INVITATION TO A CARING COMMUNITY

A Sermon for Pentecost 19

September 30, 2018

James 5:13-20

The book of James offers us a vision of a caring community—of people who are committed to the practice of their faith and in doing that, are committed to one another. Because of our faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ (James 2:1), it says, we put away anger, we listen, we care for the widow and orphan in distress, we act with gentleness, we treat poor and rich alike, we love our neighbor as ourselves. He covers all that and more in the first part of this letter.

Now, he moves on to describe other practices for a caring community and these include: prayer, the singing of songs of praise, being present to one another and when healing is needed, offering the laying on of hands and anointing—administered by the elders. So this is a group of people who not only believe but live it out their belief together. They look to God for healing but they realize something significant: They, themselves, are that healing presence to one another. God is always relational and so a Christian community is centered on relationship as well.

What do you lack? James writes at the start of the letter that whatever you lack, God will provide. Turn to God in prayer, trusting that God will respond “generously and ungrudgingly” (James 1:5). That confidence is now reiterated at the end of the message. He says that prayer has the power to “save” the sick, to “raise them up,” and to offer the “forgiveness of sins” (James 5:5). To pray in this way together as a caring community is powerful. If does not offer some wistful hope of the peace in the hereafter but of a praying, healing, vibrant community that transforms people right here, right now.

What do you think about prayer? How do you pray? We often think of prayer as an individual endeavor. In your quiet time alone, you pray to God. Most people I know are not confident about praying out loud anywhere. Ever. They much prefer to have the pastor pray for them. 

But that’s not how James is talking about prayer here. For him, it is not an individual thing to be done by yourself—I mean you can do it that way but it really is a communal thing. We pray together. So not only do we feel closer to God, but we feel closer to one another. We sense a deep belonging. 

Maybe that’s how it was in the first century church to whom James was writing, but that’s not very *today* is it? Today we’re an individualistic culture. Got a problem? Fix it yourself. Go buy a self-help book, try a little harder, grin and bear it, make better use of the happy face emoji. Even our social media doesn’t necessarily make us more connected to one another. It can easily become a way to showcase our individual identities and brag how many “friends” or “retweeters” we have. So instead of lifting others up by our posts, we just make them feel jealous. We, as a society, feel more alone than ever.

Let’s admit it: It’s hard for us to even imagine the kind of communal life that James is talking about. He’s not holding up an individualistic lifestyle at all. He’s not telling us we have to be awesome and get others to notice us. Instead, he’s suggesting the opposite. Want to belong? Want to be in a healing, relational community? Then be vulnerable. Be yourself. And let that true self be known. It’s an imperfect self loaded with shame, regret and self-doubt but that’s okay when you’re in a caring community. In fact, you can confess your sins to one another. Seriously? Confess your sins? That’s the last thing most of us would think about doing. It’s damn scary. But it opens the doors wide for forgiveness and unity. Keep in mind that the community to which this letter was written was one that was in conflict over class discrimination. They had many squabbles and it was hard for them to be kind to one another.  And yet, James advised that they risk being rejected and confess their sins to one another with radical openness.

And if that wasn’t enough, James told them to pray for one another and together. Why? Because it is effective and powerful. And it heals. 

Think of a time when someone prayed for you. How did it feel to know that someone, or perhaps a whole congregation, was praying for you? And now think of a time when you prayed for someone else. What was that like? Did it cause you to feel more connected to and loving towards the recipient of your prayer? Of course it did. We may not understand the mysteries of prayer and it may not always work in the magical way we want it to but we do know that prayer is social glue. It holds us together even when that seems like a miraculous thing to do.

If we take this letter seriously, it offers an important invitation to become a caring community. Like the community to which James wrote, we’re far from perfect. Perhaps you’ve been hurt by others. Maybe you don’t quite feel like you belong or that it’s safe to be your true self here.  You may well feel afraid.

