On the Way to Wonder

September 18, 2020, Proverbs 18: 4, “The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters, but the fountains of wisdom is a bubbling brook.” This caught my eye.  I am now in a little apartment overlooking Lake Minneola and I watch the waves driven by the wind, continually rolling towards the shore, not far from my front door.  One time in Kenya, we lived with a brook in our back yard.  I was greatly pregnant with twins and found great peach taking my three under six year olds out to enjoy the brook and its restless flow to somewhere.  The writer compares wisdom to a brook.

         Where did that brook come from or the waves on the lake?  Somewhere up in the mountains for the brook, driven by the wind for the lake.  Both are a bit magical, soothing my spirit, continually moving and seeking a destination I cannot see.  I can stop and notice and be comforted or they can become part of the scenery.  I suspect God’s wisdom is a bit like that.  It is continually there within my grasp, coming from an unseen source, going to an unknown destination.  I can choose to listen to God’s wisdom or let it be in the background of my life.

         Because of the word “but” I suspect our writer is contrasting the bubbling brook of God’s wisdom to the waters of a man’s mouth, coming from a heart that is impacted by the trials of life and the mood of the moment.  Are those words sincere or is there a hidden message, a hidden trap, a deception I do not understand because I realize a fellow person is a frail as I am.  We do not doubt the truth of the brook.  We may fear its strength if it is flowing strongly but we do not suspect duplicity.

         Water calms our spirits and speaks of life.  I pray as we go about today, we will take time to see the brook of wisdom flowing from God to us, be refreshed, and that our words would be words of encouragement and peace and not traps for another.  God’s word is always true, deep, and wise.  God’s water brings life.  Blessings.

Faith heroes are few and far between today.  Modern media has reported the flaws of leaders and courts have tried them and found them guilty.  I suspect we look to some ordinary people in our lives who have lived out faith three dimensionally.  James looks to the biblical hero Abraham.  As a woman, I have a bit of trouble with this one as Abraham had Sarah lie about her relationship to him and she ended up in the Pharoah’s harem.  I just cannot imagine that was a fun experience.  Abraham also showed great favor for the son sired by the “maid/baby carrier.”  James though looks beyond these human transgressions and into the heart of Abraham.  James says that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him.  God saw the faith that acted in an impossible situation, an old wife, and produced a son, Issac.  The “sins,’ mistakes that taught Abraham and defined Abraham’s life, developed a faith in action that God then calls “friendship.”  Pretty touching.  Abraham hung in there with God and God hung in there with Abraham.  Faith and works.

         James gives a second example, Rahab, “the prostitute.”  Now there is an unexpected hero.  James jumps from “the father of the faith”” to an ordinary foreigner, caught in the political chaos of her day as the Israelites sent spies before they entered the Promised Land.  She saw the writing on the wall, saw the actions of the God that protected the invaders and made a decision to act, to hide the spies from the king and plead for mercy.  Rehab’s family was saved when the walls of Jericho fell.  Rehab, the Canaanite prostitute married Salmon the father of Boaz who married Ruth, the Canaanite widow who went to Bethlehem with Naomi.  Boaz who was the product of Rehab’s faith story of acting in the face of social pressure, had compassion and reached out to Ruth, the foreigner who acted in faith and followed Naomi against all odds.

         Faith and works are not about wealth and power like Abraham but is something ordinary people like Rehab, like you and I can believe and live by.  We do not know who is watching when trials come and we make decisions but we do know God is watching and he is faithful.  How wonderful to be called “friend of God” even with all the “oops” in our lives.  Thank you Lord.

Today we come to a discussion in James, chapter 2 starting at verse 14 between faith and works.  This debate comes up through out scripture.  Did Jesus prefer Mary, who sat at his feet possibly seeking faith, more than the doer Martha who was overwhelmed with the tasks at hand?  Social justice vs pietism.  Mystics and monastics or demonstrators.  We see this next section reflected in our world today as we deal with systemic evil, refugees and other issues like capital punishment. Each of us feels we are trying to live a life congruent with our beliefs but struggle with the perceived finger of the other who tackles life differently.

         I note that James places the discussion in the context of a trial (1:2) when our faith is being tested.  Perhaps the question is, must another’s expression of faith be the same as my preferred expression?  Is the choir as “holy” as the Bible study or as the women in the kitchen?  James seems to be saying that faith speaks, expresses itself.  It is not an analytical fact that I agree to like believing Washington was the first President.  Faith finds expression but then we trip on favoritism at the beginning of chapter 2.  We all want to think we are doing life right.  The discussion of the “body of Christ” discussion in Romans guides us as the eyes and ears vie for positions of importance but as someone who has recently struggled with back pain, I can testify that a back that does not allow you to bend down to take an object off the shelf at Walmart, negates all insights my eyes have on which price is best.

