Homily – Sunday, the (date)
Reading: James 1.17-27
When I started to prepare myself for today, my first reflection in a service ever, one of the first questions for me to answer was: what could be MY theme today? I looked at the readings for this Sunday, read them a several times, let them work for a while, waited what got me most.
So I decided to reflect on the book of James which is more like a letter. Maybe because this letter is on one hand a share of thoughts with friends or dear ones and at the same time offering advice because the author sees them losing their path. He feels the need to remind them on THE essential source of life.
Let’s imagine how it is to receive a letter like this in a situation like this, being far away from home. It’s addressed to Christians who lived outside of Israel (“the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion”) …..
A letter from a dear friend arrives; you sit down, you are excited and looking forward to hear good and joyful news. You start to read and line by line you realize – this letter is different. It pushes you out of your comfort zone with verses like this:
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
Rough stuff, right? Who does the writer thinks he is to judge us this way?! But is it really judging? Hmm; let’s have a look at this author. I’m not a theologian, so I asked the internet.
Quote from Who wrote the book of James? Who was the author of James? | GotQuestions.org:
“The author of James simply identifies himself as “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). Because James the disciple was an early martyr (Acts 12:2), the likely candidate for the authorship of this epistle is James, the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19). A skeptic at the time of Jesus’ ministry (Mark 3:21; John 7:5), he converted after witnessing the resurrected Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:7). James later became a prominent figure in the church (Galatians 2:9).
James participated in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, delivering a speech in support of Paul (15:13–21). This is significant due to alleged contradictions between James and Paul, particularly regarding justification by faith (James 2:14–26; cf. Ephesians 2:8–9). The truth is that the teachings of Paul and James are complementary. While we are declared righteous through faith alone (Paul’s emphasis), our faith is intended to yield good deeds (James’ emphasis). Paul also emphasized the importance of good conduct resulting from faith in the gospel, aligning with the letter of James (see Ephesians 4:1).
The prevailing view remains that James, the brother of Jesus, is the author of the epistle bearing his name. Some modern scholars propose a pseudonymous alternative, suggesting that an anonymous author wrote the book under James’ name. However, this remains a speculative hypothesis, and there is no reason to discard the traditional view.”
James, brother of Jesus, of the one who was sent to save us. Learning about James’ own story, being a skeptic at the time of Jesus’ ministry but converted after witnessing the resurrected Jesus, helps me to get an idea why he wrote this book and why the book’s emphasis on the moral aspect of the law. He probably knew from his own experience how tempting it can be to trust more in our human law and mind than in our Lord. We as human beings are sometimes unpatient and priggish, aren’t we? We tend to trust only in what we see, hear, feel.
What we forget is what James tells us here:
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Every perfect gift is from above, including, or better, especially and staring with the gift of God’s Word. And before we can do the word (meaning living accordingly), we must hear the word. We must receive the word.
And James describes how to receive this, in verse 21. He writes: “..humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” Or according to KJV “receive with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.”
God’s word has the power to change us, when we welcome it with meekness. That is, when we allow ourselves to be guided and shaped by it. It becomes the implanted word that takes root in our souls, and grows to change us, to transform us into the image of Christ.
This is what we are aiming to achieve, so true, pure, wonderful. The difficult point is the “when we allow ourselves to be guided”.
In verse 19 – 27 James tells us what shall enable us to being guided:
19 Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
Quick to listen; slow to speak – to my experience in practical life it looks like the other way around.
I admit, I love to watch TV. My favorites are (apart from crime movies) news program with documentation and debates (in German we say talk show) because I’m interested in politics. What I see there is how everyone is quick to speak but slow to listen. Nobody lets the other person finish. If the moderator tries to interfere he often is not successful. Even worse at social media; the own opinion seems to the only right one often not based on facts. This style of communication is not listening at all. Just my perception.
On the other hand – I’m fascinated by communication, not by just talking, speaking words, I’m fascinated to learn how it works, about the many ways to express oneself and (so to speak at the other end) what the addressed person receives, hears, sees. It can be so completely different. And exciting!
An example, maybe it’s familiar to some of you: on which day will you think when someone on a Wednesday invites you for next Sunday? Will you go there on the very next one, so “this” or the one after? This is an example where the cultural/ language context applies.
