Read the Lectionary Texts

One of the neat things about long-distance automobile travel is that you get to discover what we Americans hold in common from state to state to state.

Now, at first glance, you might think that we are a nation of Cracker Barrel restaurants. But no, the further north you drive, the fewer Cracker Barrels you find. So it’s not the Cracker Barrel that binds us together.

And we who live in the south might think the common link across the nation are highway billboards. But, strange to say, I have learned that there are actually places in our land where people do not agree that billboards are a true form of American folk art, and where highways are completely bereft of their beauty.

But if not Cracker Barrel restaurants or blazing billboards, what is the blessed tie that binds our entire nation together?

I think it is talk radio.

Not Sirius/XM mind you, but AM/FM radio.

And it is EVERYWHERE!

And when you’re in the throes of a many-hour-long drive, listening to station after station after station, you come to realize that even talk radio exists on two levels. First, there are the programs of local interest – the daily obituary report with soft organ music playing in the background – the daily stork report from the local hospital with Brahm’s lullaby playing in the background – the daily swap show where people call up and say they have for sale a 1986 Yugo automobile that does not run and has been stripped of all it’s parts, and where five people call up in the next ten minutes to ask what the phone number for that Yugo was. Local talk radio is one of my favorite things.

But talk radio exists on another level too. There are the big syndicated shows. You can follow them from Tennessee to Virginia to West Virginia to Maryland to Pennsylvania to New York and even up into New England. We were driving along – listening to a famous radio Psychologist give sound moral guidance to some soon-to-be bride who doesn’t want to invite her soon-to-be father-in-law to the wedding because he offered her soon-to-be-groom – his son – fifty thousand dollars to not marry her! What? And horrors of horrors, all of a sudden, the station began fading in and out, and hissing and whining. So my wife – who has advanced training in this – reached for the Scan button and pushed it, listening carefully for some slight hint of the Psychologist’s voice, and then – not hearing it – expertly switching over to the FM band repeating the process. And – lo and behold – mere milliseconds later – there was Dr. Whats-his-name again!

They are everywhere, these talk radio personalities!

But my favorite talk radio show of all was the National Public Radio production of Car Talk – hosted by Click and Clack – the Tappet brothers. Their publisher once described the show this way: Experienced mechanics who learned auto repair the professional way–by making mistakes on their customers’ cars–tell you how to get the most miles out of your car and how to save big bucks on auto repairs. In real life, Click and Clack were Ray and Tom Magliozzi from Boston. Tom passed away in 2014 but the show continues  on eternal re-runs of past episodes.

What I like about Car Talk is that it’s not like most other talk radio shows. It isn’t about one person spouting off some ideology to which listeners respond by calling up and either agreeing or disagreeing But rather, it’s about identifying issues that are relevant to real people, and simply outlining what to do about them.

“Sell that car! It’s a piece of junk!” “Run a wire from your battery to your windshield wipers and see if they work then. And if it starts a fire, call 911.” Or, one of my favorites, “The best way to keep your car from scraping bottom when it goes from your steep driveway onto the level road is to chop out a piece of your driveway until it doesn’t scrape anymore!”

I mean, it’s good, down-to-earth, practical, do-able stuff!

Which brings us – in a sort of roundabout way – to the New Testament letter of James.

Some people say the James who wrote this letter was Jesus’ brother James. Others say the richness of the Greek in the letter suggests someone else is the author. But what everyone agrees on is this: the letter of James expresses a great concern that the early Christians were listening to too much Howard Stern, and not enough Car Talk. In other words, they were getting so caught up in discussing ideas and beliefs and philosophies and theologies that their faith was becoming passive and inactive. And so James writes this letter in which is found our text for today urging us to not be hearers of the Word only, but doers of the Word.

Now, it strikes me that our Christian Faith is sort of like a talk radio show. Maybe we could call it WGOD – all talk, all the time. And you and I have to decide how we will listen to it. We can listen to this station merely for the purpose of filling our minds with beliefs and ideas that never go anywhere or do anything. Or, we can listen to it as a living word – seeking guidance for how to live and how to act as God’s people in the world.

Now, James encourages us to take this latter approach. Don’t just HEAR the Word. DO THE WORD! As a recipient of the grace of God, it’s not as important what you believe as what you do. And he provides us some practical insight about how to take what we believe and turn it into action.

First, in verse seventeen, James touches on something that we all know is true. He reminds us that our lives are a gift. You did not create yourself. Your parents provided the necessary chromosomes, but God is the one who gave you both your parents and the spark that brought those chromosomes to life! And so, James argues, if your life itself is a gift from God then you need to work on living as a gift to others. You yourself are a gift from God to the people of your family – your spouse, your children, your parents, your siblings. In the words of James, God sent you down from above – for them! And the same is true of your neighbors, and of your church, and of your world. “Every generous act of giving, every good and perfect gift given” by you to others has a sacramental quality. The good you do to others actually originates up above – with God.

