When I was first planning this series, I didn’t set out to try to cover all the letters (called epistles) in the New Testament, but here we are again with another one. I won’t get to all of them this summer, but it turns out that I am really enjoying finding these connections between the words of the first Christians, and the experiences of modern ones like us.

            All summer we’ve been working our way through the book Fierce Love, by Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis which gives us nine steps on “a bold path to ferocious courage and rule-breaking kindness that can heal the world.” Today’s step, as your bulletin cover says, is to Live Justly. Choose Fairness and Equality Every Day. James is the perfect epistle for this step, because James has a lot to say about justice and equality. If you have time later (and maybe some feelings about the ultra-wealthy), read the beginning of Chapter 5 which is his “warning to rich oppressors” and you will see that the fight against wealth inequality and for the rights of laborer’s is a Christian one which goes back an awfully long time.

            James is traditionally identified as the brother of Jesus, and a leader of the church in Jerusalem. He writes this as a kind of open letter to the twelve tribes of Israel in dispersion, so to a large audience of Christians from all over. Some scholars classify this letter as Christian wisdom literature because of how much it sounds like the ancient prophets. But where the prophets often spoke to the leaders and people of Israel, James is writing to the church, the body of Christ, and all the people who are a part of it.

            James has written to the dispersed Christian churches for a couple of reasons. To encourage them to persevere, and to address some of his concerns about what he’s seen in them. He’s noticed that many of them favor their wealthier members. If a person with fine clothes on comes into the assembly they get to have a seat of honor there, while someone who is poor will be made to stand in the back, and James says, it should be the other way around. In chapter 2 he says, “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? (2:1)…Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?” (2:5) James is reminding them of what Jesus taught, and to not only hear that word, but to live it. It is not the wealthy they should honor; it is the poor.

            He also says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?” (2:14) This is what I find most interesting about James. He mentions our souls being saved several times throughout the letter, distinguishing what can save us, and what can’t. He says that faith without works is dead. Faith that saves is the kind that supplies the bodily needs of our neighbors, providing clothes to the naked and food to the hungry. (2:16) This is the upside-down vision of Jesus for our world.

            Caring for our neighbor and saving our souls are related ideas for James, not separate. Living justly is not just a byproduct of faith it is part of what saves our souls. Our riches will rot away, the treasures we hoard can not save us, but living justly in community might! James says, “Let the brother or sister of humble means boast in having a high position and the rich in having been humbled, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.” (1:9-10) What saves us, is to stop living for selfish ambition and to start living justly.  To humble yourself, draw close to God, and make peace in your community. The transformation of our priorities to model ourselves after Christ will save the rich and poor alike from the injustice and inequality that cause us so much pain and dysfunction.

            The hard part is that this is a choice that each of us must make. The lessons of Jesus, repeated by James, only save us when we choose fairness and equality every day. So many choices made by so many different people all come together to make up the Body of Christ who saves the world. It doesn’t take just one of us. No one leader, author, artist, or any other human being will change the entire world on their own. That’s something a whole bunch of us must do together.

            This is what Rev. Lewis’ is talking about in her chapter on living justly. She wrote this book during the pandemic years and in the midst of the George Floyd protests, so politics were absolutely on her mind, but here’s what she says about politicians. “There is work for our elected officials to do, but we can’t abdicate the responsibilities wholly to them. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for to write a new American story, to find a way to build fierce love in the world. We don’t have to think of ourselves as activists or organizers to do this work. Every day like flossing and brushing our teeth, like praying or meditating, we can make choices toward justice, fairness, and equality.”

          The world changes when a whole lot of individuals make choices toward justice, fairness, and equality, and there is no choice too small to have an impact on the world. She writes about the impact that her mother had on her. How she learned from her mother to give to charity, make sandwiches for the hungry, and go out of her way for her neighbor down the street. We shape each other’s lives, and in that way, we are each incredibly powerful. I want you to think today about the power to shape the future that is in your hands. There might be more power there than you think.

            Think of the power a teacher has, to educate about our differences so they aren’t scary, to resource children who are hungry or abused, and to teach their students of all genders and races with the same care. In every choice, and the life of every student, a difference is made that shapes the future. Think of the power a nurse has when they tend to their patients equally, no matter the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the disabilities they may have. Each just choice makes a big difference in the lives of others and how they will live going forward. Think of the power a manager has, to treat their employees fairly, to make sure they aren’t harassed or taken advantage of. To pay them fairly and care about their well-being. Each just choice makes a difference, and so every person has the power to make the world around them more just.

            Christians have long been in the business of changing the world for the sake of our neighbors. We have so many ancestors in faith who spent their lives doing things like making education more accessible, improving and expanding healthcare, changing labor laws, and so much more. Do not underestimate the ripple effect of your life on the world. Whether by raising up your children to be people who make a difference; or by using your career to create more equity in the world; or by being a member of this church who makes other’s feel welcome and uses the resources here to supply your neighbor’s needs; you have the power the make a difference!

            She mentions brushing your teeth, which I think is such a great analogy for justice. Brushing your teeth only works if you do it every day. If you do not brush your teeth for years, or decades, you won’t save your teeth by brushing them only once! You have to keep them healthy by brushing them every day. It took thousands of years for humans to get where we are today, and no single decision or single person can fix it all. But if a whole lot of us live justly, choosing equality every day, and if the word of God is not just something we hear, but something implanted in us, something we do, then the moral arc of the universe will continue to bend towards justice. It’s just one more way that faith can save us. Our small daily choices to live justly, if we keep making them, creating more and more equity over time, may love the world all the way to healing.

            For the kingdom of God is like a garden, it needs water every day, we maintain it through small routine actions as we remember that the last are first, and the first are last. You don’t need to be a superhero, and you don’t need to be perfect. Just keep making the next right choice, one day at a time, to grow more fairness and equality. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. Rid yourself of whatever pain resides in you that makes you want to treat other people with contempt. Rid yourself of whatever false ideas about your worth you have learned from the world. Welcome with meekness the implanted word of God that has the power to save your soul.

            I hope that in hearing God’s word today you have seen some part of yourself as though it were being reflected in a mirror. As you go today, into whatever life has in store for you next, don’t forget what you’ve seen, but use what you’ve seen to grow fairness and equality every day. Look deeply into the law of liberty, the law of Christ which says to love your neighbor as yourself, and let it shape your choices because you will be blessed by the kin-dom you help build and the justice that you create. Amen.