As you sit in the sanctuary, look around. What color are the walls? What color are the paraments (the ornamental ecclesiastical hangings or vestments), your shoes, or my robe? How do you know they’re that color?

• What if you can’t see these items?
• What if you were to be color blind?

Again, how do you know that these colors are what you say they are?

• Because you can see them.

What is James about?

Who is James? Many scholars believe he is one of the brothers of Jesus.

He’s different from other ancient writers…

• He is concerned with Christian morals in a world where morals were based more on personal success and honor.
• He was more devoted to a community that was held together by faith in Jesus Christ
• He was an egalitarian rather than hierarchical. In other words there is no status or special positions; we are all equal in the sight of God who is the only father of us all. Therefore, he was against boasting in our success, in favoritism, and against judgment.

James is communitarian rather than individualistic... he calls for attitudes of solidarity, mercy and compassion.

• We LISTEN to the needs of others. We LISTEN to God
• We accept God’s free love which is GRACE. Not ties are binding to God’s GRACE and so it is that we too must demonstrate GRACE by..
• Our WALK.

What is FAITH? -- The faith of Abraham – in Genesis 17, Abram is told by God to WALK away from your home that is comfortable. Leave your comfort zone. Leave your daddy’s house, leave behind your kinfolk. WALK to a land that is foreign to you, WALK out into the wilderness where the wild things are. WALK to where I show you and I will make you a great nation. So here is the faith…. Abram does what he is asked of God. God only had to tell him one time.

• How many times does God tell us to WALK, before we really WALK?
• Have you been LISTENING?
• Are you still sitting there?

Later after Abram turns 99, God tells him that he will have the descendants of Israel. Lot’s of them. So God changes his name to Abraham (meaning a multitude). Abraham’s wife is going to have babies! Now this is strange because she has never had one. The couple have a precious child, of whom God tells Abraham to sacrifice the childe. Abraham does not argue, he responds to God’s request by placing the child on the altar. Of course, God stops Abraham at the last minute, before it’s too late. God gives Abraham a ram in the child’s place.

• Much later, God gives us all Jesus, in place of the ram… for us.
• It’s been a while since I looked at it that way. How about you?

Another example for faith, is pistis, which is Greek for faith. It is a reaction to gospel preaching and an act of faith with regard to the story about Jesus coupled with the promise of future salvation. It is a response to the gift, or the Grace of God (we do not boast in what God has done).

What are the WORKS?

• Acts of Mercy, Care for the widow and the orphan, cloth the naked, shelter the homeless, and comfort the sick, visit the prisoner.
• James challenges his community to be engaged in the “pure religion” (Jas. 1:27) that consists of adherence to the love command (2:8).
• To care for the Least of These.. as Jesus says.
• We do it for nothing… the kind of work we do is not riding on the Great White Horse, it’s not about doing it for the purpose of becoming famous, it is not boastful!
• It is a request from Jesus to Peter to feed Jesus’ sheep if he (Peter) truly loves Jesus. He said this to Peter three times.
• Are you ready to drink from my cup?

Jesus said, “God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45). Isn’t that awesome news in a world where the down in out believed that the rich were favored? Do you think that might be the case today?

Dawn and I were lying down, floating, watching the clouds… the sky was dark blue, and the clouds had that fluffy, cotton candy look. They were as white as virgin snow. They were reaching out to each other, as if they were grasping each others fingers. And through the clouds we could see eagles soaring amongst these clouds. Actually they were buzzards. I think they thought we were dead… but the whole point is that these clouds were connecting with each other, forming a rain cloud on a very hot and dry day. They were joining together to water the earth.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, do we say, “Our” Father or “My” Father? This is a prayer for the whole world.. it is our (even the non-believers) world and we (all of us) are in it.

• Feed my sheep.. feed my sheep… feed my sheep….
• 29,000 die each day as a result of no food…. The basic need….
• I’ve ignored many a needy. I wish I haven’t but I have. How can just a few people feed 29,000?

WE PRAY: GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD….

We cry out, “God BLESS AMERICA!” God has blessed America. Shouldn’t we bless other nations now?

• What did Jesus show us when he fed 5,000 with two loaves and three fish?
• Try this one on…. Is it possible that others were keeping their food and they saw Jesus and the disciples sharing that it became contagious and they all started sharing.. Oh but that’s not a miracle? But when we see something like that happen… don’t we believe it is a miracle?1

Hi! How’s it going? Is equal to coming across a person who is naked, hungry and cold and you say, “Christ died for you, now get out of here, put some clothes on, get something to eat and make something of yourself.”

A human body is lying before you . It is motionless, speechless, the eyes are closed. How would you determine whether or not it is alive?

• You could take a small, compact mirror and place it in front of the mouth or nostrils. If it fogs up, then the person is breathing and you know they are alive.2

James says, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead (James 2:26).” Take a closer look at the word spirit. The Greek word for spirit is pnuema, which holds different meanings. One was that of divine contact, such as the Holy Spirit, but it can also mean wind or breath. James literally uses the word pnuema (spirit) in this passage to mean breathing. So what he is saying is, “if you ain’t breathing, you aint living. If you aint working, you aint living faithfully!” Because God’s breath is in us (both physically and spiritually), we respond to God’s grace by working.

• How can you tell if someone is alive? They are breathing.
• How can you tell if someone is Christian? They are working.
• Who will you breath on today so that they might wonder what has gotten into you?

There is an urgent cry right now to ad food to the food pantry. Give A Meal A Month program…

• Making the colors of our faith visible so that others can see it too.
• Display the breath of our Faith through your good WALKS>
• What do you think Jesus would have done if Caesar would have made certain that all the people had their basic needs met?
• With the change in our interior lives, we sense the call of God to offer ourselves more fully to active service to make a positive difference in the lives of people. -Bishop Robert Schnase in an interview with Leading Ideas 17 July 18, 2007

We are a REVOLUTION! We can change the world! We can make it a better place! We can respond to our faith and help make the Reign of God a reality here on Earth so that all the people will know His name, the name of Jesus, so that all will realize the meaning of the cross, that Jesus sacrificed himself for us even when we were enemies. That there would be no hunger! No famine, no hate, no one without shelter or clothing, or medical attention. There would be no war

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God! Micah 6:8

1For a really great read on a new or actually old look at the Lord’s prayer, read Praying Like Jesus. The author makes this very suggestion. It is a book that forces us to look at Jesus’ prayer through the eyes of Jesus .

2 I have this really cool Bible called, The Daily Walk Bible,(Wheaton IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 1290; It’s one of those devotional Bible, that are set up to be read in a year. While I don’t always agree with some of their overviews, it still offers some really great insight; I got the idea of this illustration from here. I wish you could have been here to see it, but what we really did was have someone stand up in front of the congregation with a sheet over their body so you could not fully see them, but you get the point anyway… right?