That’s understandable. But think for a moment why we are here (other than the coffee). I think we’re here because we believe in God and we want help to keep that faith alive. We know that the love God has for us is limitless. In Psalm 23 it says that goodness and mercy are following us—they are actually pursuing us and will not stop because that’s how much God desire us. This love is here for us. And it is so helpful to know that we’re not alone. Right next to us in the pews are other beloved children of God who are saved by grace. God deems us all worthy and like a loving parent, wants us to get along.

If we believe this, then let’s risk living this way. Why not? Let us endeavor to love one another as God loves us. Let us sing praises of thanksgiving, let us confess our sins to one another, and let us pray for one another and with one another, trusting that the healing of God comes to us most profoundly through one another. We have the chance to be a gift to each other. A healing, marvelous gift. Open your heart and be that gift.  Open your heart and be that gift.

Later in our service, we will follow this advice from James and you’ll have the chance to come forward for prayers of healing with the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. Normally, the pastor alone says the prayer but today, we’re going to try in the ancient church way and invite our church elders (in our case it will be our church council) to join in the circle or prayer for each person. May these prayers heal us  and bring us closer together, closer to being the kind of caring community we are called to be through the boundary-breaking love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

© 2018 Laura Gentry

BE OPENED

September 9, 2018

Pentecost 16, Year B

Mark 7:24-37

In last week’s gospel reading, Jesus set the Pharisees and scribes straight about their ideas of impurity, reminding them that it wasn’t about following the rules but about the heart. Now, as if to prove his point, Jesus heads off into “impure” territory across the Sea of Galilee and into the Gentile region of Tyre.

At this point in his ministry, Jesus is exhausted and looking for a bit of down time. We know this because it says he “entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice” (Mark 7:24). Even in this Gentile region people know about Jesus. Everywhere he goes people demand his healing power.

A woman approaches Jesus and not just any woman, a foreign woman. Mark doesn’t give us details about her except that she is “a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin” (Mark 7:26). This mean that by the traditional religious standards, she is impure and unclean. She’s outside the land and religion of Israel and so she’s outside the law of Moses. She’s a descendant of the ancient enemies of Israel. Furthermore, she shows up without a husband or male relative, which was the norm. And she pushes her way into a conversation with a foreign man—Jesus—at a house to which she wasn’t invited. These are all major taboos. She’s so far out of line it’s hard to explain. Oh, and her daughter is possessed by a demon. Exactly how it’s affecting her, we don’t know but demon-possession usually made people act in very anti-social ways. 

You can see, then, that this woman is an outsider. And Jesus lets her know this. When the woman falls at his feet and begs him to heal her daughter, he says, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). The “children” in this statement are the children of Israel and the “dogs” are everyone else, which would obviously include this woman who has just come to him begging for help.

Wait a minute! Did Jesus just call this woman a dog?

I’m afraid so. It makes it a difficult text to tackle. Preachers—at least the ones I know—really wrestle with  it. At our minister’s text study on Tuesday, a pastor showed up late and asked: “What IS our gospel lesson for Sunday?” We told her it’s the Syrophoenician woman that Jesus calls a dog. She took a deep breath, then hung her head with a long sigh. We laughed because it demonstrated how we all felt. It would have been so much easier on us if Jesus hadn’t said such thing. I mean a dog? That was a racial slur.

But why?! Why does he say it? Mark doesn’t tell us. Scholars have offered various explanations over the years. Here are a few of them:

• Jesus is testing the woman to see if she has enough faith and indeed, she passes the test with flying colors.This doesn’t seem likely because he never says it was a test and it would certainly be a mean trick to play on her if it were.

• Jesus is just super tired and grumpy.  You know, we all say things we probably shouldn’t when we’re worn out. I mean traveling around healing the world is really takes it out of you. 

• Jesus was towing the company line by quoting Jewish folk wisdom. This isn’t meant to be a put-down as much as it was religious tradition.

• Jesus is human and because it is early on in his ministry, he hasn’t quite grasped the scope of his own mission. Even the son of God can’t get a handle on the expanding kingdom he’s come to proclaim.

While we don’t know for sure what Jesus was thinking, it is clear that when approached by the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus’ immediate response is to appeal to the limits of his mission, his call to serve his own people. In Matthew’s version of this story, Jesus begins by saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).

