SERMON PREACHED AT
STOUFFVILLE UNITED CHURCH
REV. CAPT. JOHN NILES
MUSIC BY DANIEL MEHDIZADEH AND CHOIR
Scripture:
James 2 : 1-16
It happened on a Friday night, and the theater was packed for a performance of Tennessee William’s The night of the Iguana, starring the notable actress, Dorothy McGuire. Just before the curtain was about to rise, a woman in the audience – an overweight, middle-aged woman in a blueprint dress – startled the audience by suddenly shouting, “Start the show! Start the show! I want to see Dorothy McGuire! I love Dorothy McGuire!” The people sitting next to her quickly moved out of their seats, not wanting to be associated with this madwoman. Ushers and the house manager descended to try and reason with the woman. Then they reached out for her, but she pulled back and continued to shout, “I want to see Dorothy McGuire! Start the show!
After a moment or so of shocked silence, the people in the audience decided they had a maniac in their midst and began to get ugly, booing the woman and laughing derisively. Somebody shouted, “listen you old bag, get out!” “Throw her out. Start the show!” somebody else yelled. The woman turned to the shouters, “All I want to see is Dorothy McGuire,” she said, “And then I will leave.” more laughing and booing – things were edging toward chaos.
And then…then, from behind the curtains, Miss McGuire herself appeared. She crossed the stage over to the place where the woman was sitting and, with remarkable poise, and grace, and kindness, extended her hand toward her. Quietly, willingly, the woman took her hand, and Miss McGuire led her gently toward the exit. As they reached the edge of the auditorium, Miss McGuire paused, turned toward the audience, and said, “I would like to introduce you to a fellow human being.”
The audience was stilled, their shouts and taunts silenced by Miss McGuire’s compassion, and by the recognition of what they had done. They should have known better. They did know better, but they acted worse.
There is an old Latin proverb and aphorism, “Corruptio optimi pessima” meaning, “The worst corruption is the corruption of the best.”
The fact is you cannot irritate trash -it is trash You cannot offend filth. You cannot demean dirt. Yet, the higher the value the higher the risk of its use for abuse.
As Shakespeare said, (sonnet XCIV) “For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds. Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” In Shakespeare’s worldview, King Lear was either naïve, self-destructive, or outright mad, at times he was all three and heroes like Macbeth became villains. The truth is, we hold the power within ourselves to be either.
Dorothy McGuire was right, they should have known better, and they did know better. They failed to remember Disraeli’s words, “That life is too short to be small.” And they diminished themselves by trying to diminish another. That was what James was getting at. You will remember from Chapter one of James that we spent almost three months on; that the early church was under pressure. James was writing to refugees who had fled Jerusalem under threat of death, leaving behind their homes, families, and employment. Life was hard, and the trials were felt in many ways, including economically. Yet, he was dealing with the problem of those who said that they had faith, yet their actions did not show it. James knew that we are all saved by Grace and not by works, and that this truth makes us free, because we don’t have to prove ourselves worthy to be loved or accepted. We are already loved and accepted by God. Though, we are free by Grace and loved and accepted by God; we are not free to do anything we want; but rather, we are free to do what God wills – His good works.
I
He understood that the test of faith is not partial. It shows no partiality, no favoritism. James says, “My beloved brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine cloths, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty cloths, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine cloths…have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives.” (1-4)
Being partial is in total conflict with our understanding of the Christian faith. If we are children of God, then we ought to act like it. In Psalm 41 we heard, “How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. And in Proverbs 17:5 we are warned “he who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker.”
Yet, there is no room for prejudice within Christianity Yet, there it is, James says. And if it is, then that faith is dead.
People can be so cruel. And children, at times especially. When three of my children were very young; Nathanael, Aaron, and Tabitha, were at a Vacation Bible School. And Nathanael and Aaron were playing with their sister Tabitha and their new friends after it was over. And a boy came up to my son Nathanael and said, as he pointed to Tabitha, “Who’s that?” He said, “She is my sister.” The boy said, “She’s black, she is not your sister.” And Nathanael said, “Yes, she is.” And the boy yelled, “She is not,” and punched him. And I want to tell you. I wanted to find that boy and his parents and tell them prejudice is not welcome in the church. I don’t know what made me angrier, that fact that this prejudice still remains in the church, or that it got violent.
That is why we have to be so careful how are treat one another.
