Musical Prelude and Service.

Psalm 84 & James 1:17-27
So in the last couple of weeks, I’ve reflected on Jesus describing himself as the Bread of Life. This has also moved into discussions about salvation and where we find God at work and the presence of God in the regular objects of life and the regular people we meet on our journeys.
Along the way, I believe I made a comment that was meant to say salvation is more than guaranteeing a place in heaven upon our death. Well, that resulted in a few questions about what I believe about going to heaven.
That shouldn’t be an awkward question, but clergy can make these essential theological questions complicated by transitioning into not so basic language. So to keep it simple, yes, I believe people go to heaven.
What is heaven? Well, I’m not about to describe that.
I truly hold to the words of our New Creed which states, “In life. In Death. In life beyond death. God is with us. Thanks be to God.” It is that response to God’s enduring and saving presence that I want to reflect upon today.
Psalm 84 is an acknowledgement of God’s never-ending presence. The way God is always there and that we are made better simply by being in God’s life-giving presence. And that is worthy of celebration and praise.
Today’s passage from James’ letter dives a little bit more into how our response needs to include how we relate to the world.
There is a long, (as in at least two millennia) debate over the question of faith and works and our relationship to God.
Basically, what is needed for salvation? Are we saved by faith alone, or is our place in the embrace of God dependent upon our actions here on earth? As you can imagine, the conversation has nuance and a great many twists and turns. If you are not careful, it can end up painting entire denominations and faith traditions in one colour or another.
I will say that at one point, some less that scrupulous leaders in the church of Rome used the idea that the only way to guarantee people’s loved ones would be guaranteed a place in heaven would be to donate what they can to the church. Again, without diving deeper into the details, this was the practice of indulgences. Martin Luther spoke out against this practise among others, and came to argue that salvation comes through faith alone. Humans are flawed beings, and on our own incapable of living lives free from sin.
It is only through God’s unending grace; a love demonstrated through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ that we are saved. A number of other leaders have come along, including Calvin and Wesley who have also contributed to this conversation.
Again, avoiding the details, one of the questions that get asked when we speak of salvation through faith alone is; if we only need to believe, then what’s the motivation to behave in a compassionate and justice filled way? That question of course betrays a very transactional way of looking at the world.
Why should we care for one another if my salvation, my relationship to God is guaranteed by my profession of faith?
This little letter by James, often recognized as James the brother of Jesus, only references Jesus the Christ twice. It’s place in the biblical canon was frequently debated and Luther himself referred to it as an epistle of straw.
But for some of us, it is seen as a powerful statement on the importance of our actions in giving flesh to our faith.
Yes, there is a concern about our life beyond death. What is our relationship to God beyond our temporary existence in this world? God’s love for us, God’s concern for our health and well being in the lives we lead right now is also very real. And how we who proclaim to love God, follow God and yearn to be closer to God, choose to relate to God and to God’s creation is critical.
James does not mess around.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Words are not enough. To believe, to love, to care, demands action.
Be quick to listen and slow to talk.
We are like the first fruits of creation.
Imagine. James is suggesting that we are like the first expression of God’s love and truth. But we also are tempted by anger, desire for wealth and power, falsehood.
And we are given the ability to choose how we will respond. What is most important to us?
God loves us. God is always with us, and God envisions a world of justice and care for all of creation. And we are called to work with God, through the life and work of Jesus to help bring that world into being. Human beings have shown an incredible capacity to make a mess of this. But God keeps giving us chance after chance after chance.
And God continues to welcome us into God’s loving embrace, even as we lose our way and give into the temptations of anger, of despair of greed. God’s love for us is always present and always held out for us to receive.
James speaks but the danger of self deception. We can lie to ourselves so easily.
We can lie and tell ourselves that we are perfect. We are infallible and have everything figured out. We are beyond criticism.
Or we can lie to ourselves sand believe the world that tells us we are incapable of love or of being loved. Our lives have no purpose. We are so caught up in looking in the mirror to find every little fault and blemish we lose the ability to act in any manner except ways that are self destructive. We are the first fruits of creation. We are signs of God’s love. We need to act like it.
Another question I have heard more than a few times in the last month is one about justice. Where is it? So much about this world is not just. Where is God’s justice?
I guess, it would be easy to simply say it has yet to come. Or perhaps it is more apt to say, we are still called to resist the injustice we witness all too often.
A mid-20th century theologian by the name of Rosemary Radford Ruether wrote a great deal on Jesus the Christ as a guide to a world of justice. Essentially, Jesus, as the word of God, holds up for us an example of how to bring justice and resist injustice in our time, with the hope of a truly just world to come. We can certainly become impatient. We can ask, where are you God, in the face of so much injustice? In the heartbreaking images that inundate us day after day?
But Jesus keeps telling us. Don’t give in. Resist.
Let me guide you and strengthen you to create moments of justice in our immediate world. And together we can help build, bit by bit, piece by piece, peace by peace, the world of Justice that God desires for all of creation.
Let us be doers of the word. And let us be happy in God in whom we have our trust.
Thanks be to God
Amen

 

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789