September 9, 2012

“Mercy, God’s Trump Card

James 2.1-17

September 9, 2012

The Pastoral Prayer

Gracious and ever-loving God:

This is the day which you have made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. We come to you today as a people in great joy to be alive. To be alive in Ohio in late summer is indeed a delight. We thank you for the cooler temperatures and the rain we’ve experienced this week. We thank you for the joy of gathering in this place to praise your name and simply to be together. We are a joyful people indeed.

And yet we have concerns. We are concerned about those we love whose lives are hurt by disease and other threats, and we pray for healing and wholeness.

We are concerned for those for whom the weather is more than a matter for passing conversation. For those still without power and those whose homes have been damaged. We pray for quick resolution and help.

We pray for the state of Ohio and its leaders. Especially, we pray for our Governor John, our Lt. Governor Mary, our Senator Kris, and our Representative Jay. Give them all your wisdom, mercy, and justice.

And we are concerned for your Church. Give us wisdom as we vote today and the spirit of fellowship to live with the decision.

There are joys and concerns which we carry on our hearts but have not spoken with our lips. Hear us even in our silence.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Christ. Amen.

James 2.1-17

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

8You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

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.

One of our wonderful church members wrote a piece on Facebook a couple of weeks ago about the folks she sees out there carrying the placards which read “God hates fags,” and how hurtful they are to innocent people. She eloquently denounced them--which made me proud. You’ve probably seen them--the Rev. Fred Phelps and his little band from Topeka, KS. They protested at Matthew Shepard’s funeral in Wyoming a few years back. They protest at the funerals of soldiers, and sailors, and airmen, and marines, because they’ve somehow gotten into their head that America, because it is a free country and doesn’t kill all the people that Fred doesn’t like, that God hates America, and that our fine young men and women are getting what they deserve. A couple of weeks back, they were protesting businesses in Florida--I think just to embarrass the Republicans at their convention.

Fred calls President Obama the Anti-Christ--and lest some of you Republicans get too smug, I can’t repeat what he called President Bush. And they don’t just do these things in Topeka, they travel all around the world to show their hatred for gays, lesbians, America, pretty much everybody but themselves. A few years back, they picketed outside one our Disciples’ General Assemblies because they thought we welcomed everybody, which is pretty much true.

When my daughter Deejay once asked me why they do this, the best answer I could come up with, is the one which will permeate our lesson for today. It is because they can only see God as a God of judgment, and not a God of mercy.

Now, I know that we in our congregation are not of one mind on the issue of gay and lesbian folk in the church. There’s no point in preaching about stuff we all agree on. But, I don’t know anyone among us who doesn’t believe that there is anyone in this world--Rev. Phelps, included--that God did not send Jesus to save.

What’s the best known verse of scripture? Say it with me--any version or read it:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe in him would not die, but live forever.” ^{John 3:16}

God so loved all the…straight people? No. God so loved only the Americans? No. God so loved only the protesters from Topeka? No. God so loved the world! Why? Because God is a God of mercy and not one of judgment.

God so loved the world--the whole world: gay and straight, black and white, married and single, young and old, rich and poor--the whole world, God loves.

And speaking of rich and poor, The Reverend Sharon Kiesel once told me that she dressed up as a bag lady one Sunday and came in here, and messed with your heads.

Let’s face it, we are a mostly well-to-do suburbanite congregation and don’t quite know how to deal with our downtown neighbors. James says that when we partial to the rich over the poor, we have become a part of the judgment of the world rather than the mercy of God.

In dealing with the matter of partiality and mercy, James talks about the law, but in a different way than Paul talked about the law. When Paul talked about the law, it was mostly about being fit for worship--being kosher is the closest we might come to it in a modern understanding. You had to keep yourself clean to be fit for worship.

But James is looking at the social aspects of the law--and he uses the Ten Commandments as an example. For Jews of that time, all the commandments were connected--and there were more than 800, not just the ten. So if you broke one, you’ve broken them all. If you commit murder, you’re also an adulterer. And if you fail to observe the parts of the law which call on you to take heed of the poor in your community, then you are a murderer, also.

How can you possibly avoid breaking these laws and escaping the judgment of God? By taking on the law of liberty, and moving into God’s economy of grace and mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

How many of you have ever played contract bridge? I played as a child with my parents and my brother, and then went to a college where face cards were evil and so we played with Rook cards that just had colors and numbers--but guess what, you can play poker with those, too! Anyway, in both bridge and Rook, a trump suit is selected at the beginning of each hand. And during the course of play, when a trump card is played, it beats all the other cards in play.

Mercy is God’s trump card. Mercy is synonymous with grace. Grace and Mercy trump everything else on the table of the universe because our God is a loving God whose mercies are new every morning. Remember the definition of grace we’ve worked with before?

Grace means nothing you can do can make God love you any more than God already loves you now. Grace means nothing you can do can make God love you any less than God loves you now.

The writer of Lamentations nailed it--God’s mercies are new every morning. God is a God of mercy, and not of judgment.

The last paragraph of this passage has been one of the most misunderstood sentences in scripture. Faith without works, is dead. Not just dead, but quite dead. Dead dead. How can something be more that just dead? But, that’s the way that James feels about it!

Too many interpreters of this passage have thought that James was hinging salvation on this matter--that you couldn’t gain God’s favor unless you carried out good works, which sends flies into the ointment of grace.

I don’t think that’s what James has at stake, here. For James, works are a participation in God’s mercy which produces a living faith. Living faith has legs on it. Living faith, doesn’t just stand around, it does something. Living faith doesn’t just send the hungry away, it gives them food, or the means to procure it. Living faith can’t see the difference between someone dressed in the finest of Armani suits and the rags of the street. Mercy has hands and feet and uses them without falling into the traps of judgment. Living faith is active.

I mentioned a moment ago the folks from Topeka with their hate signs picketing the Disciples General Assembly. I was never more proud of our Disciples youth than when they made placards of their own and went out on the sidewalk across from Rev. Phelps and his flock. There they countered the hate and anger of those folks with signs which read: “God Loves You, Fred.”

Mercy trumps judgment.

Ours is a God of mercy.

And that is Good News which we ought to share with all our neighbors. Otherwise, our faith is quite, well, you know. Amen.

Offertory

Every offering is an expression of faith in God’s providential care for us. And a spirit-led offering is the embodiment of the worshiper’s gratitude, thanksgiving, joy, and love. Let us express our faith, gratitude and love by presenting our tithes and offerings.

Everything in heaven and earth comes from you, Lord. We give you only what is yours. May you be praised forever and ever. We dedicate this money, Lord, for the work of the church, and we ask you to use all that we have and are in your service. Amen.³

Benediction

Go in peace and care for one another in Christ's name

- and may God,

whose embrace encompasses the universe and all that is in it,

- and Christ Jesus,

who touched and healed the rich and the poor and the sinner and the

saint,

- and the Holy Spirit,

who comforts those who mourn

and inspires those who are poor of Spirit,

be with you all,

both now and forevermore. Amen.