Saturday, September 9, 2023  

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Today’s Scripture Reading 
James 2:14–26

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. (NRSV)

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Reflection
Faith without works is dead. Our Bible reading illustrates how useless faith is when we fail to act. If someone is suffering and you give them a blessing rather than helping, have you done them any good? We need actions with faith, or it grows cold and lifeless.

Aren’t you tired of hearing “I’ll pray for you” or “My thoughts and prayers are with you” and nothing changes? Maybe we are all guilty of this. How often do we forget to even offer the prayers that we promised? Do we consider the prayers enough — it’s now in God’s hands?

Should we stop praying? Of course not! We want and need every prayer that is offered, but we need to follow our prayers with actions. We need to start with prayer, then really look and listen for God’s response and then act. That prayer for a sick friend could be followed by a card, an email, a phone call, a visit, a meal — small gestures that show we care. Praying for peace in our city? Get involved in conversations, run for office, work with community members to help solve problems. Think about your prayers and what you can do, with God’s help, to make things happen.

Several years ago, the comic Prickly City showed Carmen and Winslow on a starlit night, and Carmen asked God how God could allow so many bad things to happen. God responded in a booming voice, from the heavens, “How can you allow it?”

Pray, listen for a response, take action. You are God’s tool to help make things happen.

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Prayer
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord,
if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

Amen.

(prayer text by Daniel Schutte, from his hymn “I, the Lord of Sea and Sky”)

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Reflection written by Linda Gibboney, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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