Acting Up

James 1:17-27

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.

Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.  But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.  But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. 

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

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When I was nineteen I took a job as a nanny for two little girls, and part of my responsibilities was to do their laundry.  I’d been doing my own laundry for quite a while and had never had a problem.  Their mother was very particular about their clothes—she only bought expensive, name brand clothes—but I thought I could handle something as simple as laundry.

Everything was fine for the first few weeks.  Then one afternoon I opened the lid to the washing machine and saw something that struck fear into my heart.

capl@washjeff.edu

Red.  Everything was shades of red.  The mother had bought a red top for the older girl—somehow when I’d separated the laundry the red top had gotten mixed with the whites and turned everything red.

I stared into the washing machine for a few minutes and then did the only thing I could think of: I called my mother.

She suggested a magic concoction that included dishwasher detergent and some extended soaking.  I followed her instructions exactly.  Words can’t express the relief I felt when I rinsed those clothes out and they were all back to their original snowy white.

As I mentioned, I was nineteen.  At some point in my early teen years, I’d reached the same conclusion that a lot of teenagers reach—my parents didn’t know anything that I needed to know.  But in that moment of panic my teenage pride shattered, and my mother was the smartest person I knew.

When I was growing up, and my mother was trying to teach me those life skills everyone needs as an adult, I would have sworn to you that I heard everything she said.  I heard it a lot, because she repeated it a lot!

I know she’d warned and lectured me about being careful to separate clothes carefully, especially if something is new.

I heard, but I didn’t do.  I thought I knew better.  I thought I had things under control.

And then I didn’t.

Luckily, my mother was there to repeat her lesson and get me out of the trouble I’d gotten myself into.  And she didn’t even say, “I told you so.”

I was reminded of this incident when I read today’s scripture.  Particularly the bit at the end: “keep oneself unstained by the world.”

I’m not unstained.  In fact, sometimes I think I’ve been tye-dyed by the world.

That wasn’t my intention, but remaining unstained is more difficult than it seems like it should be.  We are in the world.  We interact with the world and the world interacts with us.  Everyone leaves a bit of a mark on each person they bump up against.

Now, more than ever, we have the capacity to mark more people than ever before—and in turn, the world has more opportunity to stain us.  Facebook, Twitter, texts, cell phones…a thought can be broadcast to the world almost before you finish having it.  Certainly before you’ve thought about it or prayed over it.

To maintain our identity as Christians—and to be strong enough to resist the world’s influence, we are encouraged to spend time reading and listening to God’s word.  You may go to church on Sunday, or double up and go on Sunday and Wednesday.  Maybe you go to church every day.  You may spend time reading and studying the Bible—that sweet hour of prayer mentioned in the popular hymn, or a small group that meets regularly to discuss their studies.

However much, or little, time you spend in God’s word, simply hearing it is not enough.

You could spend every waking hour of every day in the study of God’s word, but if you do not act on what you hear, that time is wasted.

So we are supposed to act.  What does that mean, exactly?  Are we supposed to sign up for the next mission trip to a foreign land?  Should we spend two nights a week serving dinner at a homeless shelter?  What about tutoring at the local school?

How much time do we have to spend?  How much money?  Is there a graph somewhere that can tell us exactly what God expects us to do with our time and resources?

It’s simpler than that…and at the same time, incredibly difficult.

All of us have gifts, abilities, and talents that can be used to do God’s work in our world.  But I can say with absolute conviction that the majority of us don’t meet the potential we are given.

We have our reasons, and our excuses.  We’re not good at anything.  Nothing we do would make a difference.  Someone else is already doing it better than we could.  We don’t have the time.  We don’t have the resources.

“Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above.”

It doesn’t matter if you are the best person to act, what matters is that you act.  It doesn’t matter how much you can give, what matters is that you give.

But we have another problem—a problem that goes back to those red-stained clothes in the washing machine.

We have allowed the world’s judgments and the world’s values stain ours.  We have allowed the world to tell us who is worthy of our compassion, our pity, our help…and who is not.  We have allowed the world to tell us it is acceptable to dislike and even hate people.

We are stained.

We use phrases like, “those people.”  We separate our neighbors into “us” and “them” and then we use that separation to justify our actions…or lack of action.

Particularly now, during the election season, we are slow to listen (if we listen at all), and we are quick to speak and quick to anger even though we know better.  Respect and courtesy are lost in the fire of rhetoric and political platforms. 

Spend some time in God’s word.  Take the time to study his plans and make them yours.  Soak yourself in his love, not only for you but for everyone around you.  Remove the stains the world has marked you with.

And then go out and act.  Listen to the people around you, without giving in to the need to speak.  Look at your neighbors, and remember what you see when you look in the mirror: an imperfect person who is loved by God.  They are imperfect people, and God loves them too. 

Be the voice of peace and understanding.  Be the voice of acceptance and love.  Don’t let the world to tell you that anything else is acceptable.

Read and hear God’s word, and then go into the world and act on it.  You have the potential to make a difference, and so do I.  We only have to act.