09/02/2012 ~ Proper 17 ~ Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost; Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9; Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 ~ Communion Sunday ~ Labor Day Weekend on the Secular Calendar.
Be Doers
“Be doers, act on this Word, and not merely hearers. Because if all you do is listen, you are deceiving yourself.” — James 1:22.
I think most of you know many moons ago I worked on Wall Street. One firm at which I worked was quite large and, as would be true in most such firms, job openings in other parts of the company got posted.
Now, the tricky part of applying for a job in your current company is, while you may well want that other position, if you apply for any of them, you have just, effectively, insulted your current boss. You see, here’s what you’re saying to your supervisor— “Hey! You! You’re great. But I don’t want to work for you any more.”
So, the secret of successfully applying for another position within a company is simple. Keep on the good side of your boss at all times. Be their friend, even their confidant— and sometimes that’s a tall order.
Why do you want to stay on the good side of your boss? The reality is, at some point, your boss will be asked by someone if you are right for the other job. And this is what you want your boss to say: “Well, yes— I really, really hate to lose an employee out of my department who is of such an outstanding caliber. But I can see that this move would be the right thing to do because it would be good for the company. So I approve.” (Slight pause.)
Well, I once changed jobs in an internal move. Why was I able to do that? My boss approved. We were friends. Now after I had made that move, I asked him this question: “If you had to design a job for me, what would it be?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “I’d put a clipboard in your hands and let you walk around and just observe. I guarantee in a couple of weeks you’d come back to me and suggest all kinds of possible changes. Of course,” he said with a little nervous laugh, “the company doesn’t give me the kind of budget that I’d need to assign anyone that task. But you’d be the one.”
“So, you see me as a consultant?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “That’s what it is— a consultant.” (Slight pause.)
Well, probably through no intention or even fault of my own, that’s what I sometimes find myself doing— acting as a consultant. You see, in my time as the Chair of the Committee on Authorized Ministry and then as Moderator of the Susquehanna Association I have been asked to consult with other churches on issues a number of times.
One of the ways I did that with the Committee on Authorized Ministry is by being a mentor to candidates as they went through the ordination process. And I have also been a mentor to newly ordained pastors.
In my capacity as moderator, I’ve already been called on to be of service several times. My next foray as a consultant will be with a group of churches on the Western end of our Association in about two weeks. I am being asked to offer some advice about by-laws and how they operate.
Of course, I do have a reputation as a by-law geek in the Conference. By-law geek— that’s a pretty narrow group. Is that a good thing? Who knows? It is true I assisted this church in a realignment of our By-laws.
After that became known, I was invited to be on a committee that rewrote the New York Conference By-laws. And then I participated in a rewrite of the By-laws of the Susquehanna Association. (The pastor points a finger back at his face.) “By-law geek— all of which is to say— not that I am going to retire any time soon— but I may have figured our a good retirement job for me— church consultant. (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the work known as James: “Be doers, act on this Word, and not merely hearers. Because if all you do is listen, you are deceiving yourself.” (Slight pause.)
When I was a student at Bangor Seminary, the school hired a consultant to help them through a visioning process. The Seminary President invited me to participate on that committee. And so we went off for a weekend retreat on the Maine Coast— now there’s a hard job— weekend retreat on the Maine Coast— and worked with that consultant on visioning. This particular consultant was very clear about one very basic item: he could not do the work for us.
He could advise. He could cajole. He could lay out possible paths. But we had to choose the paths. We had to be willing to be coaxed. We had to seriously consider any advice. Last and in the long run, after he left, he would no longer be there to hold our hands as we moved through the results of the process. We had to think about how to move forward, process what we did and, finally, do the work. (Slight pause.)
It is, I think, helpful to see the writer of James as struggling with the integrity of the Christian life. What gives Christian life wholeness? What identifies Christian life? How can belief and action be held together in a unity?
Put differently, how can belief and action possibly be separated? In short, how can people live out what they believe? (Slight pause.)
What was true in ancient times is still true today: it seems to me that in our times there is a never-ending battle to place a monetary value on everything. We want to rest assured that our faith is worth something. The problem with that attitude is it turns faith into a commodity.
What happens when we turn faith into a commodity is, like any other commodity or like any other acquisition, we resort to calculating. We ask if the rewards are worth the effort. We ask if the rewards are about belief or about action.
But the writer of James is clear: the reward— the blessing, if you would— is not a goal. And the reward is in not just the listening and the reward is not just in the action. If there is a reward it is in listening and then in acting. However, this cannot even be thought of in terms of being a reward. This is a way of approaching life.
In fact, as an example, the author offers up exactly the kind of action found in the Hebrew Scriptures. (Quote): “...coming to the aid of orphans and widows [1] when they are in need and keeping oneself uncontaminated by failings of this world”— keeping oneself uncontaminated by failings of this world. (Slight pause.)
In our times we hear a lot about the cost/benefit, especially when it comes to helping others. Scripture is clear: calculating the cost or the benefit has no place in the community of faith. Relationships are central.
And when relationships are central it sets up an obvious sequence. When we listen carefully, we need to do. When we do, we are empowered to love.
When we love, then we are empowered to seek better understandings. When we understand, we do not simply love. We grow in love. Love becomes stronger, deeper, more intimate. And guess what we do then? We listen better, more deeply. (Slight pause.)
I need to be clear: all this is hard work. It has many parts. It comes naturally to none of us. But doing is vital if we are to integrate faith and understanding with love and community. Or, as the writer of James puts it (quote): “Be doers, act on this Word, and not merely hearers.” Amen.
09/02/2012
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “There is another modern heresy which seems to be going around— society has absolutely no influence on our lives. We do it all. We cause our own outcomes. Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, a Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame says this on that topic (quote): ‘...the poor person does not exist as an inescapable fact of destiny. The poor are a by-product of the system in which we live and for which we are responsible... Hence the poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action but a demand that we go and build a different social order.’ Go. Do.”
BENEDICTION: God’s Word lights our path. The risen Christ dwells among us. The Holy Spirit, guides, protects and sustains us. Let us go forth from this service of worship and offer service to the world in the name of Christ, for the grace of God is deeper than our imagination, the strength of Christ is stronger than our need, the communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. May God guide and sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.
[1] When this passage was read during the course of the service it was noted that, whenever we find the words “widows and orphans” in Scripture they are meant to be code words. These words are codes for “the poor and the outcast.”
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