On the Way to Wonder

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.

Today we start looking at chapter 2 of James and our theme changes from trials, whew.  “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.”  Perhaps our most favorite example is the life of Joseph that was so impacted by his father’s overt favoritism for him, the first son of his second wife, Rachael.  Jacob, his father, gave him a multicolored coat – overt favoritism.  The favoritism this coat exemplified impacted the whole future of the clan and history of Judaism.  It is natural, I think, that we like some things, some people, some restaurants more than others.  Diversity and choice are God-given.  So what is the problem?

         Going back to the book’s opening paragraph on counting trials as joy, I suspect that trials will immediately raise doubts, for me anyway, that God is favoring the other to the detriment of my interests.  Questions about my value, my worth, my importance creep into my thinking.  The early church formed in the melting pot of ethnicities in Jerusalem, in the crucible of political chaos under the rule of the Romans, and economically challenged by inherent caste system, would have had to deal with favoritism.  We will see this discussed in the context of seating arrangements in church but that is only “the tip of the iceberg.”

         It is so tempting when we encounter trials to think that God is favoring the other, taking a nap, busy in the middle-East or just not involved in our little situation but that is not so.  James challenges us not to show favoritism because it does not reflect God.  As we go about our daily life today, may we guard ourselves about the temptation to believe God favors someone else and so is letting a problem come our way.  May we not show favoritism.

We are nearing the end of chapter 1 of James, v.26, “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”  We started this chapter with considering trials with joy and we end with “worthless religion” if we cannot control our tongues.  Wow.  It reminds me of one of our recent sermon texts where Jesus is questioned about dietary laws by the legalists.  He responds that what goes into a man does not defile him but what comes from the heart, anger, hate, jealousy, tells the truth about the state of the soul.  Undergoing trials is a kind of litmus test of the soul.  Are we tossing and turning like a wave of the sea because we do not trust the wisdom given generously by God?  Are we blooming like a wild flower? Do I persevere and learn?  Am I checking out the desires of my heart and taking an inventory of the desires that are driving me?  Perhaps, like the stepmother in Snow White, I ask the mirror a question and use the answer to do evil. 

         Probably most revealing during a trying time is the state of my tongue.  When I start snapping at the people I love, saying things I don’t really mean, and using my speech to destroy and not build, I know I am not considering the momentary trial, momentary.  I need to remind myself that every good and perfect gift comes from above.  Yesterday was a heavy duty day of packing and moving.  At midnight my back screamed with pain and complaint.  But this morning I look out at the Banana River, running parallel to the Barrier Islands off the East coast of Florida and blocks from the Atlantic Ocean.  This morning I remember the blessings of friendship and anticipate the adventures to come.  Lord, guard my tongue and keep my eyes on you!  Blessings.

Have you ever looked in the mirror, groaned, and realized you are going to have a “bad hair day”?  It could be the white hair, the circles under the eyes, or the sagging jowls.  Then again it could be the reminder that eyes have a problem or skin.  Hand mirrors even help see our backside and those places we do not normally see.  James says that reading the Word is like looking in a mirror but if we walk away either forgetting the warning that we are very tired, need to check in with the doctor or the gym, and blithely go about our business, we have missed the warning and been unwise.  During trials, gathering advice, reading books or whatever we do, is pointless if we do not have a heart to listen.  The mirror is not bad.  It only reflects an image but it is our heart that interprets that reflection and acts or ignores.  God’s word speaks the truth to us with eternal principles and James says that the person who looks at the truth, ponders and absorbs, applies and doesn’t forget will find freedom and blessing.  So often we think the law, or the Word, is the problem by being too strict or uncompassionate but it what goes on in my head, how I process truth that makes the difference.  May we look into God’s word today non-defensively, looking intently, reflecting kindly with ourselves and see the loving face of God trying to lead us.  Blessings as you go about your day.  Don’t forget what you saw in the mirror of God’s word this morning.  He cares!

James gives us some sage advice, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.   Do what it says. (v. 1:22)”  One starlit evening after the Christmas banquet, my date drove me to Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles to look out over the basin.  The park was closed and he drove in the exit!  As we walked around the observatory and looked at L.A. aglow, he shared about being at independence day of the country he grew up in.  I must admit I was listening but my eye was searching for a restroom and aware of the druggies shooting up in the shadows.  It suddenly occurred to me that this was an important story.  I turned to him and asked, “What are you talking about?”  He looked at me and said, “I want to go from independence to interdependence and change my flag.  Will you marry me?”  Listening went to a whole new level.  These words he shared were a call to action and commitment.

         How often do we sit and listen, kind of, but our mind is somehow engaged on other issues.  I’m not convinced that is all bad as I find the words in a sermon trigger an application scenario from my life I want to think about but James warns us that we can be deceiving ourselves,  nodding our heads but really focusing on our own ponderings.  God’s word is not just entertainment but as James will go on to say, a mirror that reflects reality to me and calls me to action or integration of faith with my life.

         Proverbs 3:11 reminds me, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in.”  As you read God’s word, may you act on what challenges you to grow but also absorb the promises that comforts you in the process.  You are the child he delights in and he will not ignore you.  Blessings.

Yesterday we read in James 1:20 that “man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” When I was a young adult back last century and when “groups” were the vogue, a crew of friends and I met with a counselor at college and of course it was easier to focus on the injustices of siblings or parents as the cause of my deficiencies. A couple years later a godly elder confronted me and said, “You’re angry.” I didn’t realize it showed! He pointed me to Genesis 4:6 where the Lord speaks to Cain after his offering is not as pleasing as Abel’s, his brother. God says, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.” That visual image of an evil presence crouching at the door seeking to devour me has stayed with me and encouraged me to deal with my anger, my disappointed wants. I am challenged to focus on what I do have and not the wrongs of the other. Proverbs 2 for today reinforces this idea. The search for wisdom rather than self justification and approval draws our focus to God rather than self. “The Lord gives wisdom (v.6), “he holds victory (v.7)”, “he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless (v.7)”, and “he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. (v.8)” Those are beautiful promises that slow my roll when I am angered. Anger is real. It makes my face downcast. He consumes me unless with God’s help I can master it. As you meet disappointments today, may you sense God’s presence and arms holding you and know he cares. Blessings.