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September 6, 2009

It's Not About Me

• James 2:1
• Ruth Moore

I think I have preached about 136 sermons since I was ordained six and a half years ago. I have preached on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, at funerals, at weddings, at other churches. I have taken theology classes at seminary, I have counseled couples before and after their weddings, I have taken mission trips to Mexico and I have worked with other faith communities to alleviate hunger and poverty in the city of Indianapolis. And the recurring theme in all my endeavors as a pastor, Christian, mother, wife, colleague, is that it’s not about me. Now this is very hard for me to grasp because I pretty much think the moon and the stars should revolve around me and my life—ha ha! But as I read scripture, as I serve as your pastor, as I try to be a good wife and mother, I keep realizing that my purpose in life is not to be focused on me all the time. Actually my purpose, why I believe God created me and all of us in the first place, is to be focused on God and  other people. It’s really sad it has taken me 52 years to come to this realization!

 I grew up in a household where bits and pieces of wisdom and bible verses were shared. They were like little life lessons.

 Do any of you remember remarks like this? “Honesty is the best policy,” “A penny saved is a penny earned,” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Today’s reading from Proverbs is a collection of sayings much like our parents taught us. It offers wisdom on matters of relationships, generosity and justice. And James gives us a little nugget of wisdom too . . . faith without works is dead. I heard that one a lot growing up too.

 I grew up in a middle class family in suburban Philadelphia. I attended and was confirmed in Ardmore Presbyterian Church. I often heard from the pulpit and from my family the saying that “to whom much is given, much is expected in return.” But what does that look like? What does it mean to put my faith, my money, and my life on the line for others and not myself? I think it looks like this quote from Martin Luther: “Good works do not make a good man—but a good man does good works.” (1)

 So what do those good works look like? Well, James certainly tells us what they don’t look like. Partiality or favoritism is not a sign. Refusing to feed and clothe the hungry and homeless is not a sign. Instead we are asked to leave all favoritism and status-seeking outside in the parking lot when we come to church. “The reason is simple—the ground is level at the foot of the cross for everyone.” (2) Think about that—at the foot of the cross we are all on the same level.

 In God’s eyes, in the Christian community, there is no place for distinctions between wealthy and poor Christians and in fact, God’s priority is for the poor. In the first three gospels alone one out of every ten verses deals with the poor and social injustice. In the Gospel of Luke it is one out of seven. Most of the Psalms and the words of the prophets deal with the poor. Jesus’ ministry touched everyone—the sick, the beggar, the woman at the well, the rich young ruler, and the thief on the cross. His ministry was to everyone and ours must be too. 

 While we are called as Christians not just to believe, but also to do, James also challenges us even further and says you also need to love your neighbor as yourself.  We are not called to be narcissistic like I can be and believe “it’s all about me” but we are not called to the other extreme either that is completely self-sacrificial and believes “it’s all about you.” “Partiality that contributes to either extreme cuts and sustains deep divisions in faith communities.” (3) What James is calling us to is “a higher standard, the standard of agape or divine love.” (Ibid) “Such divine love constitutes a radical call to unconditional justice wherever the economic gap between poverty and wealth is great.” (Ibid) James is calling us to learn that joy, real joy, actually comes in this life as Christ increases and you and I decrease.

  You and I worship a Lord who in his inaugural sermon said that he had come to preach good news to the poor and set the oppressed free. We are heirs of an Old Testament tradition that focused on special provisions for those at the bottom of the economic ladder—slaves, strangers, widows and orphans. When we take the words and visions of our faith and translate them into the deeds of our faith, we are living the Christian life. When we welcome the stranger, someone new, even someone who doesn’t look like us to worship, we are living the Christian life. When we help build a playground for School 55, we are living the Christian life. When we reach out to others in phone calls or notes, texts and emails, we are living the Christian life. When we bring food for the food barrels, when we build sanctuaries in Mexico, when we teach English as a second language, and when we host the homeless through Interfaith Hospitality Network we are living the Christian life. When Maureen Purcell, Tony Dzwonar and I spent our lunch hour last Thursday at City Marker participating in the Indianapolis Hunger Initiative’s “Lunch Shift” to end childhood hunger, we were trying to live the Christian life. This is the image of the church the world needs to see—our faith in action. Otherwise we present to the world nothing but a well-packaged institution that houses ancient words and images.  And oftentimes words and images are difficult for us to translate into works and deeds of faith. (4) 

We are not saved by faith alone. We are not saved by works alone. We are saved by faith and works together. You can’t have one without the other. The Lord’s Supper, which we will share together this morning, reminds us that despite the fact that we gather as many different people from different racial, ethnic, economic and theological convictions, we are all the same in God’s eyes and through our faith in Christ, we are united in a common faith. That faith is so powerful it can transcend any difference here today. This was James’ plea to the Christian community in Jerusalem. This is his plea to us today. It is not about me. It is not even about you. It is about God in Christ who is calling us to build a community where love, peace, justice, equality and love rule the day. May this be a place of welcome. May this be a place where there is no favoritism. May this be a place where we love our neighbor as ourselves. Because as Proverb’s reminds us, we are all the same—the rich and the poor —the Lord God is the maker of them all.

Amen.

 References 

1. eSermons.com, “The Temptation to Talk Transformation” by Eric Ritz.
2. eSermons.com, “Tackling the Tough Tasks” by Eric Ritz.
3. “Feasting on the Word,” Year B, Volume 4, Proper 18.
4. eSermons.com, “People See Through Us” by Harold C. Warlick

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