When I was in seminary, I served as Youth Director at Kingswood United Methodist Church in Dunwoody, Georgia. For some reason, I was the staff member designated to serve on the missions committee. Maybe I was just a little too busy that day, maybe overloaded with studies, or maybe I was just focused on youth ministry and didn’t want to attend a committee meeting. Either way, I will never forget what happened.
Someone in the meeting pleasantly asked, “Why do we have an evangelism committee and a missions committee at the church?” I blurted out, “I’ll tell you why! We have an evangelism committee to try to reach the people we like and want to come to our church, and we have a missions committee to help the people we don’t want to come to our church.” At that point in my life, I had developed some honesty, but I hadn’t quite added tact to it yet.
This Sunday, we are diving into James chapter 2. James paints a beautiful picture of God’s vision for what the church is supposed to look like. And guess what? God wants the church to be made up of lots of people who wouldn’t normally mix in society. The church is meant to be the place where the haves and the have-nots come together, and the ground is level.
There is a great barrier to any church living up to the high calling that God has for us, to be His people on earth as He intends. That barrier is none other than human nature—also known as sin.
We know we are not supposed to show favoritism in life, and certainly not in the church family.
But we do.
I want to encourage you right now to pause and go find your Bible and read the book of James (wait, don’t do that just yet! Be sure to finish reading this exciting email first!). James is only five chapters, and I’d love for you to pay particular attention to Chapter 2, which we’ll be diving into on Sunday.
I hope to see you in person this Sunday, whether you’re well-dressed or shabbily dressed. I don’t care what you wear, and neither does James. I’m not sure God really cares either—He just wants us all to be together. See you Sunday!
Grace and Peace,
Tom
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