Pentecost 13, Year B, Proper 17 (8/30/09)
Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Ps.45:1-2,7-10; James 1:17-27;
Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23
Last week
That is a very Anglican
approach to our Christian faith.
Here, at
We are Democrats and
Republicans, liberals and conservatives and moderates.
We are hold a wide range of
beliefs and understandings of what scripture is saying about every topic in
religion, politics, and morality.
We don’t preach controversial
viewpoints from the pulpit.
It’s not that
More importantly, we know
that people of good faith and intellect and intention do not come to the same
understandings about things.
And that is OK.
Well, it’s more than OK…it is
the way the Body of Christ has always been and will always be.
And that is what makes the
Body of Christ strong.
Not that we are the same…but
that we are one body in all of our differences.
But even though we know that
we have differences and that differences make us what we are as the Body of
Christ, there is one big thing to keep in mind.
And that is that we each have
a responsibility and duty to the Body of Christ.
Now duty is not a very
popular word nowadays.
Culturally we’re a little
fixated on trying to fill our lives with the things that we want to do, not
that we have to do.
Duty is a drag…even though,
or maybe especially because, so many things in our lives seem to be about duty.
Going to school. Going to
work, doing the laundry. Mowing the lawn.
Homework, meetings, keeping
up appearances.
So much of our daily lives
can seem like duty, stifling duty.
Even if we love our families
and our homes…it’s a lot of dutiful type work to keep the ball rolling forward.
Life can feel so much like we
have no choices, like most everything is beyond our control.
Isn’t that why little kids
pack their backpacks and announce to their parents that they’re running away
from home?
And who here hasn’t
entertained the notion, even if just for a nanosecond, of getting in the car
and driving off into the sunset.
Or to
So here I am telling you that
to follow Jesus means duty and responsibility.
Like your everyday life isn’t
handing you plenty of that already.
Like you want to be yoked to
some bunch of yahoos at church because of this Body of Christ thing.
Whose idea was that?
Which brings us to the book
of James.
This is another fabulous New
Testament letter that is so full of goodness.
When I was reading it this
last week I was tempted to replace Philippians as my favorite book of the
Bible.
Five short chapters…go home
and read the whole thing.
Packed with good stuff about
following Jesus and being a part of the Body of Christ.
Now I will tell you, in
deference to our many Lutherans, that Martin Luther had a major negative
attitude about James.
The “epistle of straw” Luther
called it.
I’m hoping Luther got over
that at some point.
Luther’s big beef was that
James talks about faith and works in a different way than Paul did say in the
book of Romans.
I’ll talk about that whole
thing next week.
But here in today’s lesson
James is pointing Christians towards a new law…the law of liberty.
In essence James is telling
us that perfect freedom only comes when we receive the Gospel…the implanted
word as he calls it…
And when we are changed by
it.
James is writing this letter
to Jewish Christians, a group that is making a huge shift in their thinking.
And in how they connected
their daily lives to their “religion”.
I know it’s popular nowadays
to say…I’m not religious but I am spiritual.
I think people usually mean
that they’re not going to let an institutional church tell them how to love God
or what to believe.
But, really, it so frequently
just sounds like a “you’re not the boss of me” kind of comment.
Technically the word
religious just means an expression of faith and belief.
So maybe in that sense it is
an accurate statement.
If by saying “I’m not
religious” we mean that our words and actions shouldn’t be taken as an
expression of our faith, well OK.
Like what we believe about
God should not be confused with what we say and do.
Unfortunately, as followers
of Jesus, our calling is to live such that our words and actions are a clear and living expression of our
faith.
And therein lies true
freedom.
When the mercy and love of
God in Christ has transformed us and has created a new way of living life.
Freedom that grows out of the
law of liberty is a life that is congruent.
When what we believe God to
be is the thing that is being reflected in our everyday choices of words and
actions.
And James has some important
things to say about just that.
First off James tells us to
be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
This is completely
countercultural advice.
