Pastor's
Weekly Sermon
Sunday, September 12, 2021
James 2:1-13 Impartiality
Rich in Faith
I sat down this week to write today’s sermon and I was pondering these words from James, warning us as Christians against acts of favoritism and encouraging us to treat everyone impartially—no matter if they are rich and wear gold rings and fine clothes, or are poor wearing old, wrinkled Goodwill Clothes.
As I worked, I was distracted by the sound of a jet plane rumbling over the house, and that sound reminded me that Sept 11 is this week. That sound quickly turned my thoughts to memories of 9/11/2001—that shocking day 20 years ago when 2 jet airliners were turned into missiles with human cargo and were sent violently crashing into New York’s twin towers, turning them into towering infernos of death and destruction right before our very eyes. Much like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, it was one of those moments when anyone alive at the time can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. I know I can and I bet you can too.
I also remember how we turned our hearts to God in the aftermath. Churches immediately opened their doors that day for spontaneous prayer vigils. People could hardly wait to get to a church. I attended one that day too—at MVH. I was there for a doctor’s appointment when word spread throughout the hospital campus that the chaplains were inviting everyone to prayer in the hospital chapel. The place filled quickly with doctors, nurses, office workers, visitors and even a few patients in their gowns—people of every stripe and social standing were there. It was one of those rare occasions when it didn’t matter who we were—whether we were privileged or poor—whether a person was the hospital CEO or the janitor—a brain surgeon or the girl who brings the lunch trays—none of that mattered that day. The only thing that mattered was that we were all united as fellow Americans and nothing seemed more important in that moment than being in that chapel together to seek God’s face. It was truly a day when we showed no partiality. We looked at each other kindly, no matter who we were. We hugged each other, cried together, shared our fears, sorrows and prayers, united in our common lament.
We hoped that our common crisis would renew our sense of unity and togetherness. We hoped it would renew our faith and return us to God. But of course, those feeling didn’t last long enough. After a while, people drifted back to whatever they were doing before 9/11. During the aftermath of 9/11 we were all asking, “Where was God in this?” You know, maybe that was the wrong question. Maybe the question should have been, “Where were WE in this? Where is our faith in times of challenge?”
Our Scripture lessons today have something to teach us about faith. James says if we want to know what faith means we should look to those who are poor, for “God has chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith.” There is an old Jewish saying that states “The person who is poor and free from envy; who is grateful to the Lord for everything, is richer than all, because that person does not love the foolish things that are a common temptation to humanity.”
I DON’T WANT TO ROMANTICIZE THE POOR. IT’S A HARD LIFE AND NO ONE WANTS TO BE POOR. IN FACT WE DEMONIZE THE POOR….. THE DIVIDE BETWEEN RICH AND POOR HAS WIDENED. THE POOR ARE NOT RICH IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD BUT JAMES TELLS US THEY ARE RICH IN FAITH.
The poor are rich in faith because the only confidence they have—the only security they have-- is in God. Those who are poor are vulnerable on so many levels. When I was serving the church in Middletown, I looked out the back door of the church one day, and found that some homeless person had set up home at our back door. Talk about vulnerable! Weather—rain—storm—heat—food—theft—etc. God is the only one he could rely on. God is the one who the poor trust to supply what they need.
I used to see this time after time when I helped in a women’s support group that ministered to low-income women. Most of these were single African-American women with children. In the eyes of the world they had 3 strikes against them—they were black—they were black women—and they were single mothers with children. And believe me, our society is not kind to single women with children of any race. These women had little of the world’s goods but much of the world’s hardships. They had limited opportunities and struggled hard to make a life for themselves and their children. One of the things that impressed me most about them was their great faith in spite of their hardships. If you asked them how they were doing, they would say, “I am so blest.” And they would count out with gratitude all the little ways God had entered their lives and blessed them that day.
On days when they were struggling, they would pour out their hearts and talk about how they were putting their faith in God to provide for them or to resolve a problem. It just gave me goose-bumps when one of them would come back with a remarkable story about how God DID provide for them. They could see so clearly where God had acted in their lives. They had such radical faith; casting their entire trust on God. I felt that I was in the presence of awesome people who were rich in faith and I felt ashamed. Compared to their great faith, my faith felt so puny. They relied on God for everything. I wondered if I could take the same radical leap of faith.