Another example is the word funny. I presume a good humor is something everyone loves to laugh about. But at the same time it can be dangerous, peoples feeling could be hurt by a bad joke. You surely know these tv programs or spots at social media where you can watch people playing pranks. I personally don’t like these programs because I can’t stop to also see the suffering of the pranked person. So it always depends whether a joke or a prank is funny “haha” or funny “strange”. The question here is: what can prevent misunderstandings?
My suggestion would be: listening, following James’ advice: be quick to listen, slow to speak.
I say this knowing and confessing that this is much easier said than done. If I have a passion for some issue I often enough am to quick to speak and much too slow to listen. I’m working on this every day, at every occasion in every situation of this kind.
I am aware that people hunger for someone who will listen to them. Like I do too as a small human being. We prize listeners. When we listen we give respect, show interest and openness to learn. It contains the power of change, driven by God’s love.
This would be to listen to the other opinion, to ask about any points that we do not understand. Only then to speak by ourselves and say what it is we want and to point out the areas where we are in agreement with each other and those where we do not agree. This is not a oneway street. It can only work when everyone listens intently, taking each other seriously, wanting to understand each other’s position. Isn’t that the way how God listens to us?
Could the same listening counsel be true for prayer? We think of prayer as talking to God, and that is legitimate. But prayer can also be listening quietly for God to speak to us. This can be contemplative practice. More about it I found on the website of The Center for Action and Contemplation which was founded by the Franciscan Richard Rohr. I guess some of you know this. There I found an article referred to Kay Lindahl, an author and founder of The Listening Center, who writes of the inherently sacred nature of reflective listening:
Listening well takes time, skill, and a readiness to slow down, to let go of expectations, judgments, boredom, self-assertiveness, defensiveness. She believes that the skills for deep listening share the same foundation as contemplative practice:
There is a basic context that nurtures and develops the practice of listening as a sacred art. Three qualities that are essential to this deep listening context are silence, reflection, and presence.
• Silence creates the space for listening to God. It provides time to explore our relationship to Source. The practice of being in this silence nurtures our capacity to listen to others.
• Reflection gives us access to listening for our inner voice. The practice of taking a few breaths before responding to a situation, question, or comment gives time for your true wisdom to reveal itself. It’s a slowing down, waiting, practicing patience.
• Presence is the awareness of listening to another, of connecting at the heart level. The practice of taking a mundane, ordinary activity and giving it your full attention, for example, washing your hands or brushing your teeth, trains your concentration and your ability to be in the present moment with another.
Heart communication happens when we slow down, when we quiet down, look, and listen. Stop to take a breath. Become fully present with the person we’re with. Listen with all of our being. At this point, communication can occur without words. Being present is a gift that fills our hearts and spirits. We are in communion.1
Now here we are again at verse 21 of James 1:
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
We are ready to be Doers of the Word.
“Therefore, putting away (Greek: apotithemi) all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness”
Apotithemi means to renounce or to lay aside or to put off. My understanding is: now, after we have learned how to quickly listen and slowly speaking in practicing contemplative prayer, listening and talking to God, we are ready to put aside all what prevails us from living the word of God. The “putting away” is just a first step. Once we have rid ourselves of filth and wickedness, we must fill the void by receiving with humility the implanted word as a gift from God. We can (and should) pray for God’s help in this challenging endeavor, but must also do our best to live holy lives.
Like James reminds us: 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
We must go beyond hearing the word to doing it––living it. This is consistent with[SF1] : Jesus’ statements in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Do you remember the verse from the beginning?
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
At first sight it sounded judging, scholarly. But now after digging deeper, after truly listening, we see the true meaning. In this context keeping a tight rein on our tongue refers to the advice to be “slow to speak”. This gives space to deep listening which will lead us to a true life in Christ.
Religion, faith, does not need a lot of words but the word coming from God after listening in prayer. This enables us to live it.
Amen
Solveyg Fischer
1st September 2024
- Kay Lindahl, The Sacred Art of Listening: Forty Reflections for Cultivating a Spiritual Practice (Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2002), 11, 12, 16, 24. ↩︎
Freiburg Anglican Church 
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