Doers of the Word - Easter 5 BCP

“Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1.22

I was desperately looking for a segue this morning to take me from the sad death of Humphrey Lyttletton, may he rest in peace, to our text. But when I rang Samantha for ideas, I found she was out for the weekend at a congress for young Benedictine novices. There’s nothing Samantha likes more… (but I’ll leave you to complete the sentence, and have a chuckle, and thank God for all the joy that Humphrey brought to our lives.)

We all like playing with words. Puns and double entendres are the spices in our conversations. Our Lord used them, as did the prophets and even St Paul.

But our text this morning warns us not just to play with the words we hear from God; to debate and dissect them endlessly; but to act upon them.

Furthermore, our text begs the question: ‘what words?’ James’s epistle was a counterblast to those who said, ‘we have faith, we believe’ and yet showed by their actions that they were not good followers of Jesus Christ.

The last time I preached here on Easter 5 was four years ago – my swan song as I left for missionary work in darkest Knightsbridge. In my sermon then, I attempted to find three words that could sum up the Gospel in the context here where God has placed us.

They were three imperative verbs: love, enjoy, and, understand; and this morning I am going to revisit those words as we see how we are called to act upon them.

It is Jesus himself who gives primacy to the first word: love. It was our Lord who, when asked what is the most important commandment, replied: love God and love your neighbour.

It’s such a simple statement, yet takes a lifetime to work out.

We love God because he first loved us and gave himself for us. That is what we proclaim and rehearse in the mass, day after day.

And if we are to be doers of the word and not hearers only, then that love must be demonstrated by the inconvenience of loving those whom we would rather not; taking loving action, rather than just not bothering.

We come to mass to celebrate the forgiveness of God in Christ, and whenever we do so we are reminded that we must be forgiving of others.

Part of the function of ‘the peace’ given and exchanged just before we come to receive the bread and wine, is to remind us that we must be living in peace and forgiveness with each other.

And this is not always easy. In the words I have often quoted of the neo-metaphysical poet:

To dwell above with those we love,
ah that will be glory.
But to live below with those we know
is quite another story.

Sometimes all we can manage is to say honestly to God: ‘Lord I know I should forgive, help my unforgivingness.’

But if we are generous of spirit then we will, by practice and over time, learn to forgive.

Living any other way is not only contrary to the Gospel and pattern of Christ, but it does deep damage to the psyche, and prevents us from fully entering into the other two imperatives: enjoy, and, understand.

Preaching at St Mary’s and, I can assure you, at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, is rarely of the kill-joy variety.

We are not those who take the swing out of the budgie’s cage on a Sunday. Indeed we are more likely to add a drop of gin to its water bottle.

In the Westminster shorter catechism you will remember the answer to the question: “What is the chief end of man?” It is “to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.”

Today’s Gospel contains one of the many examples of our Lord’s express desire that our life should be lived to the full. “Ask, and ye shall receive,” says our Lord, “that your joy may be full.” It was there in the Old Testament too, as in today’s lesson from Joel.

Listen to these words from Deuteronomy 14 talking of what to do with the tithe money on the festivals: “And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.”

And I’m glad that you and the people of Knightsbridge have heeded the next verse regarding the priests: “And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him.” (26f) I am a much bigger man since coming into the deanery ten years ago!

However, this command to ‘enjoy’ God’s world has a caveat. We must always hold lightly to the world’s pleasures, or they will take a grip on us which draws us from God and fills our souls with unrequitable longing for more.

As Paul says to the Romans: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools... [and] changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” (1.22,25)

The danger is always there that we will begin to love things and use people, instead of loving people and using things.

And this can be true of the particular worship here and at St Paul’s. We enjoy it and take care to preserve it. But it must never become the object of our love.
The liturgy must always serve as a channel for the love of God, in which he reveals his great love for us and we in return, pour out our hearts in wonder, love and praise.

And so the third word, ‘understand’.

Augustine reminds us that our reason should be applied as ‘faith seeking understanding’. God’s word helps us week by week to put the world in context, to understand the times, to know how we should act and live.

And of course the word helps us to understand God - never fully - but a little more intimately as we enter into the holy mysteries time and time again.

But as James reminds us in our epistle, it helps us to understand ourselves.

We are all prone to self-deception. So we mistake joining a gym for actually going to a gym. We keep half our wardrobe full of clothes that we will wear again when we’ve lost a little weight...

Or as James says here, we look in the mirror of God’s word when we come to church, and then go out to do exactly as we please with no reference to it. We have not learnt, in the words of the prophet, that ‘the heart is deceitful.’ And how do we apply that truth to our three words?

We have to learn that our capacity to love and be loved is marred – it is never perfect.
We have to remember that our ability to enjoy without clinging on to that which we enjoy, is impaired – it is a daily struggle.

And indeed we have to learn that our particular understanding of the way things are will never be perfect and Godlike. We are fallible and so should walk before God and one another with a good degree of humility.

And this is why we pursue all that we do with the help of prayer and with the support of all the baptized.

So as Humphrey once said, “before the burnished chariot of fate is wheel-clamped by the traffic warden of eternity”

…love, enjoy, understand and then you will be

“... doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1.22