James 1:1-5, 12-18
Over the summer we’ve spent a lot of time hearing from people who have commitments to shaping a better world. We’ve heard from those who want the world to be safer, with fewer guns and more respect. We’ve heard from people who want the world to be wider and more welcoming – of people from other countries or cultures or different understandings of self. We’ve heard from letter writers and labor advocates and we’ve heard from one another. All these stories are good. And if truth be told, all this dreaming has made me a little bit tired. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that there is a lot to fix in this world and sometimes I need a bit of a break from fixing. A little rest.
So then, we come to fall and the question: what do we do next? The lectionary of suggested scripture passages suggests that we hang out in the book of James for a while, and while I hardly ever pay much attention to what a list tells me we should do, I’m thinking, “Why not?” Let’s read the book of James and see what we can find there.
Truth be told, I’ve always liked James, and I like it even more after I found out that Martin Luther wanted it removed from the Bible, “an epistle of straw” he called it. Let’s start with why that might be. James talks a lot about what people need to do to connect with God in Jesus’ way. We’re going to read several suggestions for our behavior in the weeks ahead. Luther may have read those suggestions as requirements for salvation. And he didn’t like that.
Those of you who came to the film showing of “God and Country” on Thursday night heard me say that all theology (or thinking about God) is culturally conditioned. What we believe about God always makes sense in our particular time and place. One of Luther’s pet peeves was the common practice of his day of using salvation as a fundraiser. The Church in Luther’s time needed money. It was building expensive buildings. It had been fighting expensive wars or crusades. There were disputes over whether the Church owned massive land holdings or if they belonged to others. Some of its leaders had developed expensive lifestyles. It needed someone to pay the bills. In our day when churches need money, they sometimes hold a bazaar and sell stuff. In Luther’s day, the church sold salvation. They called it “indulgences.” For a price you could buy a piece of paper that guaranteed you were going to heaven. You could buy one for yourself or for a family member who had died or for your children. You could buy them for folks who seemed like heavenly material or for those who seemed quite unlikely to qualify. Make a donation and secure your spot in eternity.
Martin Luther hated indulgences. He insisted that the Bible says salvation is a gift, given freely by God because God is love and wants us to have eternal life. We’ve come to call this gift grace, the outpouring of God’s love for everyone. It’s a wonderful concept. When Luther read in James that faith requires certain behaviors, “Faith without works is dead” we’re going to read, he cried, “NO!” Faith is a gift of grace. Salvation is the free gift of God! I think he was right, but I don’t think he understood the context of James.
When we were hanging out for a while in the first century with a variety of Jesus groups, their primary question wasn’t, “Are we saved?” or “What do I have to do to have eternal life?” It wasn’t the question Luther and the church’s indulgences were asking or answering. Their question was, “How do I make it day to day in the Roman Empire?” People were asking Jesus about how to live with Roman violence and crushing poverty and the separation of families and communities under slavery. Jesus’ followers in the first century were remembering Jesus’ advice and forming communities to put it into practice. Their focus wasn’t “How do I guarantee eternal life?” it was, “How can I be a follower of Jesus when so many forces want to make that hard?” And when we read James in that context, it makes sense. He tells us how to live in Christian community in the face of hard times.
So we make a beginning today. James is writing to people who lived in hard times. Who doesn’t? Although the specifics of hardship and their degree vary a lot from generation to generation, everyone struggles at times. He starts out writing to his friends who are struggling, “Be glad for these difficult times because they help us get in touch with our faith!” Sometimes those words are comforting and sometimes they just make me angry! James is very clear about one thing folks often miss in this context: Hard times don’t come from God. God doesn’t send hardship to punish us, or to makes us stronger. God is good, and if something isn’t good in your life, it’s not from God!
I remember when I buried a young man in his 20’s killed in a head-on collision on a foggy night. People were comforting his widow, barely out of high school with her whole life turned upside down, by saying his death was God’s will. I wanted to deck them! Accidents happen, illnesses happen, wars happen…and none of them is God’s punishment for us. God doesn’t send us hardship, God stands with us in hardship. Life is sometimes breathtakingly painful, because that’s the way the world is. But we never face the pain alone.
Pema Chodrin, a Buddhist nun, writes about how to cope with the disasters that come into our lives. It doesn’t matter what form disaster takes – the end of relationship, a natural disaster, a business closing, and illness – and it doesn’t matter if it’s big or small. When a disaster is ours, it’s overwhelming and it hurts. Chodrin tells us the way to healing isn’t turning away, it’s going through. The way to returning joy is through the pain. But not on our own – with those who surround us with help. James says the same thing God is pouring light into your life whenever there is darkness.
I want us to read James this fall not as a formula for earning eternal life – do this to be saved. I want to read it as a guidebook for taking care of one another when the road is rough. It’s not a question of whether or not God loves us or God is good or there is Light in darkness. It’s not a question of being saved. It’s a promise that there is a way through because God loves us and God is good and there is Light in every darkness. That’s what Jesus was talking about. God IS love!
So here’s step 1: We’re in this together. We can make a good and godly life together. We can face whatever storms we face together. Before we talk about anything we’re going to do for each other, before we decide how we’re going to fix the world around us, let’s begin with what James says first of all, “God is pouring Light into this world, all over us, all around us.” When you see it, name it. When you can’ t see it, take the hand of someone who does. Let’s become the light of the world together.