Reflection on James 5:13-20

 

As James finishes his letter, he gives us a vision of what the Christian community could be.  It could be a community full of prayer.  And, we are not talking about reciting the Lord’s Prayer repeatedly, or any other memorized, rote prayer (though they have their place too).  No, he is talking about prayer that comes from a suffering heart.  It is the prayer that spills out when you have tried everything, and everything has not been enough.  It is a prayer that seeks Jesus to intervene because no one else can fix what has become broken.  And, it is a prayer that is not prayed alone.

You have prayed alone before, right?  You have prayed the desperate prayer in the middle of the night that seems to echo dully out the window and into the darkness, finding no ear up which to rest. 

But, James’ vision of the Christian community is far from this lonely image of an unheard prayer of solitude.  Quite the opposite, he says that if one is suffering in such a way, they should call the elders of the church, and they should come and surround the person, praying over them and anointing them with oil.  The Christian community, the church, is presented as this community of prayer that actually cares, and actually comes, and actually is present in each other’s lives.

Are you celebrating anything?  Well, let us hear about it and then we will sing a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God!  Let us throw a party and celebrate the goodness of the Lord!  You can never sing too many songs, nor can you have too many parties in James image of the Jesus community.

And, on top of it all, this community is to be a safe place to bring your sins, and your failures, and your struggles.  After-all, for James, it is hard to have forgiveness if you cannot even confess what it is for which you need forgiveness!  But, if you honestly bring your struggles and your sins to your fellow believers (and to God), James promises that “anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.”  James continues to urge, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”

That is what the Christian absolutely could look like!  It could look like this group of people who loves like Jesus loves, prays for healing as Jesus prays, celebrates the goodness of God as Jesus celebrates, is unafraid to tell the truth about our sin as Jesus is unafraid, and forgives each other in abundance as Jesus forgives.  The Christian community could absolutely look and sound like this: the very real body of Christ.

I have seen this before.  I have seen it with my very own eyes, and have experienced it with my very own voice and body.  I have experienced this living, breathing community of faith that James envisions.  James says that “faith without works is dead,” but the community I experienced could in no way be considered dead by James.

They are a small, but spirit-filled congregation in Argentina.  When you enter their church building, you will notice a few things right off the bat.  You will first notice the broken windows above the altar and the stains of water damage marking the walls below.  You will also notice the organ, with books and chairs stacked on top.  It has not worked for years and there has been no money to fix it.  Interestingly, against one wall you will see pews stacked on top of one another.  They were formerly in the middle of the worship space, but now, highlighting the center of the worship space you will discover chairs in a circle around a central altar.

As the congregation gathers, the majority in their 20s but the oldest in their 90s, they talk, and laugh, and decorate the space with flowers from their home gardens, and they set up handmade candles gifted by relatives.

As worship begins, they share the all the good things that God had done for them throughout the week.  These are not announcements though; they are conversations throughout the space, people talking over one another; laughter rising through the holes in the broken windows above. 

Soon we sing songs of praise, and after we talk again with one another, sharing our struggles, and sins, and pains with one another.  One man shares how he tripped up on his battle with alcohol that week, and those around him give him a forgiving hug.  After the readings and the sermon, everyone taking a part in the reading and leading, we gather in a huge circle, taking turns as we pray for all that our neighbors had shared earlier, both their joys and their struggles. 

As we finish singing the last song (played on a guitar by one of the students in attendance) the local baker sneaks out of the worship space and returns with a huge, beautiful cake.  It is a Peruvian refugee’s birthday.  She had no family in Argentina.  She was utterly alone, except for her new Christian family who now surrounds her, and sings, and gives her gifts. 

I wish that James could have seen it.  He would have been so amazed by how alive, and authentic, and real these people’s lives of faith were together.  There was nothing dead about their faith.  There was nothing “put on” for show about their faith.  There were no masks with fake smiles and fake concern being worn for the sake of pleasantness and good order.  These were real people, sharing real joys, and real pains and struggles, and actually taking the time to listen and share and do this thing that we call the “faith” together.  When you are there, you know for a fact that Jesus is present.

As we were leaving worship, one of the young women came up to my traveling partner and myself and asked, “How was it?  What can we do better?”  She assumed that we “United States Americans” had some secret to the faith that was bigger and better, that she needed to learn before we left.  That is always the impression the media seems to provide after-all: that United States Americans, with their unlimited funds, do everything better.

