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James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
There were some in the early church who were proclaiming their
salvation in
word only and not in deed. Christians were living out their faith
in the
"old," lifestyle maintaining the social norms of a
highly stratified culture.
The description the author of our Epistle Lesson provides, of how
a
congregation might greet a rich person and dismiss a poor person,
simply
reflects the social customs of the age---believers dividing
themselves
according to the criteria of wealth, status and power.
To this unfortunate situation, James had direct and pointed
advice:
In God's eyes there is no distinction among people---in fact,
God's priority is for the poor.
James then presses other points with even more particularity:
oppression,
transgression, judgement---you name it! In short, Christians are
blaspheming
the Name of Christ by how they treat one another.
For James, there can be no separation of faith from works---to
divide them is
to render both null and void. Rather, simple acts of human
friendship like
giving food to the hungry and supplying the bodily needs of the
one who is
without should be a natural and automatic response of faith.
A careful reading of the passage before us suggests that James is
also
warning his readers not to be "caught up" in trying to
fulfill every
commandment. It can't be done! Don't be so self-righteous! Rather,
be judged
by "The Law of Faith" ---the law which demands merciful
and loving acts
toward one's neighbor. Simply stated:
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
The purpose of Jesus' Great Commandment was and is to set people
free to live
lovingly in community and to welcome everyone as a friend.
Recent research tells us what we've long suspected---friends are
important!
That's why so many organizations use the word "friend"
in their name:
"Friends of the Lake Bluff Library," "Friends of
Gorton," "Friends of the
Earth," "friends of each and every political
party," not to mention "friends
of each candidate of every party." There are friends of
gardens, parks,
neighborhoods, cities, countries, and continents. Do you need a
friend? You
The medical community dramatically underscores the value of
friendships.
Fewer friends lead to higher stress and a shorter life. In a study
of 2,800
men and women over the age of 65, those with more friends had a
lower risk of
health problems and, when they did get sick they recovered faster.
A Yale University study of 10,000 seniors showed that having
friends reduced
the risk of death by about 50% over a five-year period. Friends
can help you
reduce stress, improve the quality of your life, live longer, get
a better
job, expand your business, improve your marriage and bring more
joy into your
life.
No one should be surprised that having good friends is a very good
thing.
What is disheartening, however, is the fact that our friends will
come and go
throughout our lives and, that this is becoming more and more the
norm. It is
(we are told) very rare for a person to have a friend for a
lifetime.
Instead, we tend to shift our friendships as our own needs and
circumstances
themselves shift.
Typically, adults today have one or two "best" friends,
four to six "close"
friends, and 10 to 20 "casual" friends. But let's be
honest: Even these
numbers seem high. Healthy friendships take time just to get
going---up to
three years according to some experts. They require attentive
nurturing and
then, just when the friendships are well established, they
vanish---victims
of one component or another of the social equation: a new job, a
new school,
a new baby, a new spouse, whatever.
Some argue that, as we struggle to balance the full-time demands
of career
and family, friends may even seem expendable. Whether that is true
or not,
all too often friends are the first to go. While juggling our work
and
leisure schedules, as well as those of spouse and children, there
doesn't
seem to be room for anything else. 'Something's gotta give' and
friends, it
seems, are the latest casualty.
Studies and trends all seem to tell us that we not only don't have
as many
friends as we used to, but we're probably going to lose the ones
we have. But
that's okay, the experts say; we'll pick up new friends along the
way.
They'll come to us in cyclical patterns of "friend
shifting" that will
continue for the rest of our lives.
So there you have it---"food for thought" on this and
any "Rally Day." There
is value to being here today, at the beginning of St. James
Church's
"2000-2001 Program Year;"---renewing old friendships,
making new friends,
hoping and praying that your church friends will somehow, someway
remain
close friends for a lifetime.
As we take or assigned places, as greeters and ushers, we say we'd
never
stoop to the behavior of the greeters or ushers in today's
text---showing
favoritism---having "We are a friendly congregation!"
lapses.
James argues that it is not enough to assert love and friendship.
There must
be signs of this friendship or else both the friendship and the
faith are
dead. Partiality is not a sign. Withholding forgiveness is not a
sign.
Refusing to feed and clothe the hungry and homeless is not a sign.
More importantly, we can't be at odds with a friend or neighbor
and still be
a friend of God. To be a friend of God, we have to keep faith with
our
friends. If we don't, we have neither faith nor friends.
These days, in preparation for most sermons---not all sermons but
most---I
"log-on" to the internet in search of relevant
commentary and illustrations.
I'm not embarrassed to admit that because sometimes what
"pops up" is
absolutely perfect. And, sometimes what I discover is simply
adequately
appropriate, and sometimes unusable. This week, I discovered three
quotes
that are somewhere in between adequately appropriate and perfect.
Here they
are for what they may be worth. You be the judge!
A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition
of a
friend. Among the thousands of answers received were the
following:
"One who multiplies joys and divides grief."
"One who understands our silence."
"A volume of sympathy bound in cloth."
"A watch that beats true for all time and never runs
down."
The winning definition read:
"A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has
gone out."
(Source unknown)
Next there was this quote from Rae Andre's book, Positive
Solitude: A
Practical Program for Mastering Loneliness and Achieving
Self-Fulfillment:
"From childhood on, men are oriented to seeing their world in
terms of
achievement, while women see their world in terms of
relationships. Each has
its advantages and disadvantages, but because women are more in
touch with
the emotions on which relationships are based and because they
expect one day
to be alone---that is, without an intimate partner---women usually
develop
better friendship-forming skills."
And, finally, a quote from Paul Tillich's book, Shaking the
Foundations:
"We have considered the depth of the world and the depth of
our souls. But we
are only in a world through a community of men (and women). And we
can
discover our souls only through the mirror of those who look at
us. There is
no depth of life without the depth of the common life."
We here at St. James may shift our earthly friends at different
points in our
lives, but a strong, active and deep "faith-friendship"
with God, nurtured
Sunday after Sunday through the hearing of his Word and sharing in
his
Supper, is a non-shifting necessity. And, less we forget, there
must (James
says) be signs. Friendship, whether with our neighbor or with God,
requires
those everyday signs of "faith" and "work"
and, from time to time, those
spectacular signs of "faith" and "work" as
well.
God may be divine and omnipotent---even "Beyond
Knowing," but God seems to
need and value the friendship of his creatures. It's what he was
after in the
Garden of Eden, it's what he sought in Abraham, it's what he sent
his Son to
convey to the world---and, it's what he wants in us. God
wants and needs
friends who will keep faith with him. There is no better
time than NOW, to
begin. Let's do it! AMEN.
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