But back to the woman. She’s just been called a dog. What would you do if that had happened to you? I’d expect her to burst into tears and run away. Or perhaps she could get angry with him and read him the riot act for being so insensitive. Instead, she is persistent. She wants healing so desperately that she uses his metaphor against him. I’m a dog? Fine. Have it your way but Lord (and by the way, she’s the only person in the entire gospel of Mark that calls Jesus Lord). Have it your way, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs. She believes there is enough for everyone even if it is only crumbs. That’s how abundant God’s kingdom and God’s mercy are. 

She’s sharp. Jesus can’t argue with that. He responds: “For saying that, you may go, Jesus says. The demon has left your daughter” (Mark 7:29). Jesus can only agree that God’s love and healing power know no ethnic, political, or social boundaries. “So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone” (Mark 7:30). 

It certainly does look like the woman changed Jesus’ mind, doesn’t it? I mean what does he do next? He heads off to the region of the Decapolis, also Gentile territory with a new and expanded vision of his mission. Again, he’s met by people in search of healing. “They brought to him a deaf man who also had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him” (Mark 7:32).

Like the Syrophoenician woman, this man is an outsider. He is cut off from the world by his inability to hear and communicate with others. This time Jesus doesn’t hesitate to respond to a request. He takes the man aside, puts his fingers in the man’s ears, spits, and touches the man’s tongue, and then says “Be opened!” Immediately, the narrator tells us, “the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly” (Mark 7:35). This man can now communicate with those around him. Not only is he physically healed, he is also restored to his community. 

Be opened. Mark places these stories back to back for a reason. Jesus encounters  the Syrophoenician woman, then says “be opened” to the man who needs to hear. It seems to be the “be opened” is as much about Jesus’ own heart as anything else. Could it be that this unnamed Gentile woman has just opened Jesus—opened him to truly understand the ever-expanding mission God has given him? We don’t know but Mark thought it was significant enough to include in his gospel.

If Jesus can be opened, I think we can too. Where is the surprising kingdom of God, the reign of God, expanding for us today? Where is God pushing us to be more generous in sharing this abundant grace mercy? We are starting Sunday school and confirmation today. It’s a priority to nurture our children but our congregation’s mission can’t end there. Like Jesus himself, his disciples are continually called to a larger vision of mission—one that aims to embrace the outsiders and not only to embrace them but to value them and learn from them and be changed for the better.

That’s what we want from our faith, right? We want to be changed! I’m not sure that’s always true. Change is hard. It means laying down our old ideas for new ones. It’s hard to wrap our minds around things like that, even painful. This year, the ELCA Youth Gathering in which 31,000 youth and adult chaperones came together in Texas to encounter God. The theme was “This Changes Everything.” That theme was picked up by Sugar Creek Bible Camp for it’s summer programing as well. The point is that if we are followers of God, we have to prepare ourselves to change completely, to be utterly transformed by the Spirit, even if that means laying down our old prejudices and dearly held beliefs. If Jesus can change, we can too. 

We must never forget that we are all beggars at the table, and it is by grace alone that we are fed.  But it’s an amazing table, one that is larger than we can possibly imagine. May we be opened.

© 2018 Laura Gentry

DOERS OF THE WORD

James 1:17-27

A sermon for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, 2018

Our Epistle lesson for today comes from the book of James. We don’t get passages from James in our lectionary that often. When the bible cannon was being formed, James was nearly left out and even when it did make the cut, it was regarded with suspicion. Martin Luther, for example, would have happily banished it altogether, referring to it as the “Epistle of straw”.  As you know, he was a grace guy and this book, with it’s emphasis upon doing good seems almost anti-grace. He was worried it would confuse believers. 

Fortunately, you’re not the kind of believers who would be confused about something as important as grace so I think I can safely preach on this passage today. You know full well that your salvation comes from the grace of God in Christ and it is not your own doing at all. So don’t boast. But now that you’ve got grace, what are you supposed to do with it? Well, that’s where the book James comes in with advise for how to live. Spoiler alert: it does not advocate couch potato Christianity. It exhorts us to get up off our duffs and do God’s work.

