14th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST PROPER 18

September 6, 2009

the Rev. Ken Kroohs

(Isaiah 35:4-7a; Ps. 146; James 2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37)

St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, High Point, NC

MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN

If you have been here for very long you have probably heard me say that the Book of James is one of my favorite, if not my favorite book in the entire Bible. Oh, I appreciate and love other books, but James speaks to me very directly.

This week I spent some time thinking about why that was ... why does James speak to me so directly and deeply? Please understand that this is my personal reflection and it may or may not resonate with you.

I tend to be a practical and direct person. Even in my career as a city planner I was the one who focused on the details. While others pondered what a beautiful and wonderful city would be like, I asked “how can we accomplish that?”

When people spoke about having fewer highways to cut down on pollution and pavement, I asked “What would it take to accomplish that?”

So when Jesus says to love God by loving your neighbor – my paraphrase – to love God by loving your neighbor I ask: “How do we do that?”

And when Jesus says if you want to save your life you must lose it, I ask: “How do we do that?”

And when Jesus says if you want to be a Christian, follow Him, I ask: “How do we do that?”

As I said this is my personal story but I strongly suspect many of you have asked that same question: “How do I do that?”

I love James because he answers that question. Furthermore, since I have been known to enjoy a good debate from time to time, James answers the question without pulling any punches. “Here it is people whether you like it or not! Here is what it means to be a Christian - to be a follower of Jesus Christ.”

It is important to understand that James emphasizes active discipleship. Other scripture writers take other directions but they are not in conflict – they are complementary.

Furthermore, and here I am arrogant enough to disagree with people like Martin Luther! ... I do not hear James saying you “earn your way into heaven”. Or more expansively, you “earn God’s love”. Rather, I believe what James tells us is that if we love God ... we know God loves us but if we love God then that love will be evident in the way we live our lives.

More specifically for James, if we love God we will obey the most common – by far the most common instruction in scripture, Old Testament and New, the instruction to care for the poor and helpless. I have never counted but people who have say the commandment to care for the poor and helpless is given many more times than even the commandment to love and obey God.

James would say, I believe, that such a comparison is inappropriate. That the commandment to care for the poor and the helpless is the commandment to love God. It is simply the way we do it .. the way we love God is to care for God’s children.

I believe James would agree that ultimately we depend entirely on God’s grace ... the love of God which we neither deserve nor can earn. But James argues we should respond to that grace.

God will always love us but we can demonstrate how much we do NOT deserve that love. How much we do not love God.

..... Imagine for a moment that someone ignored your child when they needed help. Or worse, mis-treated your child. .... How would you feel toward that person? That’s how God feels when we ignore or mis-treat His children who are in need.

Now imagine that someone steps up and helps your child. How would you feel? That how God feels when we help His children who are in need.

I was personally, to use an old Baptist phrase, personally convicted ... again ... by the Gospel. Not by Jesus but by an unnamed, disgusting, lower than low woman – that’s how she would have been send by the disciples .... woman who said to me: “even the dogs get to eat the children’s crumbs” .... ouch. Double, triple ouch.

I was convicted because I was slapped in the face by how much we could accomplish with just the scraps from our lives. God wants all of our lives but if we gave just the scraps — so much could be done. So many of God’s children could be cared for.

And let me stress I am not just talking about food, shelter and medical care although I notice that typically Jesus first healed and then taught. So Jesus thought those physical needs were important.

But for many people the needs are greater and more spiritual. We should never use that as an excuse to avoid helping with physical needs ... Some churches have argued that telling people about God was the end of their ministry ... the end of what God wanted them to do. I think that is just flat our wrong.

But at the same time we should not forget people who need the scraps of our lives which consist of our belief in God ... our faith in God ... and even, frequently most important, our questions and doubts.

What kind of life scraps? Sometimes its as easy to attending a class. Not for our benefit ... not for us to learn or participate but simply so another person can feel welcome and not alone. A class with 5 people feels better than a class with 2 people even if everyone does not participate.

Maybe its as simple as driving someone to church. Or emptying a trash can. Or bringing some can goods. Or helping with a children’s class.

This latest time of being “convicted” ties into an earlier time when I realized that most Christian ministry is actually relatively easy things. God has never called on me to raise the dead! Or even to make a blind man see! Or cast out a demon. God has enough sense to challenge us with tasks we can accomplish – if we are willing.

In fact the most difficult challenge God gives us usually is what James referred to in the beginning of this passage. James speaks about “making distinctions among ourselves”

The first thing to notice there, and the central teaching, is that it is among ourselves — that person we do not want to associate with? They are one of us. They are one of our family. They are the neighbor we should love because they are God’s child ... the person God loves very much.

Loving the person we like, who agrees with us, looks like us, smells like us, lives near us ... is not a challenge. I will go so far as to suggest that does not really count – but it is not hard to do.

The challenge is to love ... remember that word means to “treat well”. It is not about “liking” but about how we treat them. The challenge is to love the person we really would rather not associate with. The nasty person. The person who smells.

As many of you know --- God knows me well enough to know that subtle frequently does not work! A 2x4 across the back MAY get my attention.

I was at Harris Teeter this week and someone approached me saying they were not feeling well and needed a ride home. They said they lived near High Point University.

Well, turns out they live the other side of Kivett. And they spent the trip “coughing” up something and spitting it out the window where it hit my car. And I rode home with the windows open to let some of the smell out.

I do not like this person! I told them I resented their lying to me about where they lived and then wanting money on top of the ride. I do not like this person and I have no problem at all telling God that!

But what I gave was a tiny scrap of my life. 20 minutes and then 5 minutes to spray my car off. And I firmly believe that is exactly what Jesus and James were talking about.

I also believe Jesus is frustrated and disappointed in this person — but you know, that is not MY concern. That is Jesus’ concern and their’s. MY concern is how I live MY life.

James tells us that if in those circumstances we say “go in peace, be well” and do not help them – what good is that? .... Let’s be honest, we are not even tempted to go that far! We are usually tempted to yell: “get away from me!”, jump in the car and lock our doors! .... Or say to the organization – “I don’t have the time, I don’t have the money to help” – without even the possibly hypocritical prayer James mentioned.

ASIDE – very important, I do not believe we are usually called to do something which threatens our personal safety. So please be careful when you are approached.

Most of the time when asked ... when presented by a challenge, we focus on ways to get out of the situation – not even offer a prayer for the person. ... ouch. If I am not saying something that applies to you, please accept my apologies for making it sound like it does apply. .... It sure applies to me.

I cannot do this ... let me begin by saying I cannot do this – but it is a fascinating goal. It has been suggested that when faced with a situation: help at the church, help in the community, contribute, help an individual, whatever ... when faced with a situation we see that request as a gift from God. ... huh? ... Understand that God gives us the gift of being allowed to love and serve Him — to love and serve God.

If I could do this my life would be changed. If I could rather then resenting the request, I could pray – thank you God for giving me this opportunity to serve You. This opportunity to return a tiny, minuscule portion - a mere scrap - of your love for me.

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CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)