True Religion

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

The True Religion–Personal Note

What a beautiful experience it was for my mother and I to stand at my father’s bedside a couple of nights ago. His breathing had been labored. Then it was very shallow. And finally it slowed down. And then it was no more. There was no struggle, by that time. No pain, there. No fear. No regrets. There was a sense that we had done what we were to do, that he had done what he was to do, and that now the time had come. There was relief, and the question, what do I do next?

It was the end of a long process, that evening – many processes, I guess. One process began when we had heard the diagnosis of terminal cancer in January of this year. As I have mentioned to you before – Dad’s response then was, “I have lived a long time – longer than I expected to – and I am ready.” And that was pretty much his approach from then on. There were bumps and changes, questions and concerns, but no real wavering.

But how you get to that confidence, had begun much earlier. You can’t just adopt that kind of confidence in face of the end. No, it is result of lifetime of worship, family devotions, and acts of faith in God’s providence and care. That process started when my Dad was a little boy and continued on in his adult life, as a hard worker and as a parent and grandparent. And that process concluded with the silent confidence when he died.

Questions about faith loom large for the church today. We seem to be more and more divided into conflicting camps – conservative/liberal – activist/not. I wonder if these conflicts don’t sometimes immobilize God’s people. And we may be asking at times the biblical question, What is true religion? Today’s scripture readings ask that basic question. And although we may think about the meaning of faith on a different level than the scripture passages we read today, I would have to nominate the faith I saw demonstrated in the life and death of my father as true religion. One expression of true religion is surely the ability to live – with life’s ups and its downs – to play the deck that one has been dealt – living with faith and dignity – even to the end.

Questions of True Religion

But there are other levels, too. Years ago I remember hearing my father evaluate the theology of one of his neighbors. Apparently the neighbor had been bragging, or at the least expressing his own theology, by saying that since he was saved and so he did not sin anymore. The way I remember my Dad’s comment, it went along the line: You had better watch your pocketbook when someone thinks they cannot sin anymore. Don’t trust them!

What is true religion? Is it to be perfect before God and before other humans? Surely not! If we had to be perfect, who could stand?

Our Questions vs. Biblical Questions

But my Dad’s question about his neighbor is not necessarily your question. What do you ask? We are not necessarily used to asking the question in the same way as those of Jesus’ day or those of the early church, either. But perhaps we can still benefit from the answers we find in the New Testament.

The Epistle of James, in good Hebraic fashion, emphasizes the doing of good – especially to those who are most vulnerable in society. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this,” says James, “to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” It is clear what charity means toward the most vulnerable and needy in our society.

It is probably not as easy to be sure what it means to keep oneself unstained by the world. How would you go about that? Aren’t we a part of the world around us? We live in it. The ideas and the aspirations of the world around us shape who we are – regardless of our own faith and beliefs. It would be hard to be untouched by the world, wouldn’t it?

Earlier in the discussion, James, also, spoke of bridling one’s tongue – that is watching very carefully what we say, as well as what we do. That is true religion? Are being charitable and being careful – the real measures of faith? What about going to church and being involved in the life of the church – Singing in the choir? Teaching Sunday School? Working on church committees? Are they also acts of true religion? We expect acts of piety and involvement to be the measure of faith.

Piety in Jesus’ world

Jesus lived in a community in which acts of piety were deeply ingrained into everything that one would do. There were ways to wash pots and pans, ways to wash one’s hands, ways to do and not to do almost every conceivable thing in daily life. These were all considered observances of faith. And surely some people must have been convinced that these observances were what true religion is really about.

But, for Jesus the issue is results. The things that flow from our lives are what matter. The way we treat one another, the way we live our lives in the world, the things we stand for, and those we stand against. Those are the acts of piety that Jesus wants of us.

Questions for us

So, what are the religious questions before us today? What are you concerned about? And where do you go for the answers? Surely the words of Scripture are a helpful place to start. But most of us are not asking the questions that the answers of scripture are answering built around.

For instance, I can’t remember the last time a question came up about defiled food or hands – not as a religious question. Perhaps as a question of health or sanitation. But not as a question about our relationship to God – more likely as a question about our relationship to avoiding an emergency room or the doctor’s office. So our questions are not the biblical ones. But Jesus’ concern that the good will issue forth from a good soul, and James’ answer about caring for the needy are still relevant for us.

Other Examples

It’s too bad you didn’t know me when I was just out of seminary. That was the time I could have given you the answer without wavering – absolutely. I knew what true religion was. I had all the answers.

Of course that was before I had ever experienced the major issues of life. I had not known the death of a spouse or a parent, or anyone I had been close to. I had not yet been a parent. I was mostly still rebelling against my own parents, although they had begun to have a little sense again. But I could have told you for certain what true religion is. It is found in the 25^th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (the chapter about Jesus dividing the sheep from the goats on the basis of how they did things like giving water to the thirsty, and food to the hungry, and visiting the sick and those in prison.

And in those days, I knew what to do, too. I would bang people over the head with this scripture. If you don’t match my standards, you were unfortunately one of the goats and not one of the sheep like us. Well, that was before I experienced the major things of life.

I still believe that Jesus offers us a great pattern for our lives in that parable, but he offers great patterns in much that he speaks – things like the beatitudes: blessed are the meek, and blessed are the peacemakers, and blessed are those that mourn, and blessed are those who are persecuted unjustly. Biblical faith cannot be reduced to a few responses. That’s what the Pharisees were trying to do: reduce religion to proper responses. That’s the reason Jesus was on their case so often. True religion cannot be so reduced.

Mantras of guilt that rely on certain political positions may only leave people ashamed. They may offer no hope. But people need hope – the kind of hope that my Dad lived by – that many of you live by. And so they need to hear good news for their own lives as well as for the life of the world. They need to be reminded that things can be different. So if there are any out there who would like to bang the rest of us over the head with guilt, don’t do it. Lead us – teach us– with the humility Jesus had. Real religion is complex.

Some people are as certain as I was, only about different things. Perhaps they emphasize the matter of proper belief and proper words. But we will not be saved by words and beliefs alone. They need to be incarnate – they need to have legs and breath. Faith without action is dead. This is a primary teaching of the book of James. And we do well to pay attention to the words of James. He does not say that by doing the right things we somehow deserve God’s gifts, but that by saying and doing right, we prove the faith and make it live.

Christians of the right and of the left look askance of one another. But both have the possibility of being more concerned about the human tradition of which they are a part than about proclaiming the Good News of God to a needy world. The Realm of God is never about human tradition, it is about the offer from God to the world that all of life can be different.

What are the questions of faith that you bring, members of First Congregational Church? And where will you find the answers? I encourage you to work at the ways you can share your faith with one another– at ways you can encounter the Scriptures together – at ways you can explore questions of faithfulness together – so that in your life and in the life of the world we may experience the realm of God breaking in. God continues to break into the traditions that any group of people holds dear – and God offers the new life of the Realm of God. Welcome into it. Amen.