I did not know what to say, because they had it all.  All she had to do was read James and see that they had it all.  They were a living community of faith that in no way shape or form was dead to the life and death of Jesus Christ.  Their community was wise in faith beyond imagination.

My response: “What you all have here is truly a gift.  Keep being exactly who you are.”

Young people these days appreciate people who are real.  They can smell a fake from a mile away.  They can sense a cover-up immediately.  They know when it is all a show.

But, in the same way, they also appreciate honesty, and humility, and someone they can relate to.  They appreciate connecting, in a real way, with someone else who is willing to share their own lives and share their own faith.  They appreciate when the prayers are real, and when you celebrate their joys, and when, because of you, they know for certain that they are not alone.  They know when Jesus is present and when people have pushed him away.

What a joy it is, then, when they find the Christian community as painted by James.  What a gift it is when they are able to find people praying in the way of Jesus, and celebrating in the way of Jesus, and forgiving endlessly in the way of Jesus, and searching and finding in the way of Jesus.  What a gift it is to have a people of God who actually care if you wander, as James says, “from the truth.”  And, what a gift it is to have a people of God who actually, actively, seek to bring you back, because you are a beloved child of God.  They truly care and truly believe that you deserve better than having a life of being lost and wandering towards cliffs and crevasses that lead to death. 

What a gift it is to be together, as a part of the body of our savior Jesus Christ.

Reflection on James 3:13--4:3, 7-8a

 

“Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.” 

You have no idea how much I have needed to hear this promise from scripture.  In a world where pushing people away is preferable to bring us together, where talking and opinionating is preferable to listening and growing together, where bantering back and forth angrily is preferable to seeking the truth together, and where we feel so alone because somehow we are losing grasp of the ability to connect with one another, these words that promise a reunion with the living God are better than pure gold. 

They echo the promise of Jesus Christ who says, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” (NRSV, Matt. 7:7). “Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.”

It is almost as if Jesus is a friend from long ago, who can still be seen in the halls of the school, but somehow we just forgot to hang out with him, to include him at the lunch table, and to ask him out to the party.  It is not that we do not want him at the party, we just sort of forgot. 

But, now we have remembered, and we long for the days that we were near him.  We remember his gentleness, born of a deep wisdom that says; who is right or wrong is not as important as being together.  A man once asked Jesus to settle a dispute of inheritance between he and his brother.  In this story from Luke 12, Jesus refuses to take sides in the dispute, his gentle wisdom guiding us to understand that money is not as important as being together.  And again, we hear in Matthew 5:23-25 that if someone has something against us, before we come to the altar of the Lord, we should go and settle the dispute.  Wisdom says that being together is more important than even a gift given at the altar to God.  That is how important it is to God!

We hear the same message, again and again from Jesus.  We hear this message that it is the highest good to be together; to be drawn to one another.  And, I am feeling like I need it right now, and I know that you are too. 

I have heard from you, again and again, stories about the separation from those you love, all because of the conflicts of this time.  I wonder if our feeling of distance from the Lord has anything to do with the distance we create amongst ourselves within Christ’s body?  Hands are cutting off fingers, and the neck is refusing to acknowledge the head.  Do not even get me started on the foot callous, who knows why he is there.  But, in pushing away the differing parts of Christ’s body, we are getting a really distorted view of who Christ is…if we can see him at all.

James understands.  He has seen the friends of God be enticed by the world to instead be friends of the world.  He has seen how “envy and selfish ambition,” causes there to “be disorder and wickedness of every kind.” 

We have seen it too.  We have seen how a dispute over who inherits grandpa’s violin causes a compete rupture in relationships.  We have seen how companies’ lust for profits causes it to overuse and overextend and plain steal the hours and lives of those who work for them.  We have seen it again and again in big ways and small ways how envy and ambition destroy.  It always ends the same, in complete destruction of relationships, dropping us all into utter despair.  We need a doctor.

Luckily for us, James serves as our holy doctor, He diagnoses us asking: “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?  You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.”

And, it all lead to the same place; a desolate existence of destruction and loneliness. 

There has got to be a better way!  There has got to be a way of living this thing that God has given us which is called “life” that is a whole lot more…well…full of life. 

There is, according to James.  And, it goes back to that promise that we already talked about.  “Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.”

Maybe, if we could somehow lay aside the desire to be friends of the world we would remember that we were given the absolute, unearned gift of being friends with God.  And, as we remember that we are friends of God, we draw near to God, and God to us, like magnets that absolutely belong together, whose ends stick right together, we were just turned the wrong way.