         Faith is a living, expressing, growing expression of our personhood, unique to us to be shared with others.  And so back to the beginning, if we are unsure how to express our faith, wisdom comes from God and we must not doubt and be tossed about by comparing ourselves to others.  We must not judge another’s expression of faith and so take the place of God.   May we rejoice in the diversity of expression today and refuse the little voice that would diminish us in God’s eyes.  We are each his child and he is working in all our lives.  Blessings as you seek to live faith today following the law of love.

Yesterday we pondered acting as people who are going to be “judged by the law that gives freedom” in James 2:12 and then James continues to explain that judgment without mercy is weak because “mercy triumphs over judgment.”  Again I am thrown into thinking about Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables and the battle between Jean  Valjean and policeman Javert.  It is a story about the law, represented by the policeman, trying to catch a reformed prison convict who has reformed his life.  It ends with Javert throwing himself into the Thames, to satisfy the law.  It is not unsimilar to Christ dying on the cross for us people who cannot seem to live by the law.  We say, we are saved by grace and not by works.

         Favoritism shows no mercy or grace but judges by outward appearances.  Many line up at churches to get free help because Christians are suppose to help.  I’m not sure who is more blind, the person who only see faith as a meal ticket or the person who sees beggars as nuisances.  Both are guilty of favoritism or prejudice.  

         During times of trials the temptation is to fall back on stereotypes of our situation or others.  We perceive we are being judged for wrongs we committed or we perceive the other likewise.  Mercy frees us from the penalties of not satisfying the law.  It frees us to go forward without a secret past, without a burden of bitterness, with a more open heart but it also opens our horizons for experiencing the other.

         Mercy provides a window of hope for the future.  I do not know what burdens of law are plaguing you even as Javert always appeared to steal Jean Valjean’s joy but we can rejoice that Christ offers us freedom to embrace the future and hope.  Blessings as you face your challenges today.

This morning started early with the arrival of our worldly belongings in a POD.  My reduced memorabilia, my reduced belongings, furniture and odds and ends all fit in a small space.  I could no longer think I was just visiting as my belongings arrived. I grieved the change.  As we continue in James, he reminds us that if we keep the “royal law in scripture” to love our neighbor as ourselves, we do well BUT if we break it in just one aspect, we are essentially lawbreakers.  Christians  call it “sinners.”  Just because I go to church does not cover up my glaring sin of covetousness,  wanting to have my house all outfitted like my neighbors who have been here for a while.  We have been welcomed into several homes with friends from the past with whom we traveled in Kenya and whose kids went to school with our kids but who also have been here several years and are not in transition.  Comparisonitis is my Achilles heel so James’ reading today hits me between the eyes. Chapter 2: 12 admonishes us to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom…”  The arrival of the POD confirmed the truth that I am starting a new chapter with new neighbors and new challenges.  In reality, each day is a new chapter in our lives.  As forgiven and forgiving people, each day we start with a clean slate with the “royal law” to love our neighbor as ourselves to guide us.  I pray as you journey,  God’s love with help you forgive that which needs to be forgiven and focus on that which needs to be remembered.  Blessings.

James laments (James 2:6,7) our tendency to give deference to the rich for he realizes they are the ones who have power to drag the poor into court.   Their wealth may come from taking advantage of the poor.  And often they do not acknowledge the hand of God in their lives.  That is not all wealthy people but…  Today we call it systemic evil and our TVs show pictures of rioters standing against the evil of wealth.  This is not just a “long ago” perception.

         My mind goes to the text for Sunday that talks about a man owing a large debt to his master, who pleads for mercy.  The master does not throw him in jail to collect his due but rather shows mercy, releasing the slave.  BUT the man shown mercy goes out, forgetting what he has seen in the mirror, and throws a fellow servant in jail for the very small debt he owes our man.  This is wrong.  People shown mercy should show mercy.

         God of course is the owner and we are the servants who owe.  Can you hear the song in your mind, “What can I give unto the Lord, for all, for all, for all he’s done for me? I”ll off the cup of salvation and fall, and fall on my knees. (https://soundcloud.com/hymnstream/what-shall-i-give-unto-the )

James is challenging us that our actions should reflect the character of the God we believe in.  Favoritism does not reflect a God who loves all and died for all  Favoritism does not reflect the mercy we have all received from God.  Christ healed the rich and the poor, ate with the rich and the poor, and died for all.  May we be aware today how reflect the reality of a God who has been so merciful to us.  Blessings.

