Instruction to Christian "Insiders"
September 2, 2012 | Anita Retzlaff | James 1: 17-27

Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ.  We have a lot of things coming at us.  Life makes many demands. Right here in this place where we worship God and give thanks for our abundant lives, right here we have reflected upon hospitality in ways that really stretch us.  Patrick spoke last Sunday of our attitudes and openness to people of other faith traditions.  The Sunday before we paused to reflect on our desire for warm hospitality to friends who are gay and lesbian.  It is a lot to take in.  We are being challenged to act on what we say we believe.  It is really very difficult to be consistent and always faithful, able to practice everything that we preach. 

To share a bit of personal experience; it has been an eye-opener for me and a humbling experience in meeting Ken, my husband of slightly more than one year. As we were getting to know each other he could see quickly and penetratingly where I was not consistent in what I say and do. That is not unusual. Over time and with familiarity we make all kinds of excuses for ourselves and others. It often takes a new person on the scene, an outsider of sorts or new people in our community to point out our inconsistencies, those places where we fall short of being “doers of the word.”

It is to this state of affairs that scripture from the Book of James speaks to us this morning. The words of instruction and reminder were written to the Christian community that was dispersing and moving further out into the world. It is also for us today. We choose to walk in the way of Jesus.  The advice given is not for those who do not know Jesus.  It is for those who claim that they do and know what to do about it.  And here is the rub.  Many outside of the church look in on us and are critical because we have troubles in the church and with each other. In our defense I say that we in the church fall prey to the same temptations and traps that befall everyone else. Yet I have heard the skepticism often. “So, why go to church? Church people think they are so much better than others but it doesn’t look like they behave any better than anyone else and besides, there are many people who don’t go to church who do good things for the world.” Shane Claiborne told us a few months ago that in a recent survey of average young Americans when asked what they think of Christians responded that Christians are “anti-gay”, “judgmental” and “hypocritical.” (from Shane’s lecture at the Survival of the Weakest conference, May 12, 2012)

I came across Eugene Peterson’s introduction to the Book of James as I was working on this text during the week and I thought I would share part of it with you.  He has an aptitude for description that makes me chuckle at his candor. Consider now the nature of the church according to Eugene Peterson.

“When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does. Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps, business—and dishonest business at that.  Insiders see it differently.  Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects sinners.  Many of the people outside the hospital are every bit as sick as the ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised.  It’s similar with sinners outside the church.
            So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior. They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced and dealt with.
            The letter of James shows one of the church’s early pastors skillfully going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with areas of misbelief and misbehavior that had turned up in congregations committed to his care.  Deep and living wisdom is on display here, wisdom both rare and essential.  Wisdom is not primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that; it is skill in living.  For, what good is a truth if we don’t know how to live it?  What good is an intention if we can’t sustain it?”  (from The Message, p. 1669)

That is what we keep working on: being intentional about who we are despite the daily faults that get in our way. Just as God was intentional in creating, in giving us rich life, so too we want to be intentional about the way we live as Christians, followers of Christ.  As I stand here at the beginning of a new season I want to express with some clarity the enterprise of being the church, an enterprise - a calling - that we are involved in together.  As Christian community we seek to be intentional, attentive and creative, not just as individuals but as Christ’s followers together. Christian community is my answer to those who wonder whether we do anything differently in the church.  We do it together and we do it as followers.  The degree to which we are intentional, attentive and creative to the “word of truth”, the “implanted word”, is the measure of our ability to carry out Jesus’ mission in the world in the messy middle of all of our failings and shortcomings, jealousies, rivalries, insecurities and compromises. 

James states boldly that God is intentional in the creation of all that is. Hear the word of scripture: “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. [in other words God is constant]  In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would become a kind of first fruits [a harvest] of his creatures.” (vv.17-18) God intends for us to give back to creation, the world, what God has first invested in us.  And God is unequivocal about that.  We are created to create in turn.  In other words we are intentional about what we do, whom we follow and how we live.  We choose to be a part of God’s heart and we choose to gather as communities of faith so that first we give God praise and thanks and then we turn toward the world devoted to doing what God does: create, restore and redeem. We act for a reason remembering that God created us for a purpose.  To say that we see no future and have no hope in this life and in our particular spot in the universe is to forget that God intended for us to continue the work of creating meaningful and loving relationships.

That requires attentiveness; attention!  We must pay attention to our surroundings.  Think very seriously about what happens when you give your full and undivided attention to something.  Clear your mind and open it to attend to whatever it is that lies before you and tiny bits of your life are reoriented and enriched in the process. We come to see things differently when we are attentive to them. The ability to give our undivided attention to a grandchild, to a friend, to a lover, to someone who suffers, is an invaluable gift to that person. Attentiveness to the purposes of God becomes a reflection of God’s grace that transforms our own understanding as we filter out distractions, worries and resentments. James exhorts his fellow Christians: “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.”  Paying attention is, I think, another way of saying what James is getting at. Open yourselves to feeling gratitude to God, pay attention to God and the competing negativities will have to find another place to roost – at least for the time being.

When we pay attention in that way we can do no other than give thanks! Opening up to God profoundly reorients our thoughts and turns our hearts toward a life of gratitude.  Sunday morning worship is exactly that: attending to the voice of God, offering praise and expressing our joy at being surrounded by the saving grace of the Divine Creator. We filter out all of the other distractions for the short time that we gather together to sing, pray and listen to the word of truth.

You have got to love James’ directness.  He is speaking right at us in vv.26-27.  “If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  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.” Nasty comments betray an ungrateful heart! I think that is what James means.  And not only that, we are to be doers of the word and not merely hearers.  When we attend to God what happens next is a no-brainer!  We attend to the needs of the poor, the widow and those who live on the margins.

Shane Claiborne, addressing the gathering at the Survival of the Weakest Conference, reported that as far as economics in the church goes 95% of offerings stay IN the church.  Then he paused and plunging his hands into his homemade pants pockets in his high pitched laugh quips, “in the early church caring for the poor WAS the budget.”  Christian community attends to the needs of the people around it; in its postal code, so to speak.  Christian community practices hospitality.  Christian community intentionally does what it hears, practices what it preaches.  Christian community is oriented to God’s heart and desires to do what God has done first, namely creating, loving and tending.

In our congregation we try to look at ourselves in the mirror and assess where we need to change and grow.  We desire to be doers who act.  When someone challenges us “insiders” to explain what makes us think we are any different than the world out there we can say with some authority, “nothing” makes us different and yet “everything” is finally different for us.  We are sinners like everyone else.  To identify as a sinner is not to say that one is disgusting and unworthy but rather to acknowledge those places where we fall short of acting with loving intent. So, we are sinners like everyone else but the difference is to be found in each other.  The church is an intentional community attentive to the word of truth, to the call to be disciples together.  Together we are always working on “becoming”: becoming a community that practices prayer, hospitality and loving acts of kindness.  Together we are strong and connected, to God and to each other.  And so we pray for each other when we are in need, discern together the way in which we should go and we offer hospitality because that is what we do. In this place of worship we are attentive to God’s goodness and creativity and so all that remains for us to do at this moment is to give thanks and praise for blessings so rich and profound.

Prayer – Generous God, you gave us birth by the word of truth.  Encourage us as your disciples to be the first fruits of your creatures.  Open our hearts and still our minds so that we might welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save us.  Keep us in your care and bless us in our doing so that we may be known as people who truly believe.  By your grace we go from here with joyful and happy hearts.  AMEN