth if not an outright lie. Unfortunately, this isn’t some benign thing that happens between people half a world away, it also happens between people who are so-called friends. Furthermore, and far more troubling, it sometimes comes from the mouths and the pens and the keyboards of Christians. Gossip abounds. Bad-mouthing is rampant. Ugly hateful-speech is spewed. But God calls us to higher living, better living, kinder living...even towards our “enemies” by the way. God calls us to support and uplift and speak well...to speak kindly of everyone around us but especially our fellow Christians. Luther wrote “explain everything in the kindest way” and that’s exactly what the Lord Jesus calls us to do. In a world that is prone to trash-talking-bad-mouths, we will be reminded today that we are always called to deliver “Kind Speech”.