This is so very important in our particular community. For if ever there was a gathering of extremely gifted people, this is it! But what a terrible witness to Christ it would be if, when we come to the end of our days, all that can be said of us is that we were thankful for our gifts, and we enjoyed them very much, and yet, for all our giftedness, the world was not changed. Things weren’t made better for the poor of our County. School children weren’t helped to achieve more. Strangers weren’t welcomed and befriended. People were divided rather than united. What a terrible disappointment to God that we would have wasted the very purpose of our birth. This is why Jesus said, “Of those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.”

So do you want to know what to do to live as a Christian?

James tell us to be generous givers. Be generous with your love. Be generous with your time. Be generous with your money. Be generous with your skills. Be generous with compliments. Be generous with patience. Be generous with encouragement. Be a generous giver to others of the gifts God gave you!

One of our church families had a grandchild undergoing very complicated and serious surgery up at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Being from Tennessee, this child and his parents were quite alone way up there in Massachusetts. When I learned of their situation, I called my old colleague Ralph Marsden up in Worcester. I said, “Ralph, we have a family from down here with a baby over at Children’s in Boston.” Almost before I finished, Ralph said, “Well, they’ll need some support. Do you think they’d mind if I paid them a visit?” I told Ralph I was sure they’d appreciate it. And so he did. While I’m sure Ralph – like you and I – had a million and one other things to do on a Friday afternoon, he dropped everything and drove the fifty miles to Boston to be a friend to this family he’d never met before. Generosity like that is a far more powerful witness to God’s love than any sermon preached from a pulpit.

Then, in verse 19, James tells us something else we can do to live the Word. Learn to listen!

Here is James’ practical advice: “Be slow to speak, slow to anger, but quick to LISTEN! In other words, before you offer your two cents worth to other people, and before you get up your ire about what you see as the failures of others, sit down with them and listen. Really LISTEN!

When I was a kid, one of the books that stirred my soul was David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade. It was about Wilkerson’s journey as a young Assemblies of God minister into the world of gangs in New York City. At first, David tried preaching at the gang members, but it didn’t work. And sometimes he would vent his anger at them, and tell them in no uncertain terms what he thought of them. But finally, David Wilkerson learned to listen to these very lost young men and women. And as he gained understanding of how they saw themselves, how they saw and experienced life, how they saw God, his ministry became more effective.

There are people in your life today who desperately need someone to listen to them. They don’t need speeches. They don’t need anger.  More than anything, they need someone to understand them.

So be a generous giver. Be a good listener. These are two of the bedrock practices of the Christian faith.

And finally, James tells us, work at being pure and unstained by the world.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a great deal of confusion these days about what it means to be pure and unstained. Some think it has to do with removing ourselves from the world and all it’s influences. Some believe it means to rid ourselves of evil thoughts and evil deeds. Some surmise it has to do with becoming theologically correct, or liturgically proper. In most of our minds, to be pure and unstained has something to do with achieving a certain level of personal piety.

But the Bible that’s taught over radio station WGOD has a different take on it. Last month, in Ephesians, we learned that to be blameless before God is to live in love. And today here’s how James defines what it means to remain pure and unstained by the world:  go and visit widows and orphans.

You see, the impurity of the world that God is concerned about is the way people turn their backs on each other, and neglect each other, and become unloving toward each other. The stain of the world to which we are to be resistant is the mindset that it’s okay to kill each other, and be rude to each other, and let some people go without while others have more than they could possibly need, and let some people fail while others succeed. Impurity and spiritual stain has nothing to do with how we treat ourselves, but has everything to do with how we treat others.

Visit widows and orphans.

I suppose, in our society, that would include single mothers, and kids living in single-parent homes. How we respond to their needs is the way God measures our righteousness. And not just women without husbands and children without parents, but all who are weak and vulnerable and in need.

God put you on this planet to help them!

Be generous givers! Be terrific listeners! Get involved with people who need a helping hand!

And the world will see God through you!

A number of years ago, most of the Protestant denominations located their headquarters in one building in New York City. 475 Riverside Drive. One day, a Christian woman came to New York to do some business at 475 Riverside Drive. The cabbie, who picked her up at LaGuardia Airport, said, “Hey, I know that address. I take people up there all the time! What actually goes on up there?”

The passenger explained that 475 Riverside Drive was where many Christian groups had their headquarters.

The cabbie said, “Well, now that you mention it, most of the people I take up there are really nice. They’re not like everyone else in this city. They don’t grumble. They always ask me about myself and my family. And they’re usually pretty good tippers!”

Then the cabbie looked at the woman through the rear view mirror and said, “How the blankety-blank do you people GET THAT WAY?”

Dear friends, may people ask you that question as you go this week to give generously, to listen carefully, and to be good to widows, orphans, cab drivers, and many others.

In other words, as you go to DO THE WORD in Jesus’ name!