A Sermon preached on Sunday,
September 2, at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Song of Solomon 2: 8 – 13, James 1: 17-27, Mark
7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Martin Luther did not like the Letter of James
and referred to it as a “letter of straw” (and presumably thought that the
author’s head was filled with straw) partly because of the conflict he thought
it raised with the doctrine of justification by faith alone. For him, James’
emphasis on being “doers of the word, and not merely hearers,” sounded a lot
like works righteousness, that is the idea that we can earn our salvation by
good deeds. In Luther’s day, those good deeds were defined by the Church, and
included giving money to the poor and to the Church and regularly attending
Mass (all sounds like a good idea to me). As far as Luther was concerned, the
Church was behaving like the Pharisees we met in the Gospel: “teaching human
precepts as doctrines” and abandoning “the commandment of God to hold to human
tradition.” (Mark 7:7-8)
So, is the Epistle of James “Fake News” rather
than Good News? And should we throw it out of the Canon of the Bible as Luther
suggested for a while? No, we shouldn’t (and there are some other books and
passages I’d rather see go first anyway!). And if we look at the two passages –
James and Mark – we will find that they are quite similar in their message.
James does not deny that God is responsible
for our salvation or justification, and that they are unearned and unearnable. “Every
generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above,” from God. (James
1:17) God’s greatest gift was the word of truth, God’s Son. What is necessary is
that the word God implanted in the world is also welcomed by us, taken into our
hearts. It alone, James writes, has the power to save souls. I think Martin Luther
could live with that statement. But ….. welcoming the word must have an impact,
it must change us and our behavior or it has not really taken root.
James uses the image of a mirror. God’s word,
Jesus Christ the perfect human, presents us with a picture of the ideal with
which we can compare ourselves to see what and how we must still change. Those who
are just hearers of the word and not doers, look only at themselves in a mirror,
and turn away forgetting and ignoring what they are like and needs to be
transformed. The other group, “the doers who act,” recognize the need for
change and so they persevere. (1:23-25) After all the sort of transformation
that God wants will take all of our lives. To be a doer and not just a hearer
of the word, is therefore first and foremost about living in to and deepening
our faith, not about doing good works.
Good works are of course good in themselves
and commanded by God – particularly the Old Testament imperative that James
cites here in his definition of religion: to care for orphans and widows in
their distress. And they are also an outward sign of our transformation through
faith. Religion in this sense is not so much a set of beliefs, but a structure
or a set of practices that help us deepen and act out what we believe,
together. James’ goal is a religion that is pure and undefiled. Pure in the
sense that it focuses on the very core of our faith, which is love. Undefiled in
the sense that it helps us resist the many temptations of the world.
In the Gospel passage from Mark, the Pharisees
too are interested in a religion that is pure and undefiled, but they go about
it the wrong way, which is why Jesus criticized them. They want to keep their religion
pure and undefiled by surrounding it with a set of rules, human constructs that
go way beyond anything God taught and even actively contradict the
commandment of God, to love God, neighbor and ourselves. These are the rules
that Jesus criticizes elsewhere because they exclude groups and classes of people.
And here they are rules that focus on externals, on cleansing rituals of hands
and implements.
Purity, Jesus says is about the within, the
heart, the inside and he goes on to list a number of vices and actions that I’m
sure James would have accepted as a suitable list of the temptations of the world
we are to keep ourselves unstained by!
The big question is, how do purify our hears, how
do we build up resistance to such worldly temptations, how do we become doers of
the word, and not merely hearers? Or in the words of our Presiding Bishop Michael
Curry, “how can we together grow more deeply with Jesus Christ at the center of
our lives, so we can bear witness to his way of love in and for the world?” [1]
And the answer is, surprisingly through rules,
well actually through a Rule. For
centuries, monastic communities have shaped their lives around a “Rule of Life,”
rhythms and disciplines for following Jesus together.
These are not the sort of rules that Jesus was
criticizing, the ones that exclude and restrict and often self-centered, but spiritual
practices to help us grow and change. One thing that PB ++Michael launched at
General Convention back in July was the “The Way of Love: Practices for Jesus-Centered
Life,” a Rule of Life written for the Episcopal Church consisting of seven practices.[2]
The first one is “TURN.” You have already done
this, you have “paused, listened and chosen to follow Jesus” or you wouldn’t be
here. But it is – like all seven – not a one-off event or action. As we are in the
world and subject to temptation, we need to keep on turning from the powers of
sin, hatred, fear, injustice, and oppression toward the way of truth, love,
hope, justice, and freedom. Acknowledging the times when we fall short and
asking and receiving forgiveness is part of this practice too.
The second practice is LEARN, we are called to
reflect on Scripture each day, especially on Jesus’ life and teachings. By
reading and reflecting on Scripture, especially the life and teachings of
Jesus, we draw near to God and God’s word dwells is implanted in us. We
practice opening both our minds and our hearts to Scripture.
Number three is PRAY, every day. In prayer, individually
and as a community, we offer our thanksgivings and concerns to God, and we
listen for God’s voice in our lives and in the world. We ask God for guidance
and help.
The fourth practice is WORSHIP, gathering as
we are now in community to listen to and learn from the word, to thank and praise
God, and to rejoice in Christ’s presence in the bread and wine made holy.
The fifth practice, BLESS, is more outward
looking. This is the call to share our faith and unselfishly to give and to serve.
Everyone one of you is empowered by the Spirit to bless everyone you meet, to practice
generosity and compassion and to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ in
word and action: as doers of the word.
The
sixth practice is GO. Think of the last words of any almost any service, the
dismissal: “Let us go forth in the name
of Christ,” “go in peace to love and serve the Lord,” or “let us go forth into
the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.”[3]
We do not live out our faith just in this building. We live it in the world.
James’ admonition to “keep oneself unstained by the world” (1:27) is not a call
to keep away from the world. We are sent into the world to witness to the love,
justice, and truth of God with our lips and with our lives.
The final practice might surprise you, it is REST.
We cannot persevere in our and the world’s transformation without rest and restoration.
The Sabbath, the day of rest, was one of God’s gifts in creation. Rest gives us
the strength to return to and follow the Way of Love. And by resting we place
our trust in God as the primary actor and are reminded that it does not depend on
us! We are not the saviors of the world, we are the Savior’s servants.
In today’s collect, summarizing today’s readings,
our we prayed that God, “the author and giver of all good things,” might “graft
in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us
with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works.” I believe these
practices are well-suited to help us achieve those goals.
Amen.
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