The Church - The Caring Community

September 30, 2018 James 5:13-20 Year B 19th Sunday after Pentecost The Church – the Caring Community Children’s Time… We need to be considerate of patients in the hospital. Prop: A pastor’s calling card. Have you ever gone to the hospital because you were sick? I go to the hospital lots of times, but not because I’m sick. I go to the hospital so I can visit people who are sick. When people are sick in the hospital, they’re called patients. Some patients in the hospital are people from our church, so I go to see them. Sometimes when I visit in the hospital, the person I go to see is sleeping. I think it’s so important for a patient in the hospital to have plenty of rest that I won’t wake any patient I’ve gone to visit who’s asleep. Instead, I take out of my pocket a little card, like this, with my name printed on it. I write a note on the back of the card. I say that I hope the sick person is feeling better. I also write on my note that if that person will be in the hospital a while longer, I may be able to visit another day soon. Children usually aren’t allowed to visit patients in the hospital, so if a friend of yours is sick in the hospital, what can you do so your friend will know you’re thinking about him or her? I could send a picture I’ve drawn; I could send a get-well card. A get-well card, instead of a visit, is one good way to tell friends in the hospital you care about them. Sick people like to have lots of cards to look at. That way they know their friends are thinking about them and wishing them well. CSS Publishing Co., Inc., God's Love Is For You, by Shirley Jennings James 5:13-20 Common English Bible (CEB) 13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. 17 Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. 18 He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit. 19 My brothers and sisters, if any of you wander from the truth and someone turns back the wanderer, 20 recognize that whoever brings a sinner back from the wrong path will save them from death and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible This has truly been a weekend of inspiration for me at the Leadership Institute, it was wonderful to see the Christian church at work, the Methodist Church at work. It was wonderful to see Methodist from all over the country gathered, as well as from the rest of the world being reminded of our task and giving the tools to move forward. The Methodist church will have its share of challenges in the days to come as we gather for the special general conference in February to talk about what it means to be the church and how we deal with the question on homosexuality. But we have to remember to stay focused on what it means to be the church and the task that God has given us to make disciples of all nations. Yes it was good to get away, but it was good to be back into the swing of things. I had a busy day yesterday, and as I was catching up with all of my chores, I did not worry about preparing a sermon for today – because I knew that I had preached on this text before, so I would just find an old sermon and use it again, it may be old to me – but new to you. Well, at 9:30 last night, I look on my blog to find an old sermon – and as I look for this text, I can realize that in 2015 I preached on Mark and not James – and I promised that I would finish up on James. So it was been a long night – having to come up with a sermon from scratch. So I ask the spirit to help me this morning. James is an important book. James is the 5 easy lessons in practical Christianity. Faith without works is dead, all good gifts come from God, our words come from the heart, and once they come out of our mouth we cant take them back, we have to trust God in all things and always be willing to pray. Today – our final lesson is that living those 4 things in life is hard – which is why we need the church – the community of faith to support us. Jesus calls us to be a community of faith, of support, and mot importantly of healing. Jesus believed that in order to have healthy people, you had to have healthy communities. The company that we keep affects our faith and our health. Communities can be a blessing or a curse, and it is all Jesus’ fault. If you read the new testament, it talks about how to come together, how to work together. He encourages us to overcome our differences – in order to work together. You don’t have to like someone to love them in the name of Christ. Chapter 5 is the first time that James uses the word ekklesia to talk about the church. In Greek, an ekklesia is a group of people who come together for a common purpose. A group of politicians who got together to make a decision about the republic was an ekklesia. A group of women who got together to watch the children was an ekklesia. An ekklesia was any community. Koinonia – is a community that is intentionally in communion with God. Both words came to mean the church. A community that gathers for the sake of love, faith and healing. As we go forward, I am convinced that as we create a loving, faithful, healing community amongst ourselves, we will make a difference in this community by bringing that love, faith and healing to others. As we strive to become that loving community we will see changes. James chapter 5 encourages us to be that loving community. Actually, when I woke up at 2:00 this morning, I looked in my physical sermon file and found about 5 different sermons on James 5. I think that it is the most important message of the book. He tells us what the church should be doing. First he tells us that if anyone amongst us is sick that we should call the elders to pray. We should pray for one another. We should be willing to sing songs. We should be willing to forgive. We should work together. It is the power of the Christian community that makes a difference. But have you noticed that we can come together in goodness, we