Doers

Scripture James 1:17-27      (CEB)

17 Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all. 18 He chose to give us birth by his true word, and here is the result: we are like the first crop from the harvest of everything he created.

19 Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. 20 This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore, with humility, set aside all moral filth and the growth of wickedness, and welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you.

22 You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. 23 Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. 24 They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. 25 But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do.

26 If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless. 27 True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us.

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Fred Craddock was an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), professor of Preaching and New Testament, pastor of Cherry Log Christian Church in Northern Georgia, and founder of the Craddock Center, a not for profit serving Appalachia.  He was a well known, story telling kind of preacher. And when I say he was a well known preacher, I mean that when you went to General Assembly, come Sunday morning the church that had the largest attendance was the one where Fred Craddock was preaching - standing room only, usually.  If he happened to be preaching at one of the Assembly worships, everybody showed up to hear him!  I studied his preaching in seminary.  I listened to his preaching in person when I could.  I read his sermons when I couldn’t hear them in person - I have books!  And I was especially blessed in 2004 to take a short class from him in Claremont titled, “After all these years, why am I still nervous?”  He was a short, round, mostly bald old guy by the time I first saw him, but when that man stood in the pulpit, he was a giant.  He is someone I strive to emulate.   So when I read in a commentary on today’s reading that Fred Craddock had said if he had it to do over, he would preach more about God, I started to re-think what I had planned to do with this particular passage from James.  

Not that I don’t preach about God.  Because I do.  But maybe, just maybe, God doesn’t always get top billing in the stories I tell.   And that could be a problem.  Because it’s all about God - all of the stories and all of the suggestions and all of  directions that we get from scripture - all of the struggles we have trying to figure out just what each passage means for us in our lives, in the world today - it’s all about God.    But maybe I don’t say that clearly enough.  

I read the Daily Devotional from the United Church of Christ every morning. In today’s devotion, Pastor John A. Nelson, Pastor of Church on the Hill, UCC, in Lenox, Massachusetts, seemed to be angry about James’ instruction to the Church to “be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. 20 This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness.”   He told a story about going to the US Consulate in Guatemala to assist an indigenous pastor in applying for a visa to attend the National Council of Churches Assembly.  The consulate official was disrespectful toward the pastor, accusing him of being an Indian with a chip on his shoulder, even though the pastor stood quietly, submitted all the proper paperwork without complaint, and spoke respectfully throughout the entire process.  Pastor Nelson admitted to being enraged by the official’s attitude, while the Guatemalan pastor modeled James’ instructions. While  I can certainly agree with Pastor Nelson that sometimes righteous anger has a proper place, but I believe what James was telling his congregation was not “don’t ever get angry,” but rather, don’t fly off the handle before you fully understand what the other person is saying.  Listen to them, open your ears and your heart to their point of view before reacting with anger - or worse, rage - because that is not loving.  That is not acting in accordance with God’s righteousness.  

This month I will be preaching sort of a series that describes who Christians are - Doers, Talkers, Peacemakers, Pray-ers, and Carers.  I titled this message “Doers” because I am always especially drawn to that one portion of this reading that says, “You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror.  They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like.  But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do.”    I chose this particular picture because it is about Fresno - it comes from the Chevron Doers ad that even someone like me, who doesn’t watch much television, has seen dozens of times - and because it is about doers we can relate to.   This guy doesn’t just talk about agriculture - he’s a farmer, a doer, out in the fields getting his hands dirty, doing the work that brings broccoli to my dinner table.  

There are a lot of doers in this congregation - individuals and groups who focus much of their energy on serving our community in one way or another.  Raising money for scholarships.  Feeding the hungry.  Caring for abandoned animals.  Reminding us of the folks who no one pays attention to - like the patients in the Selma Convalescent Hospital - so we can pay attention to them.  Joining with other volunteers to clean up the city.  Serving the church as elders and deacons.  Signing up to do Children’s Time, or to greet people at the door on Sunday mornings.  This congregation is filled with people who, as soon as they hear of a need, are off and running to take care of that need.  Does a college student need a ride to class?  We’re on it!   Does a shut in need meals?  Consider it done.  We do these things not because we are expected to as members of the church, but because these are ways we can re-pay God for all the love and blessings we receive.   We do these things out of gratitude because gratitude is more than just a feeling. Gratitude is an action word.    Gratitude is something we do, as thanks for what we have received from God.

Responding immediately to a need that has been expressed to us is one of the ways we are doers.  Millie was one of my seminary classmates.  I wish I had a picture to show you.  She was in her 70s, a native of Detroit.  a little tiny lady, way shorter than I am, she always wore her hair in long black ringlets, and although she was one of the oldest students, she had way more energy than any of the rest of us.  Whenever the Gospel Choir sang in chapel, as soon as we finished our song Millie would start jumping up and down shouting Praise Jesus! and many other words of praise.    So - you know how most of the time, when you ask someone to pray for you, they will say, of course, and then wander off to pray for you later on?  If they remember.   Not Millie.  She was not one of those who  would listen and then forget, but put it into practice in her life. The first time I asked her to pray for me, Millie grabbed me around the neck, dragged my head down next to hers, and start praying loud and proud in the middle of where ever we happened to be.  It was a bit of a shock, but it was just what I needed.  Millie taught me how God wants us to respond to a request for prayer.  Millie was a doer of the word, not a hearer only.  And there is no doubt in my mind that the reason Millie was one of the best loved members of our seminary community, was because she reflected God’s love on everyone. 

If we would be doers in every way, we will put God first in our lives.  We will seek God’s will in our decision making.  We will respond immediately when a neighbor needs our help, our prayers, our support.  We will reach out from this place to care for the widows and orphans in their difficulty - and not specifically widows and orphans, but their modern day counterparts - single mothers and fathers, who are hard put to care for the children in their care, whose income may not stretch to pay rent and buy food and school supplies and all of the other things that a family requires.  We will keep the world from contaminating us by following these directions we have received from James - avoid lashing out in anger, cleanse our hearts of wickedness, speak and act with humility, act immediately when we are presented with need, practice gratitude for all of God’s blessings, and love our neighbors, no matter who they may be, whether or not we agree with them.      

When we leave this place today, let us go out determined to live our lives in God, so that we may show everyone that Christians are doers of the word, not just people who talk about God.