The Power of the Congregation

September 30, 2012 James 5:13-20 Mark 9:38-50 “The Power of the Congregation” 18th Sunday after Pentecost Year B Cut your bills in half A man was recently arrested for a scam that he had going. He was advertising that he had a sure fire way to guaranteed to cut all of your bills in half. You had to order a kit with all the necessary tools that you need. The kit was $250. But inside the envelope was a pair of 50 cent scissors. A surefire way to cut bills in half As we look at the last chapter of James this morning. It may not offer a surefire way to cut your bills in half. But it does offer a surefire way to cut your worry in half. And that surefire way is through prayer. But for James, it is more complicated than that. In chapter 5 – James talks about the power of prayer – but he more specifically talks about the power of the prayers of the righteous. The righteous are those who follow the ways of the righteous. Elijah and the righteous There is a story of Elijah visiting his rabbi on a regular basis. And one day he was six hours late. When he finally arrived, the rabbi asked what took him so long. Elijah said that he had a very important task. First he had to wake up Abraham, wash his hands, wait while he prayed, and then put him back to sleep again. The he had to wake up Issaac, wash his hands and put him back to sleep. And then he had to wake up Jacob, wash his hands in purification, wait for him to pray and put him back to sleep. The rabbi asked why he didn’t just wake them all up at the same time and let them pray together. Oh if I Let them pray together, their prayer would have been too powerful. The world can only take them so much goodness in one place. James says that there is power in the prayers of the righteous. As a matter of fact, James says that there is power in coming together as a congregation once a week. There is power in our worship for ourselves and for the world. Are you suffering, then pray, are you celebrating – then sing, are you sick, then call the elders to pray over you. The church was the first HMO – the church was the place where you come if you have a problem. The church is a place of healing and well being. The people of the church have the power to change things. James says that when you are sick – you should have the elders pray for you and anoint you. But who are the elders? In the United Methodist Church elders are ordained clergy. In many other denominations elders are lay people who have been special training or special authority to do the work of the church. But I think that it is important to point out today that is not James understanding of elder. Because for James – an elder is someone who is a part of the church. You don’t have to have special training, or be of a certain age. You just have to have a relationship with God that is lived out in the church. If you know God – you know all that you need to know to be an elder. We all have the power of healing – the power of healing is given to ordinary church members – with the understanding that faithful church members are not ordinary. We get our power from God. From trusting in God and following Jesus. John Wesley says that everything that happens to us is a result of prayer. God hears the prayers of the faithful. If you look in Mark 9 – it talks about what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. To be a disciple. There is a lot in Mark 9 – but I want to talk about the middle verse, where Jesus says that if our hand sins, it is better to cut it off then to go to hell with it, or because of it. A man’s arm goes to jail I heard a story of a man in court because he had robbed a store. The lawyer’s defense was that it was the hand and not the man who was guilty. The hand was not a part of the man’s body, and did something the man did not want. The judge sentenced the hand to ten years in jail. The judge said that the hand had to pay for what it had done. The man was free to accompany the hand to jail, or he could leave it behind. Everyone in the court room was surprised when the defendant thanks the judge – detached his artificial arm and walked away. In our ordinariness, we are still human and we are still prone to sin. James reminds us to stay connected to our community. Mark reminds us to disconnect ourselves from the parts of us that make us sin. Of course Jesus would know that the sin is not in our hands, or our feet, or our eyes. The sin is in our heart. Remember what goes in our ears and eyes, comes out of our mouth, lives in our heart and is acted upon with our hands and feet. It is the sin in our hearts, not the sin our hands and feet that lead us down the wrong path. Have you wandered away from righteousness, James says – let the elders lead you back to God. Confess what is in your heart James says that one of the most important aspect of being a disciple is being able to confess what is in our hearts and to let it our, so that we can be free. The community of elders should always be a safe place for us to confess and be held accountable. Confession is healthy, because it releases us from bitterness. If we hold it in our hearts, it destroys us. If we let it go – we can move on. The good news Bishop Woodie White, a retired United Methodist pastor – lives in Chicago for awhile. But 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. He has said some pretty harsh things to us. but he ends in the good news. Are you suffering – pray, are you in need of testifying about what God has done for you – sing; are you sick – ask the elders to pray for you – and if you have sinned – confess and ask forgiveness. The good news for today is that there is power in the prayers of the righteous – all of us together are the righteous. We are the elders of the church. Not because of what we know, but because of who we serve. Our strength is in how we work and trust together. Faithful – let us unleash the power of God - Let us pray…..

