Sermon August 29 and 30, 2009 James 1:17-27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for the orphans and widows in their distress…” Those words from our reading from James stick in my ear. I keep thinking about them. What does that mean? What does that look like? To care for the helpless— --the ones who don’t have any resources or power. To care for those in need. How can we do that day by day? I have a mirror with me this morning. James says we are to be doers of the word, not just hearers. It starts with God’s love for us. We need to hear that good news. But it doesn’t stop there. Having heard God’s word, we are called to do God’s word, to live God’s word. And what is that like? It’s like a mirror. If we hear God’s word, but don’t do it— --it’s like we’re just glancing at the mirror --and then as we go away, we forget what we look like. We forget who we are. When we look deeply in the mirror, when we truly see who we are, then we live our lives as God’s people. Then we follow Christ into service. What do we see when we look deeply in the mirror? Well, one thing we see is that we are sinful. Would you look at the Confession and Forgiveness with me. Let’s read the first 2 sentences: God of all mercy, We confess that we have sinned against You, resisting Your will in our lives. We have not honored You in ourselves, in each other, and in the world You have made. That’s one of the things we see when we look in the mirror. We are sinful. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We miss the mark. We curve in on ourselves. We mess up. We pull away from God. And yet.. And yet… God still loves us. God still forgives us. God looks in that mirror, and sees us through the lens of Christ. We are covered over, as it says in the Bible, with the robe of righteousness that Jesus gives to us. We can’t justify ourselves. We can’t make ourselves worthy of God’s love. We can’t live as God wants us to live. We sin, we mess up again and again. Yet, when God stands next to us and looks in the mirror with us, God sees Jesus’ righteousness covering us, giving us life, giving us forgiveness and hope. Why? Because God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God so loves you, that Jesus came and lived and died for you and for me and for all the world. It’s amazingly good news that Jesus died for me. It’s amazingly good news that Jesus died for you. But it’s also critical for us to hear that God so loved the world. That’s you and me. But not only you and me. So we are not called to form a little club here, to have a holy huddle, keeping us in and everyone else out. We are called to reach out in love to all the world. And James reminds us that, if God loves everyone that much, we are to love each other as God loves us. And we show that in our actions— --especially our actions to those who are outcast and oppressed and poor and alone. People like widows and orphans. And we fail so often. I remember one particular winter day, when we lived in Minnesota. A lot of years ago. And I still remember. We lived in a neighborhood with quite a few retired folks. Warren lived on one side. Mrs. Olson on the other. And there was another lady who I never met, who I think lived alone, perhaps a widow. She lived in a house across the street, one over. It had snowed the night before. There were 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground. I went out and shoveled our driveway. No sons at that stage to share the job with— --or give it to. Then I came back in the house where it was warm. I looked out our big picture window to admire my work. And as I looked out, I glanced across the street. There she was, shuffling out of her door, snow shovel in her hand. She was all wrapped in a wool coat and mittens, Scarf and gloves. She started to scoop snow to the edge of her driveway. I thought to myself, “Why don’t I go over and help her shovel her walk and her driveway. I could get to know her a little bit and help her out at the same time.” But I was just starting to get warm again. It was really cold out there. And besides, I was a busy seminary student, learning things like God’s love, studying for preaching class. The excuses piled up. I took my eyes away from the window and started to read. A while later I looked out again. She was gone—back inside. It was like I just glanced at the mirror— --and then looked away. And when it came time to help the needy— --a neighbor --like the widows and orphans James talks about— --I forgot who I was. I was a hearer of the word— --even a preacher of the word. But in that moment, at least, I wasn’t a doer of the word. Why? Because I forgot who I was. I forgot whose I was. I glanced at the mirror and then, when I looked away, I forgot what I was like. (Verse 23 and 24) So God doesn’t just want us to glance at the mirror, but to look deeper. To remember. To focus. To look again and again. To see that we are created by God. And loved by God. And sent by God. And how do we look in the mirror? Through worship and prayer and Bible reading and small groups and Sunday School and service together. We look in the mirror by listening to one another— --encouraging one another --building up one another --loving one another. Because we have first been loved by God. We look deeply in the mirror and we see, not always clearly, but we see where God is calling us to serve— --serve those in need --serve the orphans and widows. Calvin Miller is a pastor and author who tells about a time when he walked through Children’s Hospital in Omaha. He saw a little boy there, not yet 2 years old, with tubes running in and out of his body— --obviously very, very sick. He asked the nurse about him, and she said: “I want to thank you for asking about him. He’s probably going to die before he’s 2 years old, but the worst part is that his mother died in childbirth and his father’s in the penitentiary. Nobody comes. Nobody visits him. And he just lies there. You’re one of the first to even ask about him.” Calvin Miller walked out of the hospital that day thanking God that his two children were healthy and it wasn’t his baby. And then it seemed like out of the very atmosphere around him, God said: “Yeah, that is your baby.” That is your baby. And yours. And yours. And yours. Because “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress…” And when we look in the mirror deep and long, we see that God loves us. And God loves the whole world. And those things are connected. Because sometimes God loves us through those around us. And sometimes God loves the world around us through us. When we look in the mirror deep and long, we see that the widows and orphans, the poor and the powerless, are part of God’s world. And we see that they are part of our family. And God is calling us to reach out in love to them. Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God’s Love. Look again and again and again and again into the mirror of God’s love— --seeing how God loves you --seeing how God loves the world --seeing how God is sending you to care for all those in need, in your family and your neighborhood and your school and your workplace. In God’s world. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: To care for the orphans and widows in their distress… May the mirror of God’s love guide us to love and serve. In Jesus’ name, Amen