Rector’s Message for October 2024

During October I shall be thinking about the New Testament Letter of James. Martin Luther said James was a gospel of Straw and I totally disagree. I start with James 2.14.

What good is it, my brothers and sister, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?

Once you accept a faith system as the one by which you seek to shape your life, then an important issue is how do you demonstrate your recognition of that system to the rest of the world. At the heart of our religion are two important questions. Why do we live? Why do we suffer? James is all about those questions.

We do not live in isolation from a world of disorder. We have obligations about how we live in such an environment. We know that we are faulty and imperfect in our being and in our doing. This leads us to a consideration of the special place of God’s beloved, the poor and helpless. Also, the righteousness of protest against a situation that contains injustice – and what human situation does not contain injustice somewhere along the line?

I share with you another core text from The epistle of James.

Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith? (James 2.5)

This comes after a depiction of how to receive people with no discrimination between rich and poor. This text has a deep resonance with those of us who feel marginalised. We feel that our faith and our marginalisation are holy, aspects of life that can feed our desire for justice and grow our faith. Perhaps the Christian gospel serves to make us always aliens in whatever culture we are born into as we seek to live by the values of God not by the world that hoards a passing treasure.

Your Rector

Father David