Introduction - Christianity isn't always Simple
At this time of the year it is always best to give me a wide berth. I am more irritable than usual, rather more tired and certainly more stressed. No, its not because Neil makes his annual confession, it's because I am busy marking GCSE Religious Studies exam papers. This makes me irritable for a number of reasons, partly because I get tired, partly because I get bored but most of all because so many of the youngsters doing the exam seem to think Christianity is so simple. They assume that there is one Christian view on so many moral issues: abortion, re-marriage, euthanasia, homosexuality, contraception and the rest. The older I get the more I realise that there are very few simple, or simplistic, views on any of these things.
What the young people doing the exam don't yet know, of course, is that they are not alone in thinking there is one Christian view taken on these things. We have all been in churches where there has been a "party line" and this has always been offered up as the "Christian" view. I was talking to someone last week who had been told that "the Bible says" being a lesbian was wrong. We know it is not as simple as that, but when people are using the Bible as a weapon, its difficult to talk about subtleties.
Many Christians are disturbed by the changes they see in society. They are impatient when people say that the insights of science and Biblical scholarship as well as the way in which we live now need to be taken into account of any Christian perspective on anything - this is seen as just selling out to the modern world. Similarly, Christians with more liberal views get very impatient with those who want to uphold the importance of the Bible in any Christian ethical perspective. It seems that listening is a difficult task for Christians to do - especially when they talk to each other about things they disagree with.
Happily, we can take comfort from the Bible and, in particular, from the story of James we heard Trish read to us earlier.
Rows in the Early Church
The expression "there are two sides to every story" sums up the story of James. From today's reading we see the first real row that the Christian church had. It was all to do with their identity. Some Christians, the traditionalists, saw the followers of Jesus as being essentially Jewish and so they had to conform to many aspects of the Jewish Law. In particular, they felt, that you couldn't be a Christian unless you were first converted to Judaism. This of course wasn't too onerous if you were a woman, but for a man it was quite a difficult conversion ceremony involving as it did circumcision. Other Christians, the progressives, felt that you didn't need to convert to Judaism before becoming a Christian and that God was at work amongst the gentiles.
This was explosive stuff - the outcome would effect the Church's very identity - was it a Jewish sect, or a new religious movement? Tempers were heated. The proper ways of doing things were discussed. God was put in a box so that He could easily be defined, but of course God does not react well to being pinned down.
The Role of James
James was, according to some traditions, the brother of Jesus. He was, then, a Jew, steeped through and through in Jewish tradition and custom. He would have held his Jewish heritage dear even though he had made a radical decision to believe that his brother was God made flesh. For James, Christianity was not something new and revolutionary, breaking away from the past, but the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy and the realisation of everything his people had yearned for over the centuries. If the Gospel was for all, Gentile as well as for Jew, the implications of that might not really have dawned on him.
The controversy about Jews and Gentiles in the Church threatened to tear it apart even at its very beginning. On both sides tempers were frayed and one suspects the debate got a tad acidic. We have Jews adamant that the Law must not be compromised with Gentiles equally insistent that its stipulations could and should not apply to them. It was imperative that the matter was brought to a head, and so a special council was called in Jerusalem to try and resolve the issue.
The main speakers were James - who led the Church in Jerusalem and who held a special place of honour as the brother of Jesus and spoke for the Jewish Christian point of view - along with Simon Peter, Barnabas and Paul who told of their mission to the Gentiles. For many there could be only one outcome of this meeting - a gentle but firm rebuke to Paul putting him in his place - reminding him of his roots and the need to honour them. The result, however, was to be quite different.
The results were different because James changed his mind. The key words were "after they had finished James spoke up". In other words, James listened before he spoke. Unlike the majority he had not made up his mind before discussion started, or at least, if he had, he was not totally closed to the possibility of being changed. He heard what the missionaries had to say, listened to the arguments and came to a decision. His conclusion was not based on prejudice or pre-determined assumptions but on what God had done and was doing.
More importantly, his view was not developed solely through debate and logic. He was anxious to seek God's will rather than his own or someone else's. He measured what he heard others say against what he believed God was saying about this situation. For him confirmation came from the words of an Old Testament prophet.