The manuscript of this book attributes the authorship to James, the son of Zebedee but later it was traditionally held that it was James, the brother of Jesus. While the authorship is still disputed, whoever wrote it was passionate about helping the believers of the early Christian community live our their faith.

The Christian life is an ongoing journey according to this book. You don’t ever arrive but you keep on trucking, following in the footsteps of Jesus no matter how much you stumble and fall short. Mother Teresa understood this. She once wrote: “Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each other's faults and failures.”

The entire book of James is only 108 verses long and each one is dense with wisdom to help us follow Christ more faithfully. So let’s examine each of the 10 verses in today’s passage with the hope of gaining new inspiration for our journey.

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 
—James 1:17

Did you hear that? It says giving is a gift. Did you ever think of giving as a gift? It is. The old saying is true: it is better to give than to receive. God gives to us and all the gifts are good, so when we share this goodness with others, we are generous and God’s blessing expands. Thrivent Financial has T-shirts that say “Live Generously” and I love seeing people wearing them because that’s the advice of this verse and so many other in the bible. 

It also refers to God here as the “Father of Lights.” This refers to the lights of heaven—the sun, moon and stars—which God has created. These lights change throughout the day and the season. Now as we enter the autumn season we notice the hours of daylight diminishing. Yet God is the creator and author of all this light and, therefore, does not change, even as the shadows fall. This is a God we can rely upon and trust to supply us with all the gifts we need. That’s why we can always be generous.

In fulfillment of God’s own purpose God gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of God’s creatures. 
—James 1:18

James reminds us that we have been given new birth by the “word of truth.” This refers to the good news of the Gospel. The world may give us words of discouragement, but God doesn’t. The word of truth which our Lord speaks is all positive, all good because it is about redemption through Christ.

And so with this new birth as children of God, we become the first fruits of God’s creatures. In biblical tradition, the first fruits are the first ripe sheaves of grain or the first fruits that appear on a tree. They are signs of a greater harvest that is to come. They give hope. That’s why these first fruits were offered to God to show that they trusted in God for not just these fruits, but the entire harvest. So for US to be first fruits is to be the sign of HOPE. Are you a sign of hope? Is that how you live? Do people look at you and say: “Oh the world’s going to hell but look at her! She give me hope!”

It reminds me of the abolitionist Wendell Phillips, who had the courage to fight against slavery at a time when it wasn’t the popular or accepted thing to do. Yet he found the Holy Spirit’s wisdom guiding him onward. One day, after giving an impassioned speech condemning slavery, somebody asked him, "Wendell, why are you so on fire?" 

He said: "Brother, I'm on fire because I have mountains of ice before me to melt." 

You can call the book of James ancient wisdom but I think it was never more relevant. Just take a look around and you’ll see that there are mountains of ice that need melting. There is growing hatred and injustice and despair. Yet God is here and we trust that God is love. Are you shining forth that love? Are you on fire? Do you provide the first sign of hope to people looking for a spark of light? Well, if you’re looking for something to do with the grace that is within you, this would be a good start.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 
—James 1:19

This one is so straight-forward and so powerful we should commit it to memory: “be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

Are you quick to listen? Most people aren’t. Here’s a bit of brain science: the average speaker says about 125 words a minute in normal conversation and our brains have the ability to comprehend 400 words a minute. Our brains are bored. They’re busy doing other things. We aren’t listening, we’re thinking of the next thing we want to say or making a to-do list or contemplating the forms.

And that doesn’t result in real communication or connection. In America today we have become especially good at not listening to each other when we have differing opinions. Yet when we listen, we begin to understand each other and walls fall down. Fear fades and enemies can even become friends. So be quick to listen and slow to speak.

If you do that, you’ll be slow to anger as well. 

For your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 
—James 1:20

Living a life of anger will not produce God’s righteousness. Holding onto anger against people is bad for our bodies and souls. It can cause hypertension, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and more.  As people of faith, it’s not like we’re not angry, but we should be angry at injustice and heartlessness, not people. So we need to let the Holy Spirit direct our anger to fighting evils rather than our fellow human beings. Because plain old anger just tears up our communities. And that’s not how God wants us to live.

Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 
—James 1:21

As with anger, we are also to let go of other wicked behaviors. In the original language the word translated here as “rid” was more like “strip”. The way you’d quickly strip off dirty clothes to go into the washing machine, you ought to strip off wickedness. Then, free of such filth, you can really welcome the implanted word. This is a wonderful image of how God’s word is given to us and dwells in our hearts, like a seed that has been planted.  It is a gift and it must be nurtured just as a plant must be watered and given light. When we focus our hearts upon God’s word, then the word within us can grow and guide us from within.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 

—James 1:22

This is the poster-child of the passage. See? It made the cover our bulletins this week. James is all about action. When we believe God, it changes the way we live. We should be doers of the word.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: ”Go put your creed into your deed. What you DO speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you SAY.”

If someone didn’t know you were a Christian, could they figure it out based on your actions? Hmmm, that’s a tough question to ask yourself. James would prefer we ask if of ourselves often. Chances are we could be much better doers. Time to get to work.

For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.  
—James 1:23-24

What if you looked into a mirror after eating lunch and saw a big glob of mustard on your nose and then walked away and said: “Hey, I forget: did I have mustard on my nose? Or was it ketchup? Maybe it was on my chin. I just can’t remember.” If you did that we’d say you were pretty stupid, wouldn’t we? 

James’ point here is that God’s word is like a mirror—it shows you who you are. So when we look at God’s word what does it say you are? In these few verses of James alone it has a lot to tell you about who you are. It says you are blessed—blessed with God’s unchangeable love and gifts. You have been given a whole new life and you are like a first fruit of creation, giving hope to everyone around you. 

Now if that’s who you are and you believe it, then you’re going to be living out that reality. You’ll be a doer of the word and not someone stumbling around in the dark forgetting their purpose.

But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

—James 1:25

More doing. We did say James was big on action, didn’t we? Here, he talks about God’s perfect law. It is hard to follow but it brings liberty. Persevere in your efforts to follow God’s law and that will make you a doer. It will make you happy to live in God’s love.

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
 —James 1:26

James has a thing against tongues and he’s often on about their danger as is the book of Proverbs. For example, in Proverbs 13:3 it says: He who guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opes wide his lips comes to ruin. Think about the cliche: Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. What an idiotic notion! Words totally hurt.  Think for a moment about something hurtful that was said to you. How did it shape your view of yourself? Have you healed from it? Maybe it was said when you were a child but it still hurts and shames you. That’s the danger of words and that’s why followers of Christ shouldn’t just “tell it like it is.” We shouldn’t be “Midwest Nice” and gloss over our concerns, either. If we’re quick to listen, slow to speak as it advised a few verses back, I think it is possible to communicate authentically but still keep from hurting people with our words. 

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

—James 1:27

Here we are at the final verse of today’s lesson. James pushes us onward to compassionate action. To live in God’s love—to be doers of the word—means that we must help those most vulnerable in our society. In biblical times, it was widows and orphans. They would starve if it were not for the kindness of others. The why all the ancient prophets called on people to care for them. If we want God’s kingdom to come, we must not ignore the helpless and marginalized. Who is that today? There are a lot of groups you could identify as marginalized, as pushed to the side and not given fair justice in our system. What’s been on my heart so much lately is the immigrant children who our government separated from their parents at the border, some of whom were abused while in federal custody.

Keep yourself unstained by the world. That’s really hard to do when we hear political messaging and want to believe it. But when our primary allegiance is to God we not stand for children being caged in the name of national security. Like Wendell Phillips we’ll have the moral courage to fight against oppression. We will remained unstained by the world and on fire because we have mountains of ice before us to melt. 

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As you can see, there is a lot for us to contemplate in these ten short verses and you should probably go home and read the whole book of James. It’s only 108 verses so it won’t take you long. I pray that this book of timeless wisdom challenge us to not just say we’re Christians but to act like we are, to continue faithfully down the path of faith and really walk the walk of love. Amen.