The Listening Ear

Thinking about James

I have been working on reading several commentaries on the New Testament book of James in preparation for a sermon series that I am planning for the fall. It’s a book that I haven’t studied seriously before now.

Many student’s of the Bible, recalling Martin Luther’s judgment regarding James that it is an ‘epistle of straw” compared to Paul’s writings, have not known how to approach James. The result is that James is a Biblical book that is often ignore, especially by Lutherans.

Nevertheless, it is a part of the New Testament and that means that the church believes that it is a book that bears witness to the apostolic faith. It is part of the Scriptures accepted as authoritative in the church. That’s the reason I decided I should try to preach on it.

I’ve been discovering some things about James that underscore its value for us. For one thing, Paul and James were writing to two different situations. In several of his letters, especially Galatians and Romans, Paul is contending with opponents who insisted that Gentile Christian converts needed to observe the Jew laws of the Old Testament in order to be true Christians. Paul tells his readers that the law can’t save, that we are justified before God by faith alone.

James, on the other hand, is dealing with a different situation. He is speaking to Christians who have become ‘double-minded.’ They seek to be followers of Jesus while at the same time making friends with the world. James insists that faith must have content, that it necessarily will result in doing good work, in living a life in harmony with God’s law, especially the moral law that calls us to love our neighbor.

It seems to me that James has something to say to our day. There are many who are primarily admirers of Christ. They want the eternal salvation that Christ promises, but they don’t see any connection between faith and the way they live their lives. They don’t really trust Christ to shape the way they live their lives.

Paul has no quarrel with the notion that followers of Christ will do good works. He says that faith will naturally lead to good works. The works, themselves, are a gift of the Spirit working in our lives. That’s the key to understanding James’ emphasis on the need for works to show evidence of our faith. If the Spirit is working in our lives in order to create faith with in us, then the natural consequence of the Spirit’s work is that we do works that are an expression of God’s will for us and in harmony with our faith in Christ.

I am looking forward to this sermon series in the fall. It should be helpful for us all to listen to what James has to say to us. I think we need to hear it.

Another Video Of Anea

Here's a video I created yesterday. It features my granddaughter, Anea and her mother Flor De Liz as the go to dance class at her mother's dance studio. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Anea Goes To Dance Class from Arlyn Norris on Vimeo.

Another Example Of ELCA Disaster Response

Recently, the Western Iowa Synod e-Spirit email newsletter carried an article regarding the work of the ELCA’s Disaster Relief Response. Here’s what they reported: “The ELCA provided $75,000 in humanitarian relief June 26 to help meet the needs of an estimated 3.5 million people displaced from their homes in the Swat region of Pakistan because of recent military actions against the Taliban. The ELCA sent the funds to Church World Service (CWS) which is working to respond to the needs there, organizing distribution of food, non-food relief items and shelter kits that include tents, blankets and groundsheets. Read more on the ELCA Disaster Response Web site <http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/Disaster-Response.aspx” In my opinion, we can’t find a more responsible place to direct our contributions to help those affected by natural and human-caused disasters.

Anea And Seth At The Pool

I have created a brief video of our granddaughter, Anea, and her dad Seth in and around their backyard pool. Here is is for those who might like to watch it.

Anea & Seth At The Pool from Arlyn Norris on Vimeo.

The Next Steps

When St. Paul’s church council met last week, they discussed how to move forward with ministries in general and with the process of discovering the best ways to address our ministry needs. Here’s my summary of what seems to be taking shape.

1. The current members of the facility needs team is being contacted to see how many are willing to continue to serve. I think this is an appropriate time to do that. We shouldn’t assume that people are going to keep the same job forever. On the other hand, I hope that at least most of the team will consent to continue with the process.
3. The council began generating names of persons to add to the facility needs team. They want to include people did not vote for the proposal that was offered to the congregation at its last meeting.
5. While we continue with the discernment process regarding facilities, we want to move forward with our ministry. At its last meeting, the council approved plans to establish a new worship service this fall on Saturday evenings. The next step will be for the worship planning team to recruit musicians for that service and to finish planning the type of service to be offered. Eventually we’ll also want a core group of 50 persons to help the new service get started.
7. A group has been appointed to explore what kind of joint ministries might be possible with Zion. The group hopes to meet soon with representatives from Zion to discuss this.
9. The council also indicated that they want to continue to use Jim Nord as our consultant to help work through what needs to be done next. The council believes that Jim has the skills and the resources to keep us to move toward the plan that will be acceptable to the congregation.

I think that these steps will help us expand and strengthen our ministry in this community and enable us to make progress in coming up with a plan to address our facility needs. I also believe that God continues to guide this process and look forward to the direction that the Lord gives us.