Several years ago, I remember reading that some scientist had determined that the human body is worth very little because once you removed the water all you would have left is a few bucks’ worth of ordinary chemicals. Not long after that I read about another scientist named David Sadoof-a professor at the University of Washington-who has significantly upped the worth of a single human. He said that the typical 150-pound human body has 10,200 units of the clotting agent prothrombin which would sell on the open market for $30,600. He also says that our bodies contain 40 grams of myoglobin, another blood component which would bring an excess of $100,000. So, these two blood compounds alone would make each of us worth at least $130,600-a great improvement over a few measly bucks worth of chemicals! So, you are worth more than you realize Well, scientists aren’t the only ones who go around determining the worth of people. All of us do this. Think about it. We constantly assess the value of the people around us based on things like whether or not they share our interests and how easy they are to talk to. We consider other factors like: the kind of jobs they have, the amount of money that’s in their bank account, their level of education and where they got it, the kind of clothes they wear, the model of car they drive, the neighborhood they live in-the size of their house-or the race to which they belong. The sad truth is all of us pre-judge the value of people-all of us are guilty of one form or another.
A few years back the American Airlines ticket office in Fort Worth, Texas was picketed by a group called, “Uglies Unlimited.” They were upset because the airline specifically advertised for good-looking people when hiring. And, apparently a lot of companies do this. They run ads for “attractive receptionists” or “pretty secretaries.” Danny McCoy, the president of “Uglies Unlimited,” says his group just wants to be accepted for who they are, instead of for what they look like. Mr. McCoy estimates that 10% of all Americans are considered to be ugly and he points out that it hurts to be devalued because of your lack of good looks.
Is that it? Is that the sum total of our value?
James was trying to explain, that your worth is not in what you have or don’t, but in Whose you are. You are a child of the most high God. You are precious in God’s sight. Not just you but everyone. And if you had forgotten what I said since we were in Chapter one during our break from it for the Easter Season; God had to create an entire Universe just so you could be born into it.
It was Martin Rees the astronomer Royal at the University of Cambridge who told said what James was expounding to us that “we are literally the ashes of long dead stars.”
You are stardust – You are such stuff as dreams are made on -Shakespeare said
Or as Nikita Gill Said
“We have calcium in our bones,
iron in our veins, carbon in our souls
and nitrogen in our brains.
93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames,
we are all just stars that have people names.”
Or as Joni Mitchell sang
“We are stardust,
We are golden,
And we’ve got to get ourselves
back to the garden.”
That garden where we understood and didn’t need to be introduced as Miss McGuire did for those in that theatre to the innate dignity found in each of our fellow human beings. Remember who you are and that great price that was paid on our behalf.
II
The test of faith is that it is not partial, and that it is practical. James says verse 15-16 “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use it that?” You will remember from James last time that we are to not just be hearers of the word of God but doers. There is a vast difference between having knowledge about something and acting on that knowledge.
Jonathan Swift did not receive his university degree. The university finally gave it to him, embarrassed by the refusal of one of the most brilliant minds of his time to complete his studies under their discipline. Swift had refused to take the course in logic that was required for graduation, declaring, logically, that since our actions are not guided by logic, a course in the subject was unlikely to be much use. An incident took place at the University of California at Berkeley. One day some maintenance personnel went into a storage room. They found a stack of pamphlets called Control of Termites. But then they discovered that the entire stacks of pamphlets had been eaten through by termites. The university knew how to solve the problem of termites, but they didn’t act on the knowledge they had.
That is what James is reminding us about. We know what the Word of God says, but do we act on that knowledge? We know that the Word of God says that if we have been blessed that we are to show it by being a blessing.
Marian Anderson was an outstanding opera star. Toscanini told her that she had the finest voice of the century. She was invited to the White House to give a private concert for the Roosevelt’s and the King and Queen of England. Her hometown of Philadelphia awarded her the Bok Award as the person who had done the most for the city.
On the occasion, she stood beneath the Lincoln statue and sang for a crowd of 75,000 including most of the high-ranking leaders of government. However, when asked by a newspaper reporter to name the greatest moment in her life, she referred to none of those outstanding events. Instead, she said the greatest moment of her life was the day she went home and told her mother she wouldn’t have to do other people’s washing anymore, that she now had enough to provide for her mother.
The test of faith is that it is not partial but is practical. One translator translates it this way: “Faith which expresses itself in love.” The New English Bible says: “Faith active in love.” A minister was talking to a professing Christian and asked him if he was active in a local church. The man responded, “No, but the dying thief on the cross wasn’t active in any church and yet he was still accepted.” The minister then asked if he was baptized. The man responded, “The dying thief on the cross was not baptized and he still made it to heaven.” The minister then asked if he had served the Lord by helping others. The man responded, “No, but the dying thief didn’t either, and Christ still received him.” The minister finally responded by saying, “The only difference between you and the dying thief is that he was dying in his belief, and you are dead in yours.” Disraeli was right.
“Life is too short to be small.” You think about that. Amen.