You see, we who are rich in the world, we who have achieved some success making our way in the world, have learned to rely on ourselves for what we need. If we think about the things that bring us security we are most likely to think that things like money, family or friends. We have faith in our insurance policies, retirement pensions or 401k funds. We have faith in our homes, or our social status, or our bank account give us a sense of stability. And these are all good things. They are all blessings from God. But many times we mistake them for God. We place our faith in these things instead of in the God who gave us these good things. And so when our world is threatened—when the stock market takes a dive and drags the pension fund with it, when friends or family fails us, when our health fails us, when jobs become scarce, or when our job ends and we retire—when our faith in the things we thought were stable is shaken, our faith in God is shaken too. When the things we counted on are threatened we learn the lessons of faith all over again. It’s true. The poor in the world—those who have less to cling to—are rich in faith. They challenge us to think about where our own faith really lies.
Those who are poor are rich in faith because their full trust is in God. One of my favorite preachers, William Sloane Coffin says “faith is being grasped by the power of love. Faith is recognizing that what makes God, “God”, is infinite mercy, not infinite control—not power as we define power, but the power of unending love.” “Faith is trusting God without reservation” and surrendering to God with that kind of trust is a very vulnerable and radical thing to do indeed!
September has turned into quite a month of National reflection and remembrance for us. Two of the largest catastrophic events that have ever happened in the history of this country have taken place at this point in the year: the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, ( and this year Hurricane Ida) and the events of 9/11. these are events that shook the ground we stand on, and they continue to do so all these years later. Some say these events are the defining moments of this present generation. If that is the case, how have they defined us? How have they shaped us? Will future generations look back and see us as people of fear? Or people of faith? The answer to this question will define our humanity.
I’d like to close with these words from Ps. 146
Do not put your trust in princes, or in mortals in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth, on that very day their plans perish.
Blessed are those whose help is in the God of Jacob.
Whose hope is in the Lord their God, Maker of heaven and earth.
AMEN.
James 2:1-13 Impartiality
Rich in Faith
I sat down this week to write today’s sermon and I was pondering these words from James, warning us as Christians against acts of favoritism and encouraging us to treat everyone impartially—no matter if they are rich and wear gold rings and fine clothes, or are poor wearing old, wrinkled Goodwill Clothes.
As I worked, I was distracted by the sound of a jet plane rumbling over the house, and that sound reminded me that Sept 11 is this week. That sound quickly turned my thoughts to memories of 9/11/2001—that shocking day 20 years ago when 2 jet airliners were turned into missiles with human cargo and were sent violently crashing into New York’s twin towers, turning them into towering infernos of death and destruction right before our very eyes. Much like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, it was one of those moments when anyone alive at the time can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. I know I can and I bet you can too.
I also remember how we turned our hearts to God in the aftermath. Churches immediately opened their doors that day for spontaneous prayer vigils. People could hardly wait to get to a church. I attended one that day too—at MVH. I was there for a doctor’s appointment when word spread throughout the hospital campus that the chaplains were inviting everyone to prayer in the hospital chapel. The place filled quickly with doctors, nurses, office workers, visitors and even a few patients in their gowns—people of every stripe and social standing were there. It was one of those rare occasions when it didn’t matter who we were—whether we were privileged or poor—whether a person was the hospital CEO or the janitor—a brain surgeon or the girl who brings the lunch trays—none of that mattered that day. The only thing that mattered was that we were all united as fellow Americans and nothing seemed more important in that moment than being in that chapel together to seek God’s face. It was truly a day when we showed no partiality. We looked at each other kindly, no matter who we were. We hugged each other, cried together, shared our fears, sorrows and prayers, united in our common lament.
We hoped that our common crisis would renew our sense of unity and togetherness. We hoped it would renew our faith and return us to God. But of course, those feeling didn’t last long enough. After a while, people drifted back to whatever they were doing before 9/11. During the aftermath of 9/11 we were all asking, “Where was God in this?” You know, maybe that was the wrong question. Maybe the question should have been, “Where were WE in this? Where is our faith in times of challenge?”
