|
|
Archived 02/05: A Message From the Pastor
Rev. Alice Ann Bonham
|
From the Pastor's Desk --
"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say
you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If
a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of
you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your
fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs,
what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no
works, is dead." (NRSV James 2:14-17)
These words from James are very special to me. I picked this passage for the first sermon I preached from the pulpit during my first preaching class at seminary. I spent a lot of time pondering these words and poking through commentaries and talking with other folk about them. Some time during that process these words took root in my heart. Because of the work that I did with this passage I know that there has been a lot of misunderstanding about them. Many people think that James is saying that we must do good works in order to have eternal salvation. That is not the case. What James is saying is that if we recognize that we have eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we will automatically do "good works" because of that faith. Listen carefully to the words James uses: "If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?" To simplify it some, James is saying if there is someone who needs specific help, clothes, food, shelter, and we don't help them with their immediate physical needs, there is not point in trying to introduce them to God and Jesus. Their physical needs will out weigh their faith needs at that time. Our job is to help with both. We don't do good work to get something. The idea is that we're supposed to do good works out of our gratitude for what Christ has done for us. Jesus helped those in need. He sat with sinners and tax collectors. He made friends with those who needed a friend. To those who didn't have those kinds of needs he reminded them that they were blessed and needed to share their blessings with others. We're supposed to be doing the same. The other thing that James is saying is, that if our faith is not productive it isn't really faith. Faith is like a muscle in our bodies. Every muscle needs to be exercised. If the muscle doesn't get exercised it gets flabby first and then atrophy occurs. Webster defines atrophy as, "a wasting away or failure to grow .... because of insufficient nutrition." The second definition is, "to waste away or fail to grow." I think both definitions apply to what James is saying. We nourish our faith through continued Bible Study, through corporate and private worship and prayer and our faith is exercised through the doing of works for Christ. Over the last week or so, I've been re-reading some of the things that have been floating around my desk for some time. One item was from the "Pastor's Material" of the Project 6:15 workbook. It reminded me that one of my jobs for Project 6:15 is to help create a sense of urgency "to reach people for Christ." When I saw those words it, almost literally, knocked the wind out of me. I recognized that there is no sense of urgency to reach people for Christ in the life of this congregation. We like things the way they are. We don't want to put ourselves out for folks that are "out there somewhere." We like worshiping with whom we are already worshipping. Why should we change anything? I believe this is the prevailing attitude here. The other thing I re-read was my Pastor's report to Charge Conference last year. I used an illustration that life here was like an egg about to hatch. As an egg gets closer to hatching it wobbles around for quite awhile. After the wobble finally a small cracked can be detected in the shell. Last year at Charge Conference it seemed to many of us that we were in the "egg wobbling" stage. I no longer am so sure of that. It seems to me that we are as complacent with our situation here as we have ever been. I believe this because of what I've seen over and over. There are not enough people committed to doing the work of this congregation. I just did a quick count of people serving on various committees. Without working very hard, I counted 6 people who hold 3-8 jobs at one time. It's not really fair to have one person doing 8 different tasks at one time. More help is needed. Another indicator of complacency is that in the last 2 Newsletters I asked for each of you to read some verses of scripture and write down your responses to them. Only one person outside the 6:15 team bothered to send back a response. It is possible that folks didn't understand what was being asked of them. If that's the case, no one cared enough to even ask me a question. In a recent issue of a magazine (I don't remember which one) I read this brief story: A man was being interviewed by a "head-hunter" as a potential client. The head-hunter always tried to create a relaxed atmosphere during the initial part of the interview. This tactic allowed the head-hunter to see how the clients would react to a tough question. In this particular interview, after several minutes of chit-chat the head-hunter suddenly asked the client, "What is your purpose in life?" This question had always caught people off guard. This time it didn't. The client responded, "To live my life so that when I die I go to heaven and to take as many people with me as possible." That should be our purpose in life too. It's not really enough to believe in Jesus. James reminds us, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe- and shudder." (James 2:19) We need to be followers and to share the Gospel in such a compelling way that others become followers too. That's our purpose here. Please be in prayer for us and our work here in Ridley Park and the surrounding communities. In Christ's great love, Pastor Alice Ann |
| Current: |
| Current Pastoral Message |