Omaha Arts Festival

I spent some time at the Omaha Arts Festival this last weekend and had a chance to wander through the display booths. There is always a varied collection of works done by regional artists—photography, painting, sculpture, jewelry, fabric creations and lots more. I found a couple of things I like including a photo and a couple of things for gifts.

 I also had the opportunity to listen to several musical groups. The one I enjoyed the best by far was a contemporary Native American group called Brule. They combine some traditional instruments with electric guitar, steel flute, synthesizer and a drum set. 

I see by their schedule that the spend quite a bit of time in Branson, MO so if you think you might like contemporary Native American music, I'd encourage you to check them out.

Here's a link to their website where you can hear what they sound like, although I think they are even better live.

The Lady Of The Pond Is Back

I did some work on my pond yesterday. We have a statue of a lady pouring out of a container that we’ve had for quite a few years. It used to belong to Wanda’s parents, so it has some sentimental value. Any the lady had an accident a year ago. She tipped over on the ice in the winter and it broke her neck. This spring Wanda used bondo to fix her and then painted her again. She turned out pretty good. I got her mounted beside the pond and hooked up the pump so she can pour into the pond. She is solid cement and rather heavy. My back was telling me that I had done a little more lifting that it liked last night. Thankfully it’s feeling better now. Here’s a picture of the statue after she got mounted.

Mission Trip Resource

I don’t know how many of those who read this blog are interested in short-term mission trips, but I recently discovered an new resource that I think will be invaluable for those who are planning such a trip.

The resource is called Round Trip. It is described as ‘a short-term missions documentary and curriculum.

The package includes copies of a leaders and a participant’s guide, but the heart of it is a DVD that features five major video segments, done in a documentary style, that follow two short-term mission teams. One is from North Carolina and the other is from Kenya.

The documentary depicts the fears, challenges and the learnings that each team experiences as they travel to the other’s congregation and community. There are many memorable moments in the video as both Africans and Americans reflect on what happens to them before, during and after the trip.

Andy Crouch, one of the co-creators of the video, describes a vision of round trip mission, where each side is enriched by their bond with the other. The video and the print resources are packed with helpful information and crucial questions for any group planning a short-term mission trip.

You can find out more about the video at this site. I plan to use it with the group who will travel with me to Tanzania next year.

Ordeal Yields Insight-5

Jill Bolte Taylor had come up with a list of 40 things that she believes that she and other victims of stoke need to heal from what has happened to them. I won’t repeat them all hear, but just dip into them and let you look them all up in her book if you are interested. I’d recommend the book and the list to anyone dealing with stroke in their family or circle of friends.

Jill cautions us to remember that stroke victims are not stupid. They are wounded. She says that she desperately need people around her that believed that she would recover completely. Being surrounded by people who are patient, loving, encouraging makes a great difference.

She also stresses how important it is to allow stroke victims to take advantage of the healing power of sleep. They last thing the need is constant overstimulation.

She says that there is a need to start challenging the victim’s brain immediately. Don’t ask yes or no question. Use multiple choice instead.

She also discovered that her recovery was based on breaking every task into smaller, simpler steps. She needed to achieve one very small victory at a time and to celebrate those victories.

There’s more, but I think you get the idea. A stroke is a very serious, life-threatening and life-changing event. Yet, stories like the one Taylor tells give hope for recovery.

Ordeal Yields Insight-6

One of the aspects of Jill Bolte Taylor’s experiences when she suffered a massive stroke are the spiritual facets of that experience.

When her left brain, the seat of judgment and analysis, of language and linear thought was silenced by her stroke, Taylor experienced a profound sense of peace and of oneness with the universe. She discovered that her right brain, which had been dominated for so long by the other side of her brain, was a rich source of love, joy and compassion for the world.

As she recovered from her stroke, Taylor asked herself are there parts of my former self that I don’t really want to recover? She decided that there were personality traits that she no longer wanted.

Her goal has been to recover her sense of her self as an individual, a separate being, without returning the the egotism, the desire to be argumentative, the need to be right, or the fear of separation and death. She wanted to regain her person power in the world without losing the sense of compassion and the perception of the value of all people in the world. She wanted to maintain that connection with the universe even as the individuality of her left brain was restored.

What Taylor seeks is to find a better balance between the two sides of her brain. She believes that too many of us make judgments with our left brain only, and are not willing to step to the right, as she puts it, to be open to the new possibilities that the right brain recognizes.

The right brain thinks ‘out of the box’ because it is not bogged down by the past or fears of the future. The right brain knows only the present and realizes.

Taylor acknowledges that our left brain also contains a set of tools that are very useful to us as well, organize experience, analyzing and making judgments. She simply want us to use both sides of our mind as we live our lives. That was her stroke of insight.