May 21 2022 Day 347 James 1:1–2:26

For 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?



Several years ago, I was serving at a church in Oregon. I was in the middle of reading the Gospel, standing in the aisle, with two acolytes standing next to me with their lighted candles called torches. Everyone was standing and watching me, or if not me, the Gospel book. In the middle of this, a woman came in to the space with her three kids under 5. She’d been there before once or twice so people recognized her. I doubt anyone knew her name.

She shuffled in, tried to juggle kids to get into the pew and the children were noisy, like small kids are. All eyes turned from me to her. I paused reading, and momently was testy, because she’d interrupted me. But then I noticed all of the others in church and their expressions. They were visibly sneering, exasperated, and looking down their noses. That made my frustration instantly disappear. There’s nothing like your own ugly behavior magnified in others, to point out just how ugly it is.

The mother didn’t understand the cultural norms of the church. Wait until the reading is finished before walking in. Put your children in the nursery instead of having them disrupt others. Don’t look like an exasperated single mother, even if you are.

If the woman who’d come in was well heeled, or the children were not quite so dirty and loud, I fully believe she’d been more welcomed. The congregation had made precisely the judgment James is warning against. The mother did not return, and I cannot blame her.

In contrast, I’ve attended a congregation in a very urban setting, that frequently gets worshippers who are homeless, or clearly in some mental health crisis. The congregation is deeply caring and tolerant. It can be done.

Of course, this plays out in all the places I find myself: in the grocery store, on the street, at work. Why is it that we do that? Why is it people who are poor and disheveled are always the ones who are scorned? How can I avoid that moment of frustration or condescension when I’m faced with someone who doesn’t understand or cannot play by my societal or cultural rules? I absolutely do not know. Perhaps this is where God’s grace comes in. Perhaps it’s acknowledging before I go into the store or church or where ever, that everyone I see is beloved in the eyes of God.

This morning I’m thinking about how to invoke God’s grace before I sneer.