Have you ever considered that being friends with Jesus might mean not caring if you get the last word?  Have you ever considered that being friends with Jesus might mean giving of yourself rather than taking from others?  You do not care about being right or amassing more and more when you are a friend with Jesus.  Instead, you care mostly about being gentle and wise. 

As James instructs, “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”

His instruction to us makes me think about a time when the disciples of Jesus were walking along, and they got in an argument regarding who was the greatest of all of them.  In other words, if Jesus were killed today, who would get to be in charge?  After they arguing over this for a bit Jesus responds, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then Jesus took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” 

“Do you want to know who gets to be in charge after I go?” Jesus asks in essence.  The one who is “peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy,” in other words, the one who loves and serves the least and lowest of all of us. 

This is what wisdom of all about.  This is what being a friend of God all is about.  This is what it looks like when you have drawn near to God and God has drawn near to you.

And over the years, we have heard this same truth ring out again and again from wise people, so I recount some of them today:

Let there be peace on earth. And let it begin with me.

- Jill Jackson Miller

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

- St. Francis of Assisi

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

- Mother Teresa

And, James adds his own wisdom to the list.  Do you want to live in a world of peace?  Here is at least a place to start.  “Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.”  After-all, God is the author of everlasting peace.

Reflection on James 3:1-12

 

James says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.  For all of us make many mistakes.” 

Given that, I have to tell you that in the subdued, reflective state that I have been in lately, it is hard for me not to tell you all of the times that I have said something stupid and hurtful to other people.  In particular, I could probably go in to detail about all of the times that I have said something completely idiotic right here from the pulpit.  I am glad that I have smart congregation members who can tell the difference between Jira Albers and Jesus Christ, not that that is very hard.  I cannot even grow a beard.

So, I am not going to list all of the times I have said dumb, hurtful things, because that will just launch you into recounting times that you have done the same, and I know that we all want to be to lunch at a reasonable time.  Yes, I know that you could share the same also because James bluntly states, “All of us make many mistakes.”

It is true.  All of us make many mistakes.  But, we cannot just leave it right there.  We cannot just throw up our hands and agree that everyone is an idiot and no one knows anything at all, because that just simply is not true.  I happen to know a lot about the book of Matthew in the Bible.  You could say that I am sort of an expert on the book of Matthew.  So, it would be throwing away a gift of knowledge from God for me to not open my mouth. 

But, do you know what I will not talk about?  I will not ever talk about how microchips function.  Why?  Because, I have no clue.  My smart phone is just a little box of video magic for all I know. 

Nor will I talk about what it is like to be poor in the Congo, or pretty much dirt poor in any other nation in the world.  Why?  Because, I have no idea what it is like, or what the challenges these people face.  I cannot speak for them, nor can I formulate even a basic plan regarding how to overcome any of their problems.  Sometimes, the best thing that you can do in a conversation is to simply be silent.

Early on in the show, the Good Place, you meet this Buddhist monk who finds himself in paradise along with other good people.  Even in eternity he keeps his vow of silence, and in doing so comes across as wise, peace-filled, and all-knowing.  Then, the vow breaks and we get to hear the words of his tongue.  He should have kept his mouth shut, because we discover he is no closer to wisdom than anyone else. 

Surely you have heard the phrase, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt." 

Similar to this phrase is the wisdom that I was given regarding being a Christ-like presence for people who are suffering.  “98 percent of caring for another person in grief or emotional distress is listening, and the other 2 percent is not saying something stupid.”

How true this is though.  Once someone with a good heart came up to woman in grief, wrapped their arms around her shoulders and remarked, “Well, at least he is in a better place.”  Do you know what the woman snapped back?  “You know what would be a better place?  Is him being healthy right next to me!”  The scene was just a mess of grief and tongues that did not know what to say. 

Oh, how strong the unbridled tongue can be!  James says that the tongue is like the very small rudder on a ship.  With even a small movement of that little rudder, the pilot can move a large ship wherever he desires.  With the small movement of the tongue, an entire nation can go to war.  With the small movement of the tongue, people who were once friends for years can be divided in mere seconds.  With a small movement of the tongue you can go from being at the height of your career to crashing into joblessness.

“How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!”  James teaches.  “And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” 

How true James, how true. 

If you have not found a way to tame your own tongue, than there is no hope that you are going to be able to tame the misguided and lying tongue of your brother-in-law’s cousin’s uncle over the course of a conversation on social media.  Sometimes, it is just best to let it go and scroll on.  After-all, it is Jesus who reminds us in Matthew 15:11 that “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”  Just do not let it come out in the first place.

