Prayer

Oh Lord, our Father,
In a world torn apart by fear and suspicion,
Teach us your children that Love is the only means to conquer fear:
The Love we encounter as we search you out,
The Love we encounter as we accept your embrace.
Oh Lord, the Son,
In a world full of anger and frustration,
Teach us, your servants, your friends, your sisters and your brothers,
To overturn the tables and tear down the fences
Which turn away the hungry and homeless:
To feed and house the disciple that knocks on our door
In the guise of the stranger,
And to find the Love we seek in loving others.
Oh Lord, the Holy Spirit,
Mother of Wisdom,
Teach us, your children, to be caring of one another,
To protect one another,
As you gather the nations under the feathers of your wings.
Help us to know peace that steals gently in, through quiet acts of kindness.
Amen

SERMON

“Western theology has been a theology of intellect and intention, not a theology of embodiment and action. We have been about intellect and intention, not about embodiment and action. We have feelings, and we have thoughts, and we have words, so many words—but no lifestyle.” —Sandra Maria Van Opstal

Point: For James, faith is inward commitments for outward expressions

DO NOT SHOW FAVORITISM

James 2:1-4 (NIV)
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Point: Man’s partiality rarely agrees with God’s heart. A significant aspect of the work of Jesus is to break down the walls that divide humanity and to bring forth a new kingdom of unity and equity.

Ephesians 2:14-15 (The Message)
The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

Galatians 3:26 (NIV)
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

If it’s not good news for everyone, then it’s not good news. —Rachel Held Evans

“Before you were baptized before you went under the water, you saw people, you saw them the way that empire taught you to see them. You saw the hierarchies of human belonging and placed yourself in it and resigned yourself to your level or strove to get a little higher. But when you go under the water of the king of the kingdom of God, And you come up, all you see is the image of God. In all. And what that means is that you see the full call and the capacity of all.” —Lisa Sharon Harper

GOD CHOSE THE POOR

James 2:5-7 (NIV)
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

Matthew 19:24 (NLT)
I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

James 2:8-9 (NIV)
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)
You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

THE CHURCH IS THE BODY

“If the church is like a body, like a bride, then perhaps we ought to take her through the spiritual practice of wearing skin.” —Barbara Brown Taylor, from An Altar in the World

“Sometimes, I think the biggest challenge in talking about the church is telling ourselves the truth about it—acknowledging the scars, staring down the ugly bits, marveling at its resiliency, and believing that this flawed and magnificent body is enough, for now, to carry us through the world and into the arms of Christ.” —Rachel Held Evans, from Searching for Sunday