Seedling to Sermon

Seneca Presbyterian Church

Seneca, South Carolina

October 11, 2015

When the Church Looks Like the World

James 2:1-17

James 2:1-17 (NRSV)
¹ My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? ² For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷ Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

⁸ You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ⁹ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹ For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶ 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? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

The great teacher of preachers, Tom Long, tells of a time when a ministerial colleague decided to put her congregation to the test. As Tom recounts the story, this well-respected leader:

…chose to appear at church one Sunday in the guise of a homeless person. [She was] by no means a “gold rings and fine clothes” kind of woman, but it [still] took a great deal of effort, theatrical makeup, and thrift store clothing to transform her into a person whose appearance showed the ravages of the streets.

Her experience at church [that morning] was remarkable, [even] transforming. Church friends who would normally have greeted her cheerily in the hallway turned their heads and would not make eye contact. When she was not being ignored, she was glared at.  As she made her way toward the worship space, she could sense the ushers tensing for a possible confrontation. They seated her as far away from others as possible.

There was an anxious moment when [Tom’s] friend stood up to speak during the joys and concerns. When she revealed who she was, [the mood] turned rapidly to astonishment, then embarrassment, and finally to many apologies after the service. [1]

Tom then concludes his story by stating: As James says, this kind of partiality is sin, pure and simple. For when the Church looks like the world, we have failed to be the body of Christ.

So, how would Seneca Presbyterian Church measure up to the test? Would we welcome such a guest, escorting him or her to a front row seat? Or would we subtly imply another seat might be more appropriate?

I don’t want to appear inappropriately partial toward my congregation, but I’m guessing we would fare rather well. Which is not to say that we wouldn’t notice the presence of someone dressed so differently.  But I do not believe we would, as a congregation, respond with any degree of discomfort or implied distress.

Perhaps you are wondering: On what do I base my remarkable confidence? That’s easy. It would be your already proven track record for welcoming all. In fact, when we listen to James recite his marks of faithfulness, this congregation once again scores rather high.

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food…

We would probably start by taking that brother or sister to Our Daily Bread where many of our own people just might be preparing lunch that day.

Next would come a trip to the Golden Corner Food Pantry where our brother or sister would find our donations of peanut butter on the shelves along with the bread and vegetables and cupcakes and canned goods that our volunteers – along with so many others – helped to pick up and deliver and sort and distribute.

After a trip to the food bank, we would likely welcome that brother or sister at the Oconee Presbyterian Service Fund where we could help with an electric bill or a deposit on an apartment or even with counseling about budgets or how to get an ID card in order to apply for SSI or food stamps.

If alcoholism stood as a barrier to the fullness of life promised by Jesus for all God’s children, we would see to it that our brother or sister knew about the AA groups that meet in our Chapter House, where life and hope have been restored for so many.

It is my sure and certain hope that we would not give up on that brother or sister until we had done everything we could do – and everything he or she would allow us to do – to feed, to clothe, and to welcome, showing by our embodied works that our faith is alive and well and genuine.

We would strive to see in the face of that brother or sister the face of Christ. We would bring all our resources to bear in the support of that brother or sister because our faith leads us to believe that we are partners with God in the re-creation of the world. We would profess that faith which stops short of expressing itself in a God-centered and Christ-centered life has no right to claim the name “faith.” We would stand proudly with James in proclaiming: faith without works is dead.

Unless, of course, our funds were too low that day, or that brother or sister had abused our help in the past, or what our brother or sister asked us to do was unreasonable and excessive.

I’ve lived through both types of situations and heard both types of requests. I have been both richly blessed as well as lied to and manipulated when seeking to respond to our brothers and sisters in need. Many of you have, too.

Being faithful to the call of God is not always easy, is it?

When I am privileged to write a check from our Good Samaritan Fund to help out a brother or sister in need, again and again they want to thank me. I’m quick to tell them that I’m just the one writing the check. You are the ones who make that check possible by the sharing of your resources.

At that point, they are often amazed at your generosity. Time after time, they ask about this church. Just who are we and when do we gather for worship? I tell them when and where they can join us, and encourage them to give us a try.

But they rarely come.

They rarely give us a chance to see if we could once again pass the test of welcome – if the single mother with three children whose abusive husband has just drained her bank account would truly be given a seat of honor in our sanctuary and extended the arms of welcome in our church family.

Being faithful to the call of God is not always easy, is it? Sometimes it meets a wall of reality: the reality that divides us into rich or poor, gay or straight, black or white, dressed to the “nines” or in thrift store bargains. Is it just “the way of the world,” a world we will inevitably mirror?

Or when the Church looks and acts like the world, are we in violation of the law of love?

For James, the dilemma is crystal clear. Whoever does not welcome the poor denies the very heart of faith. For God has chosen the poor to be the guests of honor in the household of God. Had not Jesus declared “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20) To abuse those who bear the name and face and blessing of Christ is to abuse Christ himself. It means mirroring the world rather than reflecting the heart of God.

Yet even with his crystal clear faith, James has found himself caught in a bit of conundrum. Not only has this community welcomed the rich and given them the seats of honor. The very ones they seek to honor are the very ones who abuse and oppress the poor of their own community. They are the ones who, in their greed, withhold wages from the poor and then haul them into court for non-payment of debts and overdue rent.

The hypocrisy is so critical to James that if the community will not speak the word of judgment, he will.

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. (James 5:1, 4-6)

Do you see the dilemma?  When the rich arrive in their company, the community becomes two-faced, honoring in the household of God the very ones who dishonor their poor brothers and sisters in the world. In so doing, the community mirrors the world, finding themselves so envious of the wealthy that, in their envy, they abuse the ones they are called by God to love most of all.  

Being faithful to the call of God is not always easy, is it? In first century Palestine or 21^st century America.

For you see, however captive we may feel to “the way of the world,” we are comfortable with our divisions. We even thrive on them. Yet if we are to be faithful to the call of God upon our lives, at the very least we must admit this one simple truth: “the way of the world” is not what God intends to be. 

But still there is hope, for we worship a God whose intention for the world will someday be.

 When James Lee was called to begin a new Presbyterian African-American congregation in Austin, Texas, a disturbing thing happened. He and his core group of church planters read the book of Acts together. And when they did, the Spirit inspired them to begin something both new and different. They felt called to begin a multicultural congregation.

The church that meets now has about 100 members. They are African- American, Caucasian, and Hispanic, but even more they are inter-racial couples, parents who have adopted children of a different ethnicity, and even though their picture doesn’t reveal it, I would certainly surmise, rich and poor together. [2]

It is the re-envisioned Church of the future, a Church that is being re-born in our midst by the grace of God.

Two Sundays ago, as I was listening to Chip (our Music Director) share the tag at our early service, I was caught up in moment of enlightenment. The song was “How Beautiful” by Twila Paris - a song with a haunting melody that remains in your mind and heart after the music is silent. It speaks of the hands and feet and heart and eyes of Christ as he lays down his life for the sake of the world. How beautiful, the melody sings, is the body of Christ.

The body of Christ – his hands, feet, heart, eyes

The body of Christ – his bread and wine given for the sons and daughters of the earth

The body of Christ – the Church of Jesus Christ where rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight, young and old, men and women and children live together in one family.

When the Church truly looks like the world, how beautiful is the body of Christ.

THANKS BE TO GOD.

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[1] Thomas G. Long, “God Is Partial,” The Christian Century, August 31, 2009

[2] Carol Howard Merritt, “Multicultural Life Together,” The Christian Century, October 7, 2015