Walk the talk (Trinity 13, 30 August)

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. (James 1:22)

For the next few weeks, our New Testament epistle reading us takes into the book of James. Tradition has it that James was Jesus’ brother (Mark 6:30) and the head of the early church (Acts 12:17).

The letter is most probably a circular to all of the churches and is written to encourage the early Christians to put their faith into action. James begins in chapter one by encouraging his readers to be faithful in spite of whatever trials and temptations may come their way and to be thankful for all that God has blessed them with:

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above. (James 1:17)

James urges us not to keep our faith partitioned off and private from the rest of our life. As Christians, the love of Jesus should be the evident in all we do. We are not to become like the Pharisees and teachers of the law in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus exposes their hypocrisy: “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions" (Mark 7:8).

As a church I pray that we might resist falling into the same trap and that our love for Jesus might be clearly demonstrated in the way we live our our faith each day.

Till next time…
Andrew

Readings

1st            Song of Solomon 2:8–13
2nd          James 1:17–27
Psalm     15
Gospel    Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23   

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