Ten Special Words

Ten Special Words
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
Sixteenth Day of Pentecost
Year B

A man travelled to Calcutta to learn more about faith, and he had the opportunity to meet with mother Theresa, she said that she would pray for him, but what did she want him to pray for? He said that he came here for clarity – so that was his prayer to see more clearly. She told him that there are a lot of times in life when we wont see very clearly. As a matter of fact, most days we wont see things clearly, and yet we need to go forward. I wont pray for clarity – I will pray for trust. I will pray that in the midst of all of the confusion – you will still decide to trust God anyway I think in life, most of us are like that man. We are waiting for things to finally make sense. For all of the answers to come. We are waiting for God to finally come clean and to tell us what all of life is all about – why we go through all that we go through. And when we don’t get the answers that we have been looking for – then there must be something wrong with God – prayers don’t really work, there is no real reason to have any faith. When we hear those stories about how prayer has worked for others – we take it personal – maybe we are not doing it right. Maybe we don’t know how to pray. Maybe we don’t understand this whole prayer thing.
Well, we are at the end of our study of the book of James. Our book of practical wisdom. And all throughout the book, we have had the same advice. Prayer is an important part of the life of an faithful person. We are to pray in the midst of all circumstances. Pray not for clarity, but for trust. Trust God in all circumstances. Our verse for today begins with a three step process for trusting in God. If you need something pray for it, If you are happy then sing about it and if you are sick go the elders and ask them to pray for you. That is good advice for all of us to remember – when you need something you should do what? When you are happy you should do what? When you are sick what should you do?
That last piece of advice has always got me. I first read this advice as a young adult in a bible study at my cousin’s Pentecostal church. And if you know anything about Pentecostals – they love to pray. The pray about everything. But not always in a positive way if I must say so myself. So I have always had this image of being very dubious about that advice. Who are these elders anyway – and why would they have so much power to pray for me – when I couldn’t pray for myself. I would think that they wold judge me and call me a bad person, which is why my prayers didn’t work. There was a story in the tribune last week of a woman who had members of her church arrested for praying on her front yard. She was sick, and another member of the church did vow that it was because she was a sinner in need of prayer. So she and the pastor came to the front yard and prayed. The police were called, but the lady came back again, and the second time was arrested. Perhaps the lady was following the advice of james to pray – but James doesn’t say that our prayers work because of our judgement of others.
Who is worthy of being called an elder anyway. If you look on the picture in the bulletin – those are the elders – the jewish elders. In the United Methodist Church the pastors are the elders, in other denominations they are lay people who have been entrusted to be leaders of the church. For some reason, in our humanness, we think that James is saying that the elders are special people with special powers. They are people that have been specially trained to do their job. They are people who may have a right to judge us. Theyare people up there somewhere.
But if you read further in James, it does not say that at all. Their power comes not from training or a special connection. Their power comes from being a part of the community of Christ. He says therefore confess you sins to one another, pray or one another. He uses Elijah as an example, that he was a faithful man that prayed that it not rain, and his prayer was answered. He prayed that it rained and the heavens opened up.
We tend to think that you have to have some special training for God to answer your prayers. But that it not so. God will answer the prayer of any sincere person. You don’t have to use special words, or have special intentions, or special gifts. Just use the words you have, the thoughts that you have, the faith that you have, the trust that when you pray you are being heard, and your prayers will work.
John Wesley says that everything in life is in answer to someone’s prayer. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Just because they are faithful. Whether you have gone to church everyday of your life – or made a deathbed confession you are the same in the eyes of God. And god responds to us all just the same. It is our faithfulness that is powerful, not our ego. Prayer is not the right words, and it is not even the right spirit, it is the right relationship. And the only relationship that we can ever hope to have with God is a relationship of trust. Prayer is not our clarity about life, it is our willingness to trust the will of God for our lives.
A famous muslim holy woman was once asked how she go to be so holy. How did she come to know God. She replied that she was willing to lose all that she had attained in the will of God. How do you know God – she was asked. You want to know God – I know God without knowing how to know him.
There is nothing that you could ever say to God that will be just the right words. There is no way that you can ever speak for God. There is no way to ever be able to see clearly who God is or what God is exactly doing in the world. But it doesn’t really matter. The prayers of the righteous are still powerful and effective. Because God loves us enough to listen, no matter what we have to say or how we say it.
As we leave the book of James - let us remember his advice. When you need something pray, when we feel joy sing, when you are sick come to the elders.
All of us together are the elders of the church – the faithful. Our strength is in how we work and trust together for ourselves, the church, and the world. Let us pray…..