Rev. Christine Dudley

Text: James 1:17-27

One day a man wandered in the forest and came across an injured fox. The fox, too weak to forage for food had sought shelter in the underbrush. The man's heart was moved by the plight of the fox but as he watched a bear lumbered by dragging the carcass of an animal. The bear appeared to ignore the fox and went about eating his meal. When the bear had eaten all he wanted he left the remains of the carcass close to where the fox was hiding. The next day the man walked through the forest and again witnessed the bear leaving a tasty morsel of food for the fox. The same thing happened on the third day. The man pondered the meaning of this for his own life and decided that if God cared that much for a wounded fox then God must certainly care for him. He decided that his faith was too feeble and that he must learn to trust God, as the fox trusts, so he went to a quiet corner of the forest and prayed, "Loving God, this injured fox has shown me what it means to trust you. Now I commit myself entirely to your care. I trust that you will care for me just as you care for the fox." And, with this he lay down and waited for God to act. A day passed, and nothing happened. The man was getting hungry. A second and third day passed and still nothing happened. The man was puzzled and then angry that God loved a little fox more than him. At last, getting weak with hunger, the man set off for the nearest town. When he arrived the first thing he saw was a starving child begging on the streets. The man was so angry at this injustice that he shouted at God, "Why don't you do something?" "I have done something", came the reply, "I created you. But, you choose to behave like the fox when you could model yourself on the bear."   (Wisdom Stories by Margaret Silf, adapted)

My mother used to say to me, "God helps those who help themselves." I think she probably said this when I was waiting for her to do something for me that I could do for myself. But, viewing this saying through the perspective of the folktale, I just told you, and the Epistle of James, of which we just heard an excerpt, I think the saying would be better stated as "God helps those who help others."

The whole letter of James is concerned with one simple truth: It is not enough to "be" Christian, if this fact does not show in one's conduct. In other words being a Christian means acting like a Christian. As a guideline for behaviour James lays as foundational Jesus' commandment that, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." (Mark 12:31) James points to this commandment in our reading today when he refers to "the perfect law, the law of liberty" (James 1:25) and specifically later in his letter when he uses the quote directly (James 2:8). James also affirms that "every generous act of giving" is generated by God (James 1:17). James commends his listeners to be "doers of the word and not merely hearers" (James 1:22) and says that for a Christian not to enact what they believe would be like a person looking in the mirror and then walking away forgetting who they are (James 1:23-24). This is a powerful reminder that as Christians, our actions need to be a reflection of our words and beliefs.

These thoughts from James have been alive in my own personal experience in these past few weeks. As many of you know I've just returned from a two week intensive Learning in Community event offered by the Centre for Christian Studies. This particular event was unusual for CCS in that instead of hosting it at their home base in Winnipeg it was located in the small rural Anglican parish of St. Andrew's Cowichan Station on Southern Vancouver Island. St. Andrew's is a small historic wooden church with a bell tower, stained glass windows (rescued and transported from a bombed out church in England after World War Two), surrounded by a beautiful little memorial garden and cemetery (which is a profound reminder of the communion of saints eternally present). Everywhere on the grounds there are crosses, embedded into the rock wall, standing as gravestones and set against the wooden structures on the site. No one could doubt this is a place of Christian worship. But, it is the people of St. Andrew's who bring the Christian gospel to life. The central feature on their bulletin cover, for August 16th worship, were two words and a symbol:

Words = Actions

During my two weeks, as their guest, I learned something of what this means to the members of St. Andrew's parish. St. Andrew's is a small parish with 45 members, all of whom are very active according to their Rector, Dawn Braithwaite. It is a rural parish, no stores or restaurants anywhere close by, and so as hosts for our learning event they took it upon themselves to: keep the refrigerator stocked with luncheon foods; deliver homemade quiche lunches on two occasions; host a welcome BBQ; and provide all the supplies we needed from flip charts to art supplies, all the while giving us the quiet and privacy we required by closing the church office for two weeks and giving us unlimited access to their office, church, hall and grounds. And, most refreshing to me was the air of excitement about sharing what they had to offer and supporting the learning in Christian community which we'd travelled many miles to experience. There was no hint of doing this out of a sense of duty but rather as an outpouring of Christian love and generosity. Dawn recounted to us the excitement of parishoners driving by and glorying in the activity on the grounds of their parish (comments like, "it's nightime and there are still people there working") But, most impressive to me was, their commitment to reflect their faith in the actions of their lives as exemplified by the number of programs the members of St. Andrew's parish participate in which reach out to the local and global community. For instance, they utilize their church hall to offer Your Third Place a community gathering place for coffee, muffins and community building; The Pocket Market, in which their parking lot is transformed once a week into a location for local farmers and craftspeople to sell their produce and wares; G.I.F.T.S. (Global Initiative Fair Trade Store), an outlet for fair trade items from around the world; and the 3 R's, used clothing boutique. All of these things are on a small scale, manageable for a small congregation to maintain while at the same time nurturing their spiritual growth and faith formation through engagement in progressive worship and theological studies. The members of St. Andrew's Cowichan Station are not throwing up their hands and saying we are a small and dying church rather they are holding out their arms and proclaiming their faith in the actions of their lives and welcoming others to share the gifts they have to offer.

One commentary, speaking about today's passage from James states that, "Actions add value to our words and give them life." (Feasting on the Word, Year B, Voume 4, p. 18) This has been my experience of my own journey of faith, and my journey with all of you in the past nine years. As individuals and as a community of faith we are in a constant state of discernment; listening carefully to God's call and seeing in our own context how best we can embody God's call in our time and place. As a church community we gather to learn together from our Christian tradition and from our own faith experiences and we grow in faith, expressing our gratitude to God, discovering and nurturing our spiritual gifts. In telling and sharing our Christian story we find meaning and value in life. And, as a community of faith, God also calls us to "live the story" and share the gifts and resources of our lives with the wider community (both local and global). In doing so we discover a purpose which is larger than our own individual lives; we become the Body of Christ not only when we worship within the confines of this church building but when we go forth into the wider community. A new Anglican friend tells me that every week in her parish they end the service by saying "Go and be the Church in the world." She understands that to mean that what we experience in our communities of faith must inform our actions in the world not by proselytizing with our words but through the actions of our lives.

At the end of our learning in community event the CCS staff person, Ted Dodd, told us that at another CCS Learning Circle one of the participants bemoaned the fact she had to then "go back into the real world". A wise mentor of the group quickly noted that "this is the real world - go and live it."

God's commonwealth will only be realized when it is actualized by the actions of those who believe it exists. We all have a role, as James suggests, in being "doers of the word and not merely hearers"; believers in deed and not merely in words.

To close, I'll offer words of encouragement from an anonymous source:

As Jesus called and sent forth the disciples
to live the Word of God's love,
so Christ calls us and sends us out
to live words of hope in our own lives.

We can share in Christ's ministry in our workplace,
in our families, in our communities,
with our friends, and in our community of faith.
We hear this call and respond
by being God's people in all parts of our lives.

When we leave this time together,
we leave knowing the assurance
of God's love, the grace of our communion in Jesus Christ,
and the persistence of the Holy Spirit
which warms the heart of our ministry.

And so, we go forth with the assurance that God calls us
to live our faith, in the actions of our lives,
this day and in the days to come.

Amen