| James 1:17-27 "Losing Our Religion" |
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| Written by Rev. Denise Peckham | |
| Saturday, 02 September 2006 | |
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For many of you this is a familiar text. Being doers of the word and not merely hearers seems to be the mantra of this congregation. And while it may be true that doing is important, there are a few things evident here that are equally valuable. Our doing is predicated on recognizing that the gifts we have and those we share are not of our own making. Every gracious act of giving, with every perfect gift, says James, is from above. While we may work hard for what we have, while we may live in nice homes and drive luxury vehicles, we must begin to recognize that they are not anything we have earned. We, in the United States, have come to believe that we are entitled to what we have. We demand to be compensated for what we do and how we spend our money is no one’s business. We demand a standard of living that is an unrealized dream in most of the world. And yet we seem to never have enough. We live beyond our means, often finding ourselves in debt that robs us of the joy in life. Friday in the Dallas Morning News was an article about the increase in foreclosures in the area. The article sighted the increase in daily living costs as the main reason – we are very aware that our electric bills have skyrocketed, the cost of a tank of gas is staggering and property taxes have risen sharply all over the area. I had to wonder though, if we weren’t living so close to the edge of income, wouldn’t the story be different. Our entitlement thinking may not lead us fully into debt, but it certainly brings us close to disaster. The second reason cited for the increase in foreclosures was debt. We pay interest on the groceries, clothes and vacations that we have purchased with our credit cards, we take six year auto loans for cars that will loose their value long before the six years are up, and we borrow against the equity in our homes for a lower payment that enables us to spend more. And where does the mission of the church fit into all of this? Does our financial commitment to the church add to the burden of debt or is it the first fruits of our labor? Does our offering reflect our love and gratitude for God and the good gifts we have received that we do not deserve or does it reflect the leftovers of our lives as we strive to maintain a lifestyle that is beyond our means? These verses in the letter of James are too familiar and we are too easily bored by them. We believe we are doer of the word to such an extent we pat ourselves on the back and never give them a second thought. They are so familiar that we take them out of context and we end up missing the message. So let’s put them back in the context they belong in. This letter was written to an oppressed, probably destitute community of faith. At some point people with money began to worship with this community and were given privileged status. James warns the community that this behavior is sinful, unacceptable to God. Those who have are not privileged, for to whom much is given, much is expected. Those who have are to care fully for the widow and the orphan; they are to give until they know what it means to give sacrificially; they are to give until they look into the eyes of the needy and see themselves. Once the reality of sacrificial giving is realized then those who have can rejoice as people of faith. If they remain comfortable, they remain indebted to the status quo - they have no faith, they have religion. They are like the white washed tombs Jesus refers to in Mark’s gospel; they look good on the outside doing and saying all the right things, but on the inside they carry death and destruction. What Jesus and James tell us is this: it’s time to lose our religion. The mission of the church is not to become a whitewashed tomb, but to care fully for the most vulnerable in their distress. This cannot be done unless each of us does our part. We discover what our part is in prayer, in worship, in giving and in serving. We discover who we are as we come before the Father of lights and ask to be shown the condition of our hearts. Archbishop of Canterbury, Ronan Williams, says that what the desert monastics of the 4th and 5th centuries are saying in their very complex writings is this: the world makes you do stupid things. It is not until you allow God to illuminate the hidden and dark places of your heart that stupidity is replaced with wisdom. The world says give only out of your abundance, your spare time, your need to feel good about yourself for you deserve to be comfortable; James I think, in a very similar way, is telling us that the world makes you do stupid things and that you can be comfortably religious or you can be subversively faithful. Richness in the world counts for nothing; what counts is what God gives and what we do with it. Thursday evening I attended a meeting at Christ Foundry, our sister Hispanic church in the Bachman Lake area. We were discussing the future financial needs of the Foundry that will impact whether or not they are able to build on the donated land the North Texas Conference has for them. Owen Ross, the pastor of the Foundry, told us that at a recent service there were about 38 people. The people of this church are generally the working poor, who raise a family on hard labor and minimum wage. One person got a job recently and asked Owen if he would take a check during the offering. You see, when you are poor, you don’t have enough money to have a checking account, but these people did. Owen said sure, the church would take the check. That day, and for the first time, someone tithed 10%. I know that many of us will write checks today much larger than the entire offering received at the Foundry that day, but I must ask this question, do we give because religious people give, or do we give subversively as a response to the true Word that has given us life? Doers of the word live in a world where oppression and injustice exist, but they have a sense of being that transcends the ugliness of this world and offers compassion and hope. Doers of the word know true religion comes as a good gift. Doers of the word live in a new world order called church. Sometimes the church gets it right, sometimes the church doesn’t, but it strives to look in the mirror and never forget the reflection it sees. And God blesses them, not in the material way we think of when we use the word blessed, but in knowing that they walk in the way that leads to life. What would you pay for the gift of life? What would you do for it? In a few minutes we will be invited to the Table. Around the table we celebrate the greatest gift given to humanity; around the Table we remember the greatest sacrifice made on behalf of humanity. We come here and all are rendered needy, all are orphans, all are widows. We come here as free and forgiven persons, not because we are entitled to it, not because we have labored hard to get here, but because our Creator loved us enough to pay for this gift of life with the life of Christ. Holy Covenant, it is time to lose our religion. It is time to be doers of the word, not merely hearers. Share sacrificially your gifts of time, talent and money. Reach out to those whom the world has tossed aside. Care for the least of these. Be subversive in faith, not comfortable with your religion. |
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