Sunday, September 21, 2014

Sunday, September 21, 2014

James 1: 19-27

This passage opens with a piece of wisdom, short but mighty: be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.  Helpful words in all contexts.  Being slow to speak and open to listening to others will hopefully allow our anger to be kept to a minimum.  R. V. G. Tasker wrote, “An essential condition of listening to God is that the mind should not be distracted by thoughts of resentment, ill-temper, hatred, or vengeance, all of which are comprised in the general term ‘human anger.’”  This is different than righteous anger.  Righteous anger- reacting to injustices, cruelty or the suffering of others - can be part of our journey with God when experienced in balance.  Clearly much different than the anger produced when others do not conform to our own desires, which is the type it sounds like James is eluding to in this passage. 

James also reminds us that we cannot just hear the word of God alone, but we must act on the teachings.  Contemplation accompanied by action.  Ignation spirituality is one that embraces these two worlds:

"This Ignatian notion can be understood as analogous to the kind of friendship that develops over a long time between two people. They are aware of each other even when they are apart or not engaging directly with each other. Although they may not be talking, at some deep level they are in touch with each other. Ignatius’s contemplative in action has such a relationship with God. Engaging closely with God over time, we allow the Spirit to transform us into people who are more like the images of God we are created to be—that is, more like Jesus, who was clearly a contemplative in action." ~William Barry, A Friendship Like No Other

When we look to Jesus' life and ministry we can see this was a practise with his disciples.  Despite the obvious opportunity they had to spend the majority of their time listening to the Word, they spent much time serving and growing together.  Likewise, when their ministry was very full Jesus pulled away with his discilpes to pray.  The balance is definitely important: our active life can feed into our contemplative life, and our contemplative life can in turn inform our active life.

- Julia Heyens