Loading...Dear Friends in Christ,
The lessons for this past Sunday were very meaningful for me. I love the Epistle of James. It is one of my favorites. It always hits home. James says, “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.” That reiterates what Jesus says in the Gospel of Mark, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.” How often does Jesus say that we listen but we do not hear? Later James writes, “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” I am always striving to live this.
Allen and I were discussing his upcoming lay reader’s sermon. He showed me an article he came across online. The author says, “Authentic Christianity, as described by the presence and words of Jesus in the Christian Bible...does not exist.” He means we do not live the Gospel. The author quotes The Rev. C.T. Vivian, a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, who says, "We are a nation that says it is Christian, but is not!" He says this because we don’t follow the teachings of Jesus Christ whose name we bear. He says we celebrate His birth and death, and celebrate the fact that Jesus "died for our sins," but we leave the heart of his message strangely alone.
Why is that? One reason is that we don’t read the Bible. Do you read the Bible every day, once a week not counting in church, once a month or even at all? If you do read the Bible ever how often, what do you read? I find too many people reading the Old Testament almost exclusively. They love the eye for and eye, tooth for a tooth doctrine. The favorite of some are the Epistles, and for some it is Revelations, but few read the Gospels. I am not saying don’t read the Old Testament and Epistles. They are important and contain lots of good things that we should listen to and abide by, but the Gospels are the stories of Jesus. They contain what He says, what He does, and what He teaches.
What does He teach? To love one another; to forgive one another; to not judge one another; to serve others; to help those in need; to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and to visit the sick. How much do you love, forgive, or serve? Judging comes easy for us doesn’t it?
One of the strengths of the Episcopal Church is that we read the whole Bible. Every Sunday we read scripture from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Epistles, and the Gospel. What do we believe as Episcopalians? Just look at one of our church signs. It says, “We Welcome You.” Who are “you”? Whoever is reading that sign. Some are not like us, so some church people have problems with welcoming everyone. Is it because some of those we say we welcome just don’t measure up? Up to what? Up to our beliefs and expectations. If we read the Gospels, we will read that Jesus welcomed everyone, even those that good upstanding church people did not.
My prayer for you and for me is that we not only read the Gospels more, but we strive with all our being to live it. Jesus died so that we can. God bless.
In Christ’s Love,
Father Russ
