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LENT IV, Year C: March 18 2007

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6.8): the voice of the letter of James

There is a marvellous magazine produced by the local community centre across the road from my church in West Oxford. One of the pages always features a great long list of clubs and activities: book club on the first Thursday of the month; a series of lectures on Tuesdays; Tae Kwon Do on Fridays and games for toddlers on Saturday mornings. And St Frideswide's Church is included there too, with Parish Mass on Sundays at 10.30am.

I'm not a member of the West Oxford book club, but no doubt they give out some homework in the form of a book to read before the next meeting. Likewise the Tae Kwon Do society probably prescribes exercises for the week ahead. But the Church is perhaps unique among these activities and societies: for we claim that what we do and what we believe affects every aspect of how we live. We don't give out homework at Church: but we expect that what do here changes everything we do in the week. Believing the doctrines and going to church are essential for Christians: but Christianity doesn't start and finish there.

The Epistle of James is written to Christians who, in many respects, do confine Christianity to doctrines and church attendance. James is scathing about their hypocrisy. "Be ye doers of the word," he thunders, "and not merely hearers who deceive themselves." So James's voice is a natural one to listen for in a series of sermons about justice and ethics.

Yet hearing just what St James's is trying to say has sometimes been rather difficult. This letter, perhaps more than any other in the Bible, has historically been a touchstone of doctrinal controversy.

Verses from James have been used to argue for and against the sacraments of Confession and Unction. And, more fundamentally, James's emphasis on good works collided with sixteenth century Protestant theories about justification by faith alone.

St James writes,

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Someone like Martin Luther – whose theology could be summed as "sole fide", "justification by faith alone" – found it hard to come to terms with James's letter. After all, James explicitly says, "A man is justified by works and not by faith alone." Luther called James's letter an "epistle of straw" and thought we could do just as well do without it. James rapidly became a weapon to be quoted back and forth between different parties divided by their theology of justification. Should James be thrown out of the Bible because he was not protestant enough? Or did he bear valuable witness to the importance of works in the Christian life? Or perhaps he was saying the same thing as St Paul all along. The different factions tended to shout so loud that no meaningful discussion or argument was to be had.

So can we hear St James's voice today? Can we put all this internecine warfare behind us for a moment? What is James trying to say?

James writes his letter to a Christian community. He accepts that they believe in Christ, and that they hold the main tenets of the Christian faith. But – and this is his problem – the faith they hold does not seem to affect the way they live.

These Christians believe in Jesus' command to "love your neighbour as yourself." But then, says James, when rich and poor come into your church, they get treated very differently. The rich man is treated as an honoured guest and offered a good seat; the poor man is told to stand at the back or sit on the floor. The doctrine of "love thy neighbour" has not progressed beyond words: it does not affect how they actually do treat their neighbour.

These Christians bless the Lord and Father with their tongues. But then, says James, they also curse their fellow human beings: human beings who are made in the Image of God. If they believe in the Imago Dei, they must translate this belief into action, and stop their tongues from cursing.

These Christians believe all life is a gift from God. But, says James, their words belie that: they make plans about travel and business and money, without any reference to God. They have not allowed their faith to affect their lives.

These Christians had intellectually assented to the Christian faith: but they had not allowed those beliefs to break out and affect their lifestyle and their actions.

We can hear James speaking especially clearly today because these same dangers are so present for us. The tendency today is to compartmentalise our lives. Family time, work time, friends time. The West Oxford Community Association, as I mentioned, offers a splendid range of activities: Tae Kwon Do for physical fitness; the book club or Local History club for mental fitness; so, by analogy, are we to look across the road to St Frideswide's Church to supply spiritual fitness? Perhaps – but not just spiritual fitness. Christianity, least of all Catholic Christianity, is not confined to spirituality. Christian belief, when it is lived out, affects every part of our life: physical, mental, social, spiritual: at work, in the community, and at home. If our Christian belief doesn't affect our lives from one Sunday to the next, St James would condemn us as roundly as the recipients of his epistle.

So when, as Christians, we plan our time, we should begin by thinking what God requires of us: church attendance, prayer, our duties to ourselves, to our families and communities. We don't try to fit in church attendance last, wherever there might be a gap in our schedule. Every decision about what we do is influenced by our Christian faith.

When, as Christians, we plan our budget for the month, we begin by asking what God requires of us: giving to the Church, to support our dependants, and to help the poor and the weak. We don't give to the Church or to charity from whatever we happen to have left over. We let our faith influence all our financial decisions. It's not just that we subscribe to a new set of theological beliefs -but everything we do, everything we understand, is shaped by Christ. We see the world, and other people, through a whole new lens.

I've never been fortunate enough to receive an Invitation to one of Her Majesty the Queen's garden parties, but if I did, I would turn to Debrett's Guide to Etiquette to tell me what to do.

"Invitations from the Queen," it reads, "are not like other invitations. They are commands."

Normally, of course, if I receive an invitation to any event, but I have a prior engagement in the diary, I have to decline: no matter how exciting the new invitation might be. That's perhaps the first rule of etiquette: a basic expectation in our society when we send and receive invitations.

But when the Queen commands, Debrett tells us, things are different. In Her Majesty's case, the usual rules of etiquette are overturned, the ordinary social mores are transformed. The Monarch commands, the rules are different.

So how much more should our mores be transformed when it is the King of Kings who invites us to a feast? Our habits, the usual or easy way of doing things, must be open to change in the light of the gospel. The Royalists amongst us would no doubt move heaven and earth to attend one of Her Majesty's parties: surely as Christians we should be ready to overturn much more to respond to the royal summons of the Prince of Peace?

And what is the Royal Summons from Christ the King? James summarizes it like this: "True religion is to care for orphans and widows in their distress." St James's directive is a more specific version of what Micah says to us: "do justice; love kindness; walk humbly with your God." This is the Royal Summons: Justice, at personal cost; kindness, even when it puts you out; humility, in any and all circumstances. Faith in Christ translates into a whole new way of living. And faith that doesn't do this, says James, is dead.

May our faith be living and active, so that it bears fruit in good works; all to the glory of the unchanging Father. Amen.