Sometimes, the best biblical advice I can give to someone is to just be quiet and let it go. After-all, James reminds us that we will all eventually say something that we will regret.

And, that could be a nice and tidy sermon right there.  “Go in peace, don’t say something stupid!”  But, James does not stop right there.  He cannot stop right there, because God does not stop right there.  Jesus does not tell us to follow him right into a closed room where we cannot possibly inflict any tongue lashing damage upon the world.  After Jesus death and resurrection, it is Jesus who enters the locked room of the fearful disciples and encourages them to believe, and leave, and live.

Never forget, just as evil comes from the tongue, so does good.  The good news of resurrection and forgiveness and new life is preached from the tongue. 

James says, “With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father.”  With our tongues we sing praises to God.  With our tongues, poetry drips words that paint and recreate God’s beautiful creation.  With our tongues, love is professed from balconies and forgiveness is granted.  From the cross, Jesus gives the repentant thief words that heal in a time of torture, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” 

Of course, Jesus could have cursed the thief for a wasted life.  “A little late to come around huh?”  Jesus could have rightly said that.  He could have, as James says, cursed “those who are made in the likeness of God.”  But, he did not, because they rea people made in the likeness of God.  They are loved by God.  And, the tongue is a gift from God that is intended to bring God’s blessing, not a curse.

In reality we use it to both bless and curse, but James hopes that it might not be so.  “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?”  Of course not!  “Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs?”  Ridiculous!  “No more can salt water yield fresh.”

So, how do we know if the words rolling off of our tongues come from the heart or belong in the sewer?  Well, if you are a friend of God, and not a friend of the world, then you will remember that the Bible says that “God is love.”  And, if God is love, then love dictates anything that the tongue says.

The apostle Paul says it the best:

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. (1 Corinthians: 13:1-8)

May Christ use your tongue to speak the word of love that never ends.

 

Reflection on James 2:1-17

 

Some of the most fun that techies (the guys and girls who run the lights, and sound, and handle scenery) have during a live show is quietly commenting on what they see before and during the performance.  In particular, techies love to comment on audience members, over their confidential headsets, as the audience members try to find their seats. 

There is always the blue haired lady that actually has blue hair. 

There is always the walrus man with the bushy mustache, parted in the middle. 

There is always someone who does not know their left from their right as they search for minutes on end trying to find their seats.  Could we talk to the house manager over our confidential headsets and have them send someone to help?  Absolutely!  Do we?  Not a chance.  It is cheap, comedy gold every night.

Sometimes the quiet banter over the headsets extends to commenting on those on the stage, especially when hosting a performance from people renting the stage; like the high school band.  Once, the local high school band was performing on the stage, and I was in charge of lights.  Next to me was my jovial friend on the sound board.  We had a blast together as we laughed whenever the pointy nosed girl would bob her head to the beat while waiting for her musical entrance.  She looked like a chicken pecking at food.  There was the fourth chair trumpeter who always came in a beat to late…every single time.  And, then there was Penguin Boy. 

Penguin Boy was the awkward kid on the clarinet who wore a tattered black and white tux with shoes that were four sizes too big for his feet.  He stumbled on his way to his place, waddling in his too big shoes, just like a penguin.  He waddled from side to side as he turned to face forward and take his seat, just like a penguin.  It was snicker worthy moment in the middle of a long, boring school program. 

And, I do not know if you have ever heard a penguin with their alternating low honks and then quick sharp squeaks…did I mention that he played the clarinet, badly?  Do not worry, if you have never heard a penguin.  After this kid’s performance of amateur clarinet tones accented by squeaks, you would know exactly what a penguin sounds like. 

For bored techies during a high school performance, Penguin Boy was comedy gold.  If we could have offered a belly laugh, there is no doubt that we would have done so.  But, we were professionals, keeping the enjoyment at the typical quiet, enjoyment only for those on headset tone.  Everyone else would be oblivious to the conversation.

Funny that I mention everyone being oblivious to the conversation; little did we know that someone in the old, unused sound booth way above the audience, days prior was trying to make the speakers in that room work.  They wanted to turn the space into a cry room and wanted parents to still be able to hear.  And, also, little did we know, that they left those speakers on, at full volume, with the window to the auditorium left open.

“Shut up!  Everyone can hear you!” a 14 year old girl whispered violently at us, pulling our headphones off of one of our ears.  “And, just so know,” the girl glared at me, “Penguin Boy’s family doesn’t have any money.  He bought those shoes himself.  They were all he could find last minute.  We love our Penguin Boy.” 