Now more than ever, I think
since we seem to be moving farther and farther away from civility and
respectfulness.
And our human tendency is to
monitor what other people are saying while at the same time planning our next
thing to say.
I think we sometimes just
like the sound of our own voices.
Here is a huge shift that
God’s gift of faith begins to change in us.
We are being called to
listen, to actually hear what others are saying, to observe, to tune in.
To take our time
speaking…what’s the rush?
I know in lots of settings it
seems like we are going to get trampled and that we’ll be completely unheard if
we don’t jump in and over people.
I don’t know exactly how this
works, but Jesus seems to have a different hope for us.
Our calling is to listen, to
be slow to speak.
And to be slow to get angry.
How often do we act like the
little things in life are a personal affront to us and are designed to make us
angry.
Why do we get so riled up
over who went first at the stop sign or how someone tried to merge on the freeway?
Why do we get our drawers in
a bunch because someone has parked their shopping cart in the middle of the
aisle while they ponder the coffee beans?
These things don’t matter in
eternity.
But if we allow ourselves to
get irritated at every turn by little things then we will find ourselves moving
away from our call to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
It may seem like I’m
exaggerating the effect of these kinds of daily irritations.
But if you pay attention
you’ll see how quickly crabbiness draws us away from Jesus.
I know that seemed like a
side trip but it’s really not.
James says this…be doers of
the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
In our desire to feel more
like life is not controlling us we often deceive ourselves into thinking that
true freedom comes from being right and getting our way.
That is not being a doer of
the word.
This phrase is even more
helpful in Greek.
Because the Greek usage is
more like…Be becoming a doer of the word.
James wasn’t saying there was
going to be a magical moment when you would turn into a doer of the word.
He was saying that by opening
our hearts to the gift of the Gospel, of the law of liberty, we can begin to
become doers of the word.
This perfect gift comes from
God and begins creating the new being that we are as followers of Jesus.
And James is very practical
about this.
Which is good since humans
have such a tendency to want following Jesus to be a solo journey, a private
matter, an internal thing.
James writes this…if any
think they are religious…then…
And that’s religious in the
sense that what you say and do is an accurate reflection of your faith and
beliefs.
Number one is bridling your
tongue.
That is rough.
Have you ever tried fasting
from saying certain things…like criticizing your spouse or child or wearing?
Inside the head the voice
goes…don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it.
And then out it comes.
Being slow to speak, bridling
our tongues is at the top of the list of hard thing to do.
And yet, it is right there on
James top 3 things a doer of the word is doing.
Second is to care for the
orphans and widows in their distress.
Which seems like a nice
enough thing to do but what James is getting at is deeper.
Widows and orphans were the
people in their society who had no one to defend them and to provide for them.
It was one of the side
effects of a patriarchal society.
Women had no rights to
inheritance and fatherless children did not have to be taken in by family.
So what James is telling us
is that doers of the word are those who defend those who are defenseless.
And who would that be now…the
victims of violence, homelessness?
The third thing James says is
that a doer of the word keeps themselves unstained by the world.
Now that can mean a million
different things to people.
But haven’t you had that
sense of becoming stained by the world when you were doing or saying something?
Until our consciences get
dulled we have a place inside that knows.
It may be no brainer things
like adultery or alcohol abuse.
But it can be things that
seem more innocent…books, movies, pornography, lying, cheating on our taxes or
at school.
Are you becoming a doer of
the word?
Are you taking your place in
the Body of Christ?
Are you listening for your
calling, are you using your gifts to build up the Body?
Are you willing to keep
opening your heart up to Jesus?
One of the things I learned
from the Benedictine sisters in
I’ve thought a lot about their
commitment to fidelity.
About what it means to intentionally
bring all of our differences into one community and to use our gifts, whatever
they may be, in that community.
And then I ran across this
prayer for fidelity in an old book.
For me fidelity has
everything to do with following Jesus and with becoming a doer of the word.
Here’s the prayer:
Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve; to
give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil
and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward, save that of
knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.