Sunday, May 25, 2014

Sunday, May 25, 2014

James 1: 2-8, 16-18

Reading this passage for the first time our group, the discussion was centred around the theme of faith, with many comments on the strong language choice of James and prescriptiveness of his narrative.  Then we began to alter the tone of the text from that of reward and punishment to more of grace and love.  Originally we read a message that if our faith was not good enough, if we showed any seeds of doubt, wisdom and other gifts from God would not be provided.  Changing the understanding of the passage to be one of assurance in God’s love for us through the trials and the doubt made the text much more clear.  The gifts of God are always being offered, and we can choose to accept them in faith.  We might have times of doubt and feel like that wave being tossed about by the wind, but there can be joy in the steadfastness that emerges from the trials.

Steadfastness is one of James’ most eloquent language choices in this text.  An amazing result of growth, trial and faith.  It is also a characteristic that is beautifully illustrated in this excerpt from the book Perseverance by Margaret J Wheatly:

Steadfastness is a lovely, old-fashioned word that we don’t hear much about these days. It describes how warriors stand their ground, how they find their position and stay there, unshaken and immovable. Steadfast people are firm in their resolve; they are not shaken by events or circumstances. They stand clear in their beliefs, grounded in their cause, faithful to the end.

 Steadfast people seem very rare these days…we will have to look in new places – among those we’ve discounted and misjudged, those who disappeared from our awareness months or years ago.  We have to look again, and be willing to be surprised by who we see.  And once we find each other, we need to support and encourage our steadfast behaviours – the times when any one of us speaks up, stands our ground, sees clearly, refuses to yield, doesn’t give up.  Steadfastness is a capacity that gets easier as we’re together.  The ground we stand on gets more firm and offers more support. It expands to uphold a surprising number of spiritual warriors.

By: Eric, Kristin, Rachel and Julia