the tongue is a fire

Good morning sisters and brothers,
We don't read from James a lot, but it's a really great letter. In this passage James warns about how dangerous words can be. While he seems entirely negative, he also knows that words can help, as he discusses earlier. At the same time, anyone who has ever found yourself hurting after a tough argument or wishing you could take back a hasty, angry sentence can see the truth in James's words. Speech is powerful both for good and for harm, so chose your words with care and love.


God bless,
Sam


James 3:1-18

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.


3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire.


The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.


13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

persecution and release

Good morning friends,
I hope you have some time today to enjoy 
friends and family. It's a great day to remember the blessings of 
freedom we have in our country and the sacrifice of those who have 
guaranteed them, both people in uniform and people organizing and 
protesting for civil rights. Please also pray for our nation, that we 
would continue the difficult and sacred pursuit of freedom for the 
common good.

Our reading today continues the story of an episode 
of persecution. King Herod killed James (son of Zebadee and brother of 
John, not the brother of Jesus) and put Peter in prison. God executes a 
jailbreak for Peter that is funny in its execution. The passage after 
that, which we'll skip, tells the story of Herod's death and summarizes a
 period of growth for the church. One of the great strengths of our 
faith is that we are strongest when we are weak. Even the power of royal
 persecution, when we respond in faith and openness with love, makes us 
stronger. That's also the brilliance of non-violent protest, as with 
think about civil rights struggles in the context of our nation's 
history.

God bless,
Sam
 

Acts 12:6-24

6 The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. ⁷Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off his wrists. ⁸The angel said to him, ‘Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.’ He did so. Then he said to him, ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.’

 ⁹Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. ¹¹Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’

12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. ¹³When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’ But she insisted that it was so. They said, ‘It is his angel.’ ¹⁶Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, ‘Tell this to James and to the believers.’ Then he left and went to another place.

18 When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

facing persecution

Good afternoon friends,
Today we see another side of the persecution the church faced. In this part of the church's life there was not the kind of structured and consistent persecution that happened later. At this point there was occasional persecution, but mostly, the Empire hadn't figured out what to do with the church. In this case James (Son of Zebadee) is executed and Peter put in jail. As often, God uses even persecution to share love. Today we see the same thing; in areas where the church is persecuted, people grow in faithfulness. Reading about the church's persecution then is a good reminder for us to pray for the persecuted church today.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 12:1-5

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. ²He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. ³After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) ⁴When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. ⁵While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.

righteous prayer

Good morning friends,
Today's reading features James teaching about prayer. It's a good reminder that we can pray both when things are going well and when they're not. Prayer does matter, even if we don't understand it.

God bless,
Sam

James 5:12-20

¹²Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. 

¹³Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. 

The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. ¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, ²⁰you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

patient endurance

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Advent is a season dedicated to waiting and preparation. That can be hard to do for us, especially in our fast-paced world. It often feels like we don't have time to do the practical things we need to do, let alone make time for something fuzzy like preparing our hearts for Jesus. Living at a fast pace we also get used to a short distance between plan and execution. With the fulfillment of Christ's promise to return, on the other hand, almost two thousand years have passed, but we're still waiting. Both in Advent and in our lives in general, the waiting is an opportunity to prepare. What do you want to change or accomplish before Christ comes again?

God bless,
Sam


James 5:7-11
⁷Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. ⁹Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! ¹⁰As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

faith and works

Good morning friends and happy leap day,
Our passage for today has a controversial history in the church dating from the protestant reformation. The reformers like Luther and Calvin were guided by a few core commitments. One of the most important was that people are saved by God's grace alone through faith instead of by their good deeds. This belief continues to be important in our Presbyterian tradition. Since James emphasizes that faith without works is dead, this passage was often used as evidence against the reformers' focus on faith.

In reality, there isn't a conflict because James is right and the reformers agreed with him. Faith doesn't just mean believing something; it means being committed to something and putting our trust in something. So believing that God exists is one thing; as James says, even demons believe. But having faith in God is something else entirely. Faith in God means we trust and commit to following God. That means our faith will be reflected in our actions, so people can see our faith by how we serve our neighbors.

God bless,
Sam

James 2:14-19

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶and 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? ¹⁷So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. ¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. ¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.

transfiguration

Good morning brothers and sisters,
The transfiguration is an odd story, partly because the story doesn't really tell us what it means that Jesus was "transfigured." At the same time, the disciples come down the mountain much more sure that Jesus is God's son than when they went up the mountain with him. Then they ask why teachers say that Elijah comes first. They are referring to a tradition that Elijah comes to earth before the Messiah to get things ready. Jesus tells them that John the Baptist was Elijah for their age, but no one recognized him. If we know Jesus is the Messiah, how does that knowledge change us?

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 17:1-13

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”



6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” 10And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; 12but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” 13Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

a decision and a letter

Good morning all,
Today we bring the council in Jerusalem to a close with a letter to the gentile believers summarizing what was decided. By doing this the leaders of the church chose to welcome gentiles fully into the faith without setting up rules that made evangelism more difficult. The church made this decision on the basis of testimony from Peter, Paul and Barnabas about the work God was doing in their ministry to the gentiles. It was to the clear to the council that God was leading the church in a new and inclusive direction.

Today it's hard to imagine the church telling people what to eat or do. Our society is so used to total independence where we are only responsible for ourselves and are free to do exactly what we want. Our faith teaches something different: we are responsible to and for each other. There is meant to be diversity and variation in our church, but we are also meant to make decisions together and to think about others even when we make choices our culture thinks of as "personal."

One quick note: tonight in Supper and Scripture we'll be starting the New Testament Letter of James. It's a short letter and one many Protestants aren't very familiar with, but it is really a gem. Come share a tasty meal and some great discussion starting at 5:30 in Christler Hall.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 15: 22-29
22Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, 23with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, 25we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: 29that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”