can also come together in negativity. We have all heard the saying that misery loves company. We love to get together to commiserate – to share our fears, our anger, our pain our suffering and sometimes even our sin. It is interesting that James says that sin and sickness go hand in hand. We have to be clear that sin does not cause sickness. When people get sick it is not automatically their own fault that they got sick. But I have noticed that whenever I have a physical illness, I can look back and see that there was also a spiritual illness that occurred at the same time. If we are in a negative environment – it can make us sick. Negativity has a way of affecting us all. It can affect the way we deal with one another. And all that we do. Once there was a monastery in the woods that had fallen upon hard times. In the past it had been a thriving community that was well known and respected throughout the region, but over the last generation the monks had died one by one and there were no new vocations to replace them. Besides this, the monks did not seem to be as friendly to each other. Something just wasn't right. The Father Abbot was quite concerned about the future of his monastery, now consisting of himself and three brothers and, thus, he sought counsel from the local rabbi who was known to be a great sage. The abbot went to the rabbi and asked him if he had any advice on what to do to save his monastery. The rabbi felt at a loss and said that he, too, worried about his own congregation; people were too busy and simply were not coming to the synagogue any longer. The two commiserated together and read the Torah. As the abbot was getting ready to return home the rabbi looked at him and said, "One in your home is the Messiah." The abbot walked home puzzled as to what the rabbi's words meant. When he arrived at the monastery the monks asked the abbot what he had learned. He responded that the rabbi had given him no concrete advice, but he had said in cryptic language, "One in your home is the Messiah." Over the next days and weeks the monks pondered what this might mean. Was it possible that one of them was the Messiah? If that was the case then most certainly it was Father Abbot. He had been the leader for more than a generation. On the other hand it might be Brother Thomas, for he is a holy man and full of light. Certainly it could not be Brother Eldred. He is old, crotchety, and often mean-spirited, but he always seems to be right, no matter what the situation or question. The rabbi could not have meant Brother Phillip. He is very passive — a real nobody, but one has to admit that he is always there when someone needs assistance. As they continued to contemplate this question, the old monks began to treat each other with great respect, on the off chance that the one with whom they were dealing really was the Messiah. They again began to live the gospel message. The monastery was a much more prayerful place once again. Because the monastery was located in a beautiful portion of the forest it was common during the spring, summer, and fall months for families to come and have picnics on the grounds. During this period people who came seemed to sense the new spirit of respect and love that was present at the monastery. The people returned often and one day a young man came to the Father Abbot and asked if he could join the community. Soon others inquired and joined and, thus, after several years the vibrant community at the monastery was again restored because the wisdom of the rabbi had transformed hearts. The monks had once again started to live their lives according to the Golden Rule. The monks in the monastery learned, "through the back door," of the need to treat their brothers with respect. They were converted to an understanding that prayer must be a way of life. Prayer is vocal, but it must also be action. It must be the way we live our daily lives. Saint James, as he concludes his epistle, a letter based on action, that is being doers of the word, makes this point abundantly clear. Misery loves company, but Jesus loves community more. Jesus puts us in community, to heal ourselves and to heal one another. I had a community member ask to have a healing service once a month that would be open to people of all faith and of no faith. I hope to start then within the month. Because Christian community can truly make a difference. It can be a safe space for people to come for forgiveness, healing and restoration in spite of our differences, inspite of our sin. It can be the place where we remember to live our the rules of practical Christianity. – faith without works is dead, every good gift is a gift from God- what comes out of my mouth shows what is really in my heart , so watch your words- true wisdom in the world begins with a trust in God and a willingness to pray. Finally – be the church – the ecclesia – the place where people come to be healed and whole. The people who have faith that healing comes from God. Bishop Woodie White, is a retired United Methodist Bishop who is from Chicago. He said that no matter how bad things get in our lives – everything always ends with the good news of Christ. It has been an interesting ride through the book of James. James has had some pretty harsh things to say to us. But as he concludes here in chapter 5 he ends on a positive note. He is intentional about ending with the good news of Christ. Are you suffering – pray; are you in need of testifying of what God was done – sing; are you sick asks the elders to pray for you. And if you have sinned – don’t be afraid to confess and ask for forgiveness. The good news for today is that there is power in the prayers of the righteous. All of us together are the righteous, the elders, the church. So faithful people – let us be a healing community that demonstrates the power of God. Our strength is in how we work and trust together as the church. Amen.