James has a
most unusual interpretation of
Christian joy, as do each of
those letter writers in the last few
books of the New Testament, where
people in the church are being
beaten, arrested, and killed.
1 John
says in his opening sentences: "And
we are writing this that our joy may
be complete."
My favorite
pastor to the persecuted church is
Peter:
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the
fiery ordeal which comes upon you...
But rejoice in so far as you share
Christ’s sufferings, that you may
also rejoice and be glad when his
glory is revealed"
(1 Peter 4:12-13).
One
Sunday morning back in May,
1969, James Foreman
walked down the center aisle
of the fashionable Riverside
Presbyterian Church in New
York City. It was the home
congregation of many
affluent, successful, white
business leaders–what we
call today an
aristocratic church.
In
the language of church
sociologist Israel Galindo,
an aristocratic church is
the tall steeple, powerful
church that is entrenched,
well-endowed, where nothing
ever changes.
So
James Foreman, a member of
the Black Panthers, the
Executive Secretary of SNCC
or the Student Non-Violent
Co-ordinating Council, the
man who had been involved in
an incident of police
brutality with the Los
Angeles Police force and
suffered an emotional
breakdown, on that Sunday in
May delivered his "Black
Manifesto," and he
disrupted worship!
He
demanded $500 million in
reparations from white
churches for the injustices
done to African Americans
through the years.
Imagine how that fell like a
bombshell on that church,
and on our entire white
majority Presbyterian
denomination!
Ernie Campbell
the pastor at Riverside
Church handled it tactfully
and carefully. The members
responded rather than
reacted. They studied the
issues, spoke with the black
community, and pledged a
fixed percentage of its
annual income to
anti-poverty efforts.
James Foreman devoted his
life to empowering poor
black people, working for
their economic developemtn.
(pause)
This is important, for in
the mind of James, he stands
in solidarity as a
servant like Jesus did,
with all the people who who
suffered out of their
desperate need.
Strangely, there is no
mention of Jesus’ sacrifice
and death for our salvation
in this short letter, yet
there are many links or
obvious references to Gospel
texts.
This hardship is all part of God’s plan
for you as his special people, both the
needy–those with whom Jesus found solidarity
– and the martyrs, all of you who are
hurting in the church.
James
rejects the Biblical notion that
God tests us, that God asks us
to endure trials like Abraham with
his son, or asks Jephthah to
sacrifice his only daughter (Judges
11), or that Jesus was glad that
Lazarus had to die so that "‘you
may believe’" (John 11:14).
So, look at
yourselves in the mirror, both the
poor and church members and say, I
am being blessed by God. This too
works to God’s purpose and God’s
advantage in making me whole and
complete in his sight.
I
heard a motivational tape by
one person who said, he gets
up every morning and looks
in the mirror and says out
loud, "God is going to bless
me today."
We
should each one of us
practice that each morning
when we rise and look at
ourselves in the mirror.
So I think,
James would take the story of
Abraham and Isaac on Mount
Moriah, and he would say, God used
that incident to make a complete and
perfect follower of Moses. it was
not really a test or sacrifice, for
"
Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to
him as righteousness,’ and he was
called the friend of God."
Our testing
or temptation–Isaiah likens
it to metal tried in the refining
fire and coming out pure–-results in
our being perfected by God.
That is his plan from the
beginning for those who are
God’s friends" and live a
life of active servanthood.
James outlines God’s great
plan for us.
Like the Jews and Gentile Christians who
have been dispersed because of the
widespread Roman persecution, you and I in
the church are wandering, we have lost our
way.
Another word James uses is "whole-hearted,"
as opposed to the
double-hearted who are
tossed on a wave between sin
and goodness.
We
mistranslate that as "patience."
It is a more active, more involved
action word, which evidences a real
hope, a Christian joy if you will,
in the future God is calling us to.
I
have told a member when she
brings up the subject of how
long it is taking to find a
new pastor: "you need to be
patient; learn to "wait upon
the Lord."
Now
I realize that I am saying
the wrong thing, I should
encourage her as James does,
embrace the future with
confident determination,
with active endurance.
Do
something, become a servant
of the poor.
Do
something positive in our
church if you think the wait
for a new pastor is too
long.
Make a tithe to
the general mission
or benevolence of
our Presbytery!
Volunteer to
serve in the kitchen
and cook a meal.
Is it not
when you or I have faced the most
significant temptation or trial of
our life, that our faith has been
shaped most definitively?
or
Jesus, on Calvary, as he
became that one person whom
God did test and subject to
total abandonment... for our
sake?
(page 3)
Christian wisdom, as James views
it, is to look in the mirror of faith, and
see things not through your eyes, but
through the eyes of God, thinking, loving,
enduring as God thinks, loves and endures.
The next
time you are tempted to wonder about
this church without a new pastor
yet, ask yourself instead, what does
God see when God looks at this
church? How may I see my church
through God’s eyes?
Paul in
Galatians 2:20 puts it this way, "
I
have been crucified with Christ; and
it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me, and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God..."
God promises to give us the eyes to see
the whole plan, but only when you and I no
longer waver or let ourselves to be tossed
back and forth, when we are totally
single-hearted "friends of God."
The
completion of our lives comes with a
"crown of life" and glory.
The second
mention of Jesus Christ by James is
as "the Lord of glory" in chapter 2,
verse 1.
That is
ours after we have withstood the
test of life, not in this world. a.
And this is what James finally calls
seeing perfection.
I used to
raise and show Abyssinian cats,
both here in the USA and in Europe
for a year. The Abyssinian cat came
from Egypt; it is the oldest breed
in existence. Cat shows are based on
a Standard of Excellence. Judges
deduct for imperfections. But we are
not like that.
Perfection
is not something that is ours, not
something we can ever achieve;
it is a gift from God out of his
generosity. It is never ours in this
life. We were not created perfect;
all of us are born so very
different, and none of us will die
perfect or anywhere near it.
Perfection is how God wants to view
us in his love, in his kingdom.
When I demand someone else
or my church be perfect,
change something before I
will have anything to do
with them, that is the
terrible sin of pride or
self-righteousness in me.
Christian tradition says all martyrs who
have died receive this precious gift of
perfection, the crown of life, the Lord’s
glory.
Do any of
you remember Eliza Hewitt’s
112-year-old hymn
Will there
be any stars, any stars in my crown,
When at evening the sun goeth down?
When I wake with the blest in the
mansions of rest,
....Oh,
what joy it will be when His face I
behold...
Should there be any stars in my
crown"
a.Eliza Edmunds Hewitt , after graduating from high school in Philadelphia, became a teacher. Her career was cut short by a serious spinal problem. She only recovered partially, so she turned to hymn-writing. For many years Eliza was the Sunday School intendant superintendent at the Northern Home for Friendless Children.
I believe
this vision, this looking in the
mirror of perfection, as "the
friends of God" is a vision you and
I need in this congregation, as we
endure, as we become more determined
and steadfast, more joy-filled in
our second year together. (page 4)