Open to Others, Open to God
James was both open to others and open to God. It was this that led James to welcome the Gentiles with the least demands possible, and this decision was to eventually transform this Jewish sect into the Church which crossed the boundaries of race and religion. Instead of frustrating the Spirit and stifling the message of the gospel, both were set free to realise their full potential. It is extraordinary to think that without his courage and honesty the Christian faith might have died a death back in Jerusalem; that we may have heard nothing of the life changing message of the Gospel and that the Church might have barely started before it was finished. Through one person's open-mindedness and willingness to listen, new horizons were opened.
This is not to say that the problem was dealt with overnight. I doubt that such a highly charged issue like this would have been settled quickly - no doubt rumblings and grumblings went on for years afterwards. Human nature is such that people refuse to bend or compromise and we find it hard to change. But the die was cast and the Church changed.
James' Example to Us
It is often hard to admit that we are wrong or to accept ideas that differ from our own. Sadly, this has sometimes seemed to be hardest of all to do within the Church. The more an opinion or belief means to us, the more inclined we are to defend it at all costs. We may like to think that we are more open minded than most, and that we are always willing to give a fair hearing to another point of view, but we all have ingrained prejudices that we find it hard to identify, let alone overcome. Within society as a whole there are many areas where opinions are entrenched - we only have to read the press to see that issues around Europe, asylum and criminal justice arouse strong emotions and passions.
Whether it is new ideas or different ways of thinking, conflicting understandings or contrasting emphases we must learn, like James, to listen with open minds, and then to measure what we hear against what God is saying, recognising that God is bigger than any one person's grasp of the truth. James flits lightly across the stage of the New Testament, but in doing so he poses a challenge we would be foolish to ignore. Are we open to others and open to God?
Prayer
Gracious
God,
You speak to us in all kinds of ways
And through all kinds of people -
Yet sometimes we are closed to what you would say.
We avoid those things that challenge or unsettle us,
Preferring to pick holes and nitpick over trivialities
Rather than face up to complex issues.
We are reluctant to accept new and unfamiliar ideas,
Taking refuge instead in what is tried and trusted.
We resent opinions that contradict our own,
Shutting our ears to what we don't agree with
Rather than listen to another point of view.
Forgive us,
And break through the barrier we erect against you,
So that we may hear your voice,
Know your truth,
And live as your people,
To the glory of your name.
Amen.
Meditation of James
Gentiles!
In our Church?
No thank you!
Oh, you may frown,
Shake you head in disapproval,
But remember this:
We were Jews,
Stepped in tradition,
Brought up to see the world in terms of them and us,
Clean and unclean -
So how else could you expect us to feel?
Anyway, give us credit,
We weren't closed altogether -
If folk wanted to join us, fair enough,
But let them first adopt our ways,
Our customs,
Our Law,
And then apply -
You can't argue with that, can you?
Only,
apparently, some did,
And chief among them - can you believe it - was Paul.
I was stunned at the time -
Him of all people:
Schooled as a Pharisee,
Zealous in the Law,
And one-time sworn enemy of Christ -
Yet there he was,
Preaching the gospel among them,
Demanding there be no conditions,
No strings attached -
Open admission to all.
Frankly, I was appalled,
Quite certain that nothing and no one
Would ever change my position,
But I couldn't have been more wrong;
From the moment he started to speak,
The truth was staring me in the face,
Impossible to resist.
No, it wasn't all sweetness and light, don't think that.
We had our moments, like anyone else,
And there were some on both sides pushing for more concessions,
A tougher line,
Unable to bring themselves to bend.
But for most of us, when we heard what God was doing -
How lives were being changed,
Faith born,
The Spirit released -
There could be no arguing.
It wasn't down to me,
Or Paul,
Or anyone else.
God was working His purpose out
With or without us -
Far better to be on board,
Nurturing His Kingdom rather than conspiring against it.
I'm not saying we've got things sorted,
Not by a long way,
For there are still some not happy,
Complex, controversial issues yet to be resolved,
But I tell you this: It's no use digging in,
Closing your ears,
Convincing yourself that you're right and others are wrong.
You may safeguard your principles that way,
Protect your little kingdom
But
if God's kingdom turns out other than you've bargained for,
Don't be surprised that you failed to see the truth,
For the fact is you never stopped to look.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.