Faith without works is ...

 As if, my sermon for last Sunday:

Several years ago, maybe 18, I felt the need to attend a Bible study men's group.  While I was at St Paul's at the time, they offered no such group.  Living in Lincoln Township, I found one even closer.  The former St Luke's Lutheran ELCA had an early morning men's breakfast gathering.  It was perfect for me as I was at the time still working and thought myself a morning person. 

The gentlemen at St Luke's were kind enough to welcome me to their coffees and breakfasts.  Our discussions often strayed from the Bible passages of that week.  Still, they were very cordial and helped me set a positive mood before I went to work in my job as Chief Financial Officer at Lakeshore.

I do remember one morning session which was a little more intense. Of all the Bible passages to chat over Lutherans with, the passage that week was probably the most famous one from James:

"Faith without works is dead "

Many years before that as a younger man 

still, I was first introduced to the writing of Martin Luther, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Plato, and others in an philosophy/religion grad course at Marymount University in Northern Virginia.

Martin Luther lived at a different time that we may find difficult to comprehend.  There was no separation of church and state.  Indeed, the Catholic Church was deeply entwined in the kingdoms and fiefdoms of Europe.  The church if nothing else was good at frightening the pants off the commoners.  You know, you are going to burn in the eternal flames of hell or at least be tortured almost mercilessly in purgatory if you don't do this.

To the church, the this became indulgences.  Essentially, the more you gave to the church the less you would suffer in the afterlife.  Give a lot and it was kind of like a Monopoly get out of jail card.  Instead it was better .  It was a get out of hell card.  

Certain church men were famous for traveling the Church empire in Europe and berating and cajoling the poor souls who feared for their immortal existence.

Luther by nailing his 95 thesis on the church doors certainly set off changes in the church.  Thankfully indulgences are mostly a thing of the past.  I say mostly because some churches still sadly threaten fire and brimstone from the pulpit.

Luther went on to write extensively on grace and his notion that grace alone, not indulgences, were necessary for salvation.

Me?  Me, I like James.  He's my favorite book in the Bible.  His concept that "faith without works is dead" appeals to me. 

It is not because I am concerned about what may happen to me in the afterlife.  Do I have enough faith as Luther suggests?  Or did I do enough works to make up for my at times difficult wrestling with faith?

I honestly don't think it matters.  What happens to me after I die, unless I am able to put some details in my will, is quite out of my control.

So, to me James is not about the afterlife.  James is about what it is we can do in the here and now to make a small piece of heaven come in this life for the less fortunate, the poor, the indigent, the immigrant, the outcast, and others. 

The Jesus Seminar scholars debated all of the sayings in the gospels and even in certain apocrypha whether or not Jesus actually said words like "Blessed are the poor".   I don't honestly know.  Those scholars are more steeped in theology than I am.

But I like to think Jesus said "Blessed are the poor".  I like to think Jesus cared deeply for the poor, the immigrant, the indigent, the outcaste.

I think James did too.  Jesus may or may not have been preaching about the afterlife when he said , "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of  heaven". 

I just think James spinned it differently.  I think James wanted to bring a little of the kingdom of heaven to the here and now for those who needed hope in the here and now.

Is faith without works really dead? You can dance on a pinhead debating that all you want.  Our brothers and sisters who are Lutheran may have a different notion than our Catholic brothers and sisters.

What I and we have control over is the here and now.  We have our talents, our generosity, our love for our brothers and sisters to give.  That is what we have that works to make the lives of some who are less fortunate than we and allowing them to see our faith. 

It is in our love for each other.

Amen.