Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22; Psalm 124; James 5:13-20

Over the past two months we have been examining the letter attributed to Jacob, the brother of Jesus, and the message that The Letter of James offers in the way of keys to discipleship. Today’s readings from the fifth of his five chapters is not so much the pinnacle of what Jacob wrote, simply the last things he got to before he stopped. There is no summary of all that has gone before, no conclusion, no wrapping up of loose ends: simply Jacob has laid out his dot points and today we come to the end of his list.

And so today, with no particular order in mind, Jacob  writes in James 5:1-6 of the intransigence of wealth, and of the honesty required from the rich to say that all to which others aspire is not good in the end. Money cannot buy you salvation; this is a central Christian understanding, and Jesus and Paul are as clear on this as Jacob. We hear today that money cannot buy you happiness; and this is also an ancient lesson, known to wise Jews at least since the days of Ecclesiastes and the teacher Qoheleth who taught the same. Jacob instructs the wealthy members of society who are also participants in the local church to confess that having shedloads of money, (remembering that Jesus spoke of bigger barns), is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Jacob also counsels them directly to look at where that wealth has come from. Remember in James 2:7 where Jacob tells local churches to be wary of the wealthy rather than fawning over them? Well, here he addresses the wealthy directly, asking whether their wealth was ill-gotten through corruption, injustice, and exploitation of the poor. Do you have anything to confess to your sisters- and brothers-in-faith? God looks for justice and God has heard the complaints of the downtrodden against the unjust, the unmerciful and the exploitative. What has God Said to you about the things you possess, and which possess you?

The section from the Jewish Traditions set for us today comes from the climax of the story of Esther. In assorted verses from Esther 7 and Esther 9 we hear about an arrogant and corrupt official who offered bribes against an honest man, and who is discovered and executed. Haman’s wealth and position did not protect him from his comeuppance, but they might have allowed him to do remarkable things if his attitude had been different. Haman chose poorly, Jacob encourages those of his hearers who have wealth and influence in the world, including some of us in this room, to use what we have for the good of the Church and the world, and not for our own selfish and fruitless pursuits. Back in Esther, we hear about the ever-reliable Mordecai and how he recorded all that took place in Susa so that the celebration of deliverance wouldn’t be forgotten. Here is a man using his position as an opportunity to do a good thing.

In Psalm 124 there is another reminder that it is God alone who saves, and that God’s salvation is complete. In a reading suitable for Purim, and the remembrance of Esther and Mordecai, the story of God’s people is that the inevitability of annihilation became an opportunity for victory, total rescue came about with not one soul lost. Similarly, Jacob wrote in James 5:7-12 of how followers of the Way of  Christ can wait for God in patient confidence that God is faithful and true. More than that, a future left in God’s hands and with an ear to God’s word of instruction in the Present, is a secure future. Even if you have been exploited and were the receiver of unjust action, says Jacob, anxiety and irritability are not necessary. Enjoy each other’s company in the Church without envy. Allow the wealthy to apologise, if they offer; live like Job with patient hope and endurance. God knows what you have been though, and God also knows what you have put and are putting others through; God hears everything you say, so don’t you become unmerciful either. God’s call for the exploiters and thieves to repent is not a licence for the survivors to enact revenge and extract punitive reparations. Be faithful in conversation and honest at all times. Be so dependable at your word that oaths and public curses would not be required of you: let it be such that everyone trusts you to speak the truth at all times because that is all you have ever done.

And finally, in James 5:13-20 we read Jacob’s exhortation towards faith in action. Here we get gritty teaching and practical tips on the ways in which the local congregation should go about the work of being “The Church.”  Remembering the tradition that The Letter of James was written by the first bishop of Jerusalem, whatever that means for you in terms of Church History, I’d say we can take Jacob as a man who knows what he’s talking about. “Ask the elders” says Jacob; there’s a promising idea. Over the past fifteen months I have been encouraging you at St Matthew’s to look for and identify your leaders, and to pray for them. We are working within the Uniting Church’s idea that the Elders are people who bring spiritual discernment and the wisdom of God to church council meetings, keeping the administrators on the path of God even as we seek to execute with good governance our necessary business. We also have pastoral carers, who don’t do management but do bring care, and who actively follow up those who have been cared for, making sure that what is decided at a council meeting doesn’t cause harm to those in delivery or receipt of our ministry. As we consider the future of our traditions, and the kind of church that Stawell will need us to be for them in the future, let’s everyone continue to look for leaders and to encourage them to lead. Let those who know how to do the stuff, do the stuff. Who are they who pray for the sick and expect God to heal? Any of you can pray, even you; however Jacob advises us to invite others into our praying, and that we pray in pairs and teams and friendship circles as a sign of faith and belonging. I commend to you the activities of loving, laughing, and lamenting in public. Continue to share life with your brother-sisters in church so that all are built up in family and confidence in the God who is visibly active in our midst. And look for those who are straggling and struggling, and go in grace to them to help them and seek to restore them to God and to fellowship. Continue to pray (with prayer) for the worn out, the worn down, and those Jacob refers to as the spiritually weak (James 5:15).

Our task as Church in Stawell is to bring to each other and to the people of the Grampians the means of spiritual healing. This is the work of prayer and visitation that Jacob wrote about, because as The Message translation renders James 5:20, to do so may prevent an epidemic of wandering away from God.

God is calling us, through your prayerful discernment, and what you see in front of you as the crying needs of our city, to be something new. Our buildings will be altered in the coming year, with new lighting and heating, which will lead to opportunities for new activities and new people to use these spaces and places, away from Sunday. God continues to call this congregation, as small groups, as pairs and individuals, to minister with our gifts into our opportunities. My work in the coming year as a team player and Elder on Church Council, and as one of the Champions of Change working closely and specifically with a sub-committee on the Tradition with a Future outcomes, will be to equip and encourage you as you engage with community as bridges and lights and doors between God and the lost. Get ready to get busy, because Jacob the brother of Jesus left you, and me, with no other option. So, let’s get amongst it. Amen.