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September 3, 2006

James 1: 17-27

Generous Act of Giving

This past week, I was invited to Crestwood Christian Church for a dinner that was celebrating what the youth and children had done that summer: Camps, Mission Trips, Alternate Summer Camps and thanking everyone for their generous support of the youth and children. Now, I must say that I am a little prejudice about the youth program at Crestwood Christian Church. I know the youth minister pretty well and I must say that he does an excellent job with the children and youth there!

At this dinner, two youth stood up and shared their experience with summer camp. One described it as the human reset button. He explained that he had gone to camp with all these doubts and fears, wondering if God really did exist. But once he got to camp, he realized that only God could create a place that allow people from different backgrounds, different experiences in life to come together and worship at this beautiful sanctuary.

Then another young man stood up and explained how truly amazing the camp experience was for him. He shared how at camp, the person’s outside shell is stripped away, the shell that society wants to see, that society expects to see, and that we build as protection as showing who we really are.
This shell is stripped away and who the person really is shines throughout the week for everyone to see. And once everyone’s shell is stripped away, then people can really be who God called them to be and then people live as they are called to live out their faith.

I listened to the rest of the youth talk about their experiences with mission trips and how that mission was lived out throughout the week in everything that the group did. The mission to serve was always at the front of their minds while eating, playing, riding roller coasters, painting fences at the Campbell mansion in Bethany, West Virginia.

After the dinner ended and I was driving home, I realized that the youth’s experience at camp and on mission trips is what the author of our Scripture was talking about this morning. The author wants us as readers to realize that we must turn away from the “Worldly values of living: wealth, the notion of always looking for something bigger and better to Godly values: respecting one another, treating each other with kindness, providing for those who are the forgotten in our society. We must strip away our shells that we create to make ourselves into something that society wants us to be and really let our true selves shine through. We must let be who God created us to be in our lives.

The author of James reminds us that everything that we have is given by God and one of the greatest gifts that God gave us is the word of truth. It is this word of truth that we accepted in our lives when we made our confessions of faith. It is this word of truth that we accepted in our lives as we rose up from the baptism waters.

This word of truth is the nutrient that gives strength and growth to God’s creation and allows the seeds of faith to bear the first fruit of creation, us as people of faith. The author of the letter of James wrote this letter in the context of the resurrection of Christ. He is no different than many of the epistle writers. Following the resurrection, many writers talk of a new creation or new birth in Christ.

We as people of faith are the first fruits of the new creation following the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the first fruits of the creation, we have been given gifts by God to live out our lives as Christians, most especially the wisdom to know how to live our lives in a way that God wants us to live.

The author of James reminds us that we are to listen to one another and really hear what each other are saying. This is the key.

It’s interesting to watch a debate on TV or sometimes if you are in a public place, you may notice two people talking vigorously. Usually with the really heated debates, the listening breaks down into name-calling or something even worse. There is no debate. The opponents really don’t listen to what each other is saying. They are trying to get their views across. They miss the point of a truly good debate where each side makes a point then the other side counter points but each side is respectfully listening to what each other is saying.

In our society, we don’t listen to each other. We must make our point. We must have the last word. Or we are so busy that we give grunts or yeas when asked a question. We are so focused on what we are doing that we miss out on what really the person is saying and miss out on an opportunity to have a great discussion, not an argument. We must practice what is called active listening. It starts by listening to what each other are saying. Repeat it so that it shows that we truly heard the comment. This way of listening shows respect and interest and gives us wisdom into who the other person really is.

But the author of James wants us to go a step further in our listening. He wants us to hear the Word of God and respond. He knew that there were some in his own community that would come to church every Sunday but then when the service was over, no one would have guessed that they were Christians.
He wanted the people in his community in that he was writing to really listen to the Word of God, to really listen to each and then live out the practices of the faith in their lives. He wanted the people to engage the word in a manner which lead to change and would continue to bring change.

And he wants the same for us today. He wants us to use the gift of wisdom and word of truth to grow in our faith. He wants us to understand that the resurrection made a change in the way we live our lives and our faith. He wants us to study and hear the Word of God and to keep us fed with the insights that we gain from it and one another.

This is the basis of true spirituality for the author of James. This is the basis of living out the Christian life. We accepted the wisdom that God gave us to engage the text, to study the text, to share our insights with one another. And then in turn, we take this new energy, this new life-changing faith and show compassion to one another. We turn away from the worldly values and see the God in even in the forgotten.

For you see, at the very core of our faith is how we live with one another as Christians. The very essence of our Christian faith is relationship. Relationships between each other define our Christian lives and faith. And to be in true relationship with one another, we must be acknowledging that God first showed us love and now we are called to share that love with even the ones that society doesn’t want to acknowledge. It must be about living authentically as who God created us to be, stripped of our covers, stripped of our shells, and stripped of our illusions that we present to society to be accepted.

When we really listen to one another, when we live in true relationship with one another, when we live out our calling as the first fruits of creation, then we will really bring about change in our world. When we really live out the experience of the resurrection, that’s when true understanding of who God is takes place. When we really step forward as ourselves, our true selves, and listen and respect one another, that is when we can help bring about the Kingdom of God.

May we really listen and hear the Word of God in our lives. Amen.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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