September 1, 2024 ~ 15th Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Beckie Sweet
We certainly live in a time of information explosion. I read recently that over 100 billion emails are sent each day. That’s more than 10 times the population of the whole world. Each day 5000 new books are published. This year the number of text messages will exceed 6 trillion.
If we take the year Christ was born as our starting point, it took 1500 years for all the knowledge in the world to double. The next doubling took only 250 years. It doubled again in 150 years. By the end of World War II, knowledge doubled every 25 years. Today, knowledge is doubling every 12 months.
No wonder we can’t keep up!
According to Stephen Davey, “If you happen to read the New York Times newspaper for one week, you will be exposed to more information than the average person living in the 1800’s came across in their entire lifetime.”
We are being swamped by a tidal wave of information that pours in 24/7/365. The whole world is now “live and in real time.” Stories change every few minutes. When news is viewed on television, a computer, a phone, etc… you may see an anchor person reading a story with an image to the right, a sidebar to the left containing weather for several cities, and with more than one creeper at the bottom of the screen with even more information. Thus, you can follow five different information sources simultaneously on one screen.
No wonder we are easily distracted. We look without seeing, we listen without hearing, and we speak without understanding. We are a wired up, tuned in, hyper-caffeinated generation. Some years ago, Bob Moorehouse wrote an essay called The Paradox of Our Time. Here is an excerpt:
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We’ve added years to life not life to years.
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have
Trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We’ve done larger things, but not better things.
James, the pastor of new and struggling Christian congregations, knew that there was a growing disconnect between believing in the Christ through whom faith could save the most vile sinner, and living into the reign of Christ on earth. This letter of James shows one of the church’s early pastors going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with areas of misbelief and misbehavior that had turned up in congregations committed to his care.
What James offered to his congregations, and offers to us, is deep and living wisdom, wisdom both rare and essential. Wisdom is NOT primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that; it is skill in living. For what is truth if we don’t know how to live it? What good is an intention if we can’t sustain it.
That’s where this letter becomes incredibly relevant. This epistle, written 2000 years ago to beleaguered, scattered, oppressed Jewish believers who were just barely hanging on to their faith, speaks with amazing clarity to life in the 21st century. James gives us simple, yet profound, truths with which Christians can relate well with one another.
My dear friends, you should be quick to listen
and slow to speak or to get angry.
20 If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things God wants done.
21 You must stop doing anything immoral or evil.
Instead, be humble and accept the message planted in you to save you.
Obey God’s message.
These verses appear simple, but putting them into practice is a daily challenge. Simply put: 1) Listen more; 2) Talk less; and, 3) Calm down! Yes, that is easier said than done, for we are HUMAN beings. Perhaps this reminder will help: Jesus didn’t come to make us nicer people, or smarter people, or popular people. Jesus came to make us NEW PEOPLE. People who listen more, talk less, and calm down (or don’t hold on to anger), are the new creation in Christ.
I pray that this is the most important and easily retained information we receive today: With Christ within us, may we listen more, talk less, and calm down! May the beauty of God’s word be seen in us. Amen.