Did you know that cushioned headphones snapping back over your ears can hurt, a lot, especially if done by a really mad 14 year old girl?  The high school band did not book our theatre the next year.

How easy it was to look down on the poor kid with a tattered tux and too big shoes. 

“If a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” 

James’ words cut deep for guys like me who look down on others, as if they were God’s comedy gold acts, created just for my entertainment consumption.  How easy it is to look down.  How easy it is to forget that the lowly are not created for comedy, or servitude, or objects to be used in political banter, or fillers of shadowed seats.  In fact, the Bible says things are quite the opposite.

“Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters,” James continues.  “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?

James echoes the truths of God sung by the Psalmist so many years before, who reminds us that the Lord “gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.  The Lord sets the captive free.  The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.  The Lord cares  for the stranger; the Lord sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.” 

Who knew that the Lord’s frustration would be carried out by a righteous 14 year old girl against the side of my head?  But, someone had to do it.  Someone had to stop the injustice.  Someone had to stop the unholy mocking of those whom God cares about the most.

Someone needs to point out to us “Christians” of the church that everyone in the room can definitely tell when we enter into immediate conversation with those visitors who present themselves well, and when we spare only a glancing smile at the one with dirty clothes and loud children.  James looks us square in the eye, and wants to know: “Are you friends of the world, or friends of God?” 

Friends of the world notice the fine clothes and the nice rings and think to themselves “how nice it would be to have these people in our faith community.”  Friends of the world hide the unsightly people, fearing that those in the fine clothes and nice rings would take themselves, and their precious money elsewhere.  How we fear what those with money will and will not do.

Instead of looking down on those who try to sway people with their money and influence, and who will readily to sue any one of us when they are offended, friends of the world look down on those who have not “made it” in the world. 

This is a big deal for James.  And, he makes it a big deal because it is a big deal for God.  God cares about the lowly.  God cares about those who struggle in life. 

Notice, that for James it is not just our unmerciful actions toward the lowly that God hates, but also our thoughts.  When we favor the rich over the poor James questions, “have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” 

Even our thoughts which quietly disregard and criticize, but do not actually do any harm, are considered offenders of God.  After-all, breaking the law of God is breaking the law of God, whether it is for murder, or it is for ignoring Jesus’ rule: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

But, what a gift to the world are the friends of God.  After-all, friends know each other.  Friends know each other’s likes and dislikes.  The friends of God know who God cares about. 

Looking at her children sleeping in the backseat of the car, the mother would have never thought she would be in this place.  All it took was one angry threat of divorce out of her husband’s lips and one punch with his fist, and here she is.  It is day two of living in a car without a shower, or sink, or stocked pantry, or clothes.  She did not even think to grab her purse or shoes before she fled. 

The church sign says it offers a meal every day.  “All are welcome,” it reads.  “Yah right,” she thinks to herself.  It sounds nice, but she knows it is not true.  After-all, she was once a church member too.  She knows what she thought of those down of their luck.  This was not her church, but they are all the same in their judgment; she was certain.  But, the kid’s stomachs are groaning, so she chooses to go in anyway.

As she and the kids enter the church hall, grimy and probably smelly, you cannot tell these things after a couple of days, she is greeted by an elderly man in a fine suit.  “Miss, may I take you and your children to the seat prepared for you?”  He smiles at the kids and gives them each a lollipop from his suit pocket.

“Yes please,” she says, self-conscious about her bare feet on a dining room floor.  She and the kids follow the man through the tables dressed with fine linen cloths and crystal glasses waiting to be filled. 

“We have a fine chicken parmesan with herb crusted potatoes and chicken tenders for the kids if they would prefer.”  As he talks the gentle man unfolds a napkin for her and the children and pours some water into the crystal glasses. 

“My kids might dirty these nice tablecloths,” she stammers apologetically, amazed to be treated so richly. 

“Stained tablecloths are signs of full bellies.  We like to see both.  Your food will be served shortly.”

She was treated with something she had not expected: dignity.  She was treated as if she were an equal, even more than an equal.  She was served with respect.  She was treated as if Jesus Christ himself was present, welcoming and feeding the hungry.  She was treated by these people of God as a “friend of God.” 

In church, not only do we sing, “What a friend we have in Jesus.”  James reminds us that we are friends of Jesus. We are friends of Jesus who love Jesus.  We are friends of Jesus who care about all that Jesus cares about.  James reminds us that we are friends of God whose faith and works are not dead.