I grew up in a theology where everything was black and white. There was a line that was drawn and if you crossed it, you were going to heaven or going to hell. There was a song I used to sing as a little boy in Sunday school – “One door and only one and yet its sides are two. I’m on the inside on which side are you?”
As I was growing up, there was a lot of emphasis on outward appearances. I’ll never forget being pulled aside on a Wednesday night youth group meeting and being scolded for wearing bib overalls to church! So many rules and regulations – and yet, through it all, my relationship with God through Jesus was (and still is) the most precious thing in my life.
In my faith journey, I have found that God is so big, and cannot be contained in a neat little box. And today, my approach to God is still through the life and teachings of Jesus. However, I recognize the sincerity and faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm – and I acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as my way is true for me.
Most Christians understand “grace” as it applies to salvation in that Jesus did something for them that they could never do for themselves. By his obedience and death on the cross, He paid our debt. Grace makes us spiritually alive so that we can enjoy an intimate relationship with God.
However, we tend to get a little fuzzy when it comes to grace as it applies in our daily life. According to James, what we need is “more grace.” God stands willing to give us all the grace that we need to meet the challenges of our lives. The problem is that we don’t look to God first, rather, we look to other places for the answers we need.
So we buy into what someone else says we need to look like – what someone else says we need to wear – what someone else says we need to drive. Where’s your inner voice? Where’s your inner power? Where’s your inner peace? Where’s God?
In verse six, James says, “But God gives more grace.” More trials … more grace! More struggles … more grace!
James reminds us that God gives grace to the humble, to those who admit their helplessness and look to God to meet their needs. Instead of continuing in a course of independence, instead of continuing to run into the brick wall, they begin to walk in dependence upon God for everything.
When I’m in a rough situation – or I talk with people who are just really going through the wringer – I am comforted by the thought that God has me exactly where I need and want to be: dependent upon God. Not in a co-dependent way that is weird and unhealthy – but in an authentic way that recognizes my unique gifts and abilities are God-given – and that by using my time, talent and treasure I can make the world around me a better place. Spreading joy, sharing love and moving in the direction of peace.
James gives a series of imperatives which make up an urgent call to return to God. These commands demand decisive action. They reflect the seriousness with which James views the problems that he sees within the church he was writing to. It is first and foremost, a call to a whole-hearted return to God.
One of the things I enjoy when meeting people who walk through our church doors is to hear their story. Their faith journey. What brought them here? I remind you, we exist because it is so important for people to find a place here at The Met where they can develop a relevant relationship with God, integrating spirituality with all of who they are and all of who they are becoming.
Most people who walk through these doors have been in other churches – churches who told them they were “less than.” Where there was exclusion practiced, where dogma and doctrine was more important than people. Where there was just one interpretation of the Bible and the Scriptures. So the church became irrelevant for them. Who’s to blame for this? Anyone?
Abraham Heschel said, “It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion on modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed … and love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, it’s message becomes meaningless.” No wonder people say, “I’m more spiritual than religious.”
As we grow in our relationship with God, and we struggle to make God relevant in our world today, listen to what Barbara Brown Taylor wrote.
“I know the Bible is a special kind of book, but I find it as seductive as any other. If I am not careful, I can begin to mistake the words on the page for the realties they describe. I can begin to love the dried ink marks on the page more than I love the encounters that gave rise to them. If I am not careful, I can decide that I am really much happier reading my Bible than I am entering into what God is doing in my own time and place, since shutting the book to go outside will involve the very great risk of taking part in stories that are still taking shape. Neither I nor anyone else knows how these stories will turn out, since at this point they involve more blood than ink. The whole purpose of the Bible, it seems to me, is to convince people to set the written word down in order to become living words in the world for God’s sake. For me, this willing conversion of paper and ink to flesh and blood is the full substance of faith. In practice, this means that my faith is far more relational than doctrinal … and that God is found in right relationships …”
Open up your life to receive God’s love, hope, strength and grace. v
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org