  “But you have insulted… (James 2:6)” people in the act of favoritism.  Favoritism is not preferring chocolate more than vanilla.  Favoritism is, to use an ugly word of today, as bad as racism.  Jacob by giving Joseph the coat of many colors, offends social protocol and legal protocol of the time that gave preferential treatment to the first son of the first wife.  Favoritism devalues others. 

         Perhaps if we look at the image of the body, the body of Christ.  Favoritism does not recognize the interrelatedness of life.  Each part of the body has a task, some more recognized than others, many more valued than others but when a part of the body has trouble then we know we are interrelated.  I fell and wrenched my back and the sciatica nerve has been screaming at me for several days.  Suddenly standing up, sitting down, navigating walking has become very painful  Life is difficult.  That nerve is insulted and will drive me to the doctor!

     In Kenya, you would insult someone by comparing them to a dumb animal. Favoritism not only dismisses relationship it diminishes the other person.  Perhaps our challenge is to see the uniqueness and value of all we encounter today.  A simple exercise would be to shoot a simple, one line thank you prayer for each person, or pet, or sunset or… that touches your heart today.  Thank you, Lord, for my friends who are so faithful!  Blessings.

     In Kenya, you would insult someone by comparing them to a dumb animal. Favoritism not only dismisses relationship it diminishes the other person.  Perhaps our challenge is to see the uniqueness and value of all we encounter today.  A simple exercise would be to shoot a simple, one line thank you prayer for each person, or pet, or sunset or… that touches your heart today.  Thank you, Lord, for my friends who are so faithful!  Blessings.

Continuing on in James 2 to verse 3, we go from “suppose” of yesterday to “listen” today.  “Listen, my dear brothers.  Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?”  My mind turns to the beatitudes where Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 5:3)  Poverty comes in many forms, not just a lack of wealth. For me, poverty resonates with discouragement, rejection, confusion, conflict with someone I care about, all those times when I feel that my personal resources are not adequate for the challenge of the moment.  I look for help from outside of self for I know self is not adequate.  A college degree, training, talents are not going to resolve the challenge facing me.

         Perhaps the usher seating the rich man in the previous verse is burdened with concerns about the church budget.  Perhaps he is concerned about the political persecution early Christians were facing and so alignment with the rich offered a false security of protection  James seems to be pointing to the solution for poverty, favoritism, is not a rearrangement of our social resources but a focus on faith. Poverty forces me to focus on resources, seen and unseen.  Faith that God is walking with me, working outside my box of solutions, preparing a path, changes my thoughts from poverty to riches.

         So perhaps the challenge facing us today is a question of focus.  So we need to play a favorite song, spend time in pray, enjoy the beauty of nature, call a friend or journal?  Focusing of spiritual bank accounts rather than our limitations reminds us that we are “chosen.”  That is special.  Blessings.

“Suppose” starts chapter 2, verse 2 of James.  Hypothetically speaking, a visitor comes into a meeting and James questions what attracts our attention when we meet this new person and how do we respond.  He “supposes” that a rich person enters in fine clothing, the right tribe, the right language, a potential person “to build our group,”  a potential “belonger.”  “Suppose” at the same time, a street person comes in that we suspect has a list of needs for the church to help.  The question of favoritism arises.  Hypothetical situations are always hard to deal with as we know the right answer and hope we would respond that proper way but James points out, as he continues, that we have discriminated among ourselves and become judges with evil thoughts when we show deference to the rich.  The truth is that this “trial” reveals to us and to others the hierarchy of values that direct our lives.

         Perhaps one of the lessons to be pondered today is the truth that wealth is not an indicator of God’s favor.  There is a subtle and not-so-subtle tendency to believe that if I behave, if I follow the rules, I will be rewarded.   Job’s friends were convinced Job who lost family and wealth had somehow sinned and needed to confess.  Job even lost his health.  He had sores over his whole body.  Job maintained his innocence.  No skeletons in his closet.  But he still suffered.  Joseph is thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers and sold into slavery – because he was the favored son of the second wife.  Lazarus who sat as a beggar at the feet of the rich man was an unsuspected hero in the parable.  We love stories of rags to riches.  But all these stories focus on the circumstances of life and not on the circumstances of the heart.  We suspect the wealthy and successful have their act together.  Our news headlines about dishonesty might debunk the theory but…

         As we go about today, let us try and be aware of what catches our attention, the symbols of success of life, or the symbols of godliness.  Those are harder to see.  I feel like I need to sing the little song, “Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus.  To reach out and touch him and say that we love him.  Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen.  Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus,”  Amen, may it be so.  Blessings.