Our Scripture lessons today have something to teach us about faith. James says if we want to know what faith means we should look to those who are poor, for “God has chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith.” There is an old Jewish saying that states “The person who is poor and free from envy; who is grateful to the Lord for everything, is richer than all, because that person does not love the foolish things that are a common temptation to humanity.”
I DON’T WANT TO ROMANTICIZE THE POOR. IT’S A HARD LIFE AND NO ONE WANTS TO BE POOR. IN FACT WE DEMONIZE THE POOR….. THE DIVIDE BETWEEN RICH AND POOR HAS WIDENED. THE POOR ARE NOT RICH IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD BUT JAMES TELLS US THEY ARE RICH IN FAITH.
The poor are rich in faith because the only confidence they have—the only security they have-- is in God. Those who are poor are vulnerable on so many levels. When I was serving the church in Middletown, I looked out the back door of the church one day, and found that some homeless person had set up home at our back door. Talk about vulnerable! Weather—rain—storm—heat—food—theft—etc. God is the only one he could rely on. God is the one who the poor trust to supply what they need.
I used to see this time after time when I helped in a women’s support group that ministered to low-income women. Most of these were single African-American women with children. In the eyes of the world they had 3 strikes against them—they were black—they were black women—and they were single mothers with children. And believe me, our society is not kind to single women with children of any race. These women had little of the world’s goods but much of the world’s hardships. They had limited opportunities and struggled hard to make a life for themselves and their children. One of the things that impressed me most about them was their great faith in spite of their hardships. If you asked them how they were doing, they would say, “I am so blest.” And they would count out with gratitude all the little ways God had entered their lives and blessed them that day.
On days when they were struggling, they would pour out their hearts and talk about how they were putting their faith in God to provide for them or to resolve a problem. It just gave me goose-bumps when one of them would come back with a remarkable story about how God DID provide for them. They could see so clearly where God had acted in their lives. They had such radical faith; casting their entire trust on God. I felt that I was in the presence of awesome people who were rich in faith and I felt ashamed. Compared to their great faith, my faith felt so puny. They relied on God for everything. I wondered if I could take the same radical leap of faith.
You see, we who are rich in the world, we who have achieved some success making our way in the world, have learned to rely on ourselves for what we need. If we think about the things that bring us security we are most likely to think that things like money, family or friends. We have faith in our insurance policies, retirement pensions or 401k funds. We have faith in our homes, or our social status, or our bank account give us a sense of stability. And these are all good things. They are all blessings from God. But many times we mistake them for God. We place our faith in these things instead of in the God who gave us these good things. And so when our world is threatened—when the stock market takes a dive and drags the pension fund with it, when friends or family fails us, when our health fails us, when jobs become scarce, or when our job ends and we retire—when our faith in the things we thought were stable is shaken, our faith in God is shaken too. When the things we counted on are threatened we learn the lessons of faith all over again. It’s true. The poor in the world—those who have less to cling to—are rich in faith. They challenge us to think about where our own faith really lies.
Those who are poor are rich in faith because their full trust is in God. One of my favorite preachers, William Sloane Coffin says “faith is being grasped by the power of love. Faith is recognizing that what makes God, “God”, is infinite mercy, not infinite control—not power as we define power, but the power of unending love.” “Faith is trusting God without reservation” and surrendering to God with that kind of trust is a very vulnerable and radical thing to do indeed!
September has turned into quite a month of National reflection and remembrance for us. Two of the largest catastrophic events that have ever happened in the history of this country have taken place at this point in the year: the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, ( and this year Hurricane Ida) and the events of 9/11. these are events that shook the ground we stand on, and they continue to do so all these years later. Some say these events are the defining moments of this present generation. If that is the case, how have they defined us? How have they shaped us? Will future generations look back and see us as people of fear? Or people of faith? The answer to this question will define our humanity.
I’d like to close with these words from Ps. 146
Do not put your trust in princes, or in mortals in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth, on that very day their plans perish.
Blessed are those whose help is in the God of Jacob.
Whose hope is in the Lord their God, Maker of heaven and earth.
AMEN.
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