Who

This morning we continue our reflections on the book of James and the issue today is wisdom. Do we know wisdom when we see it? If so, what does it look like? Or we might ask the question differently. Who do we consider to be wise? I imagine that most people think of wisdom in terms of sound knowledge and careful judgment. Wisdom may not mean superior intelligence but we do tend to think of it in intellectual terms, as something that happens largely in the head.

But James doesn’t see it that way. The text begins with the key question: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” James’ answer follows immediately: “Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” Wisdom, then, is less about what a person thinks or says or writes, and much more about how a person lives.[1] Of course, as we’ve already seen, this makes sense for James. For him faith is always about what we do.

Today’s text pictures wise living in terms of our loyalty and obedience. Are we loyal to the ways of the world? “That’s foolishness,” says James. Or do we submit ourselves to the ways of God? Not only is that wise but it draws God’s grace closer to our lives. James paints the difference between loyalty to the world or to God in the starkest tones possible. If we are friends of the world, James says, we are enemies of God. As we’ve seen in these sermons, he pulls no punches because how we live makes a big difference. Let’s read it in James 3.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

That slang phrase goes back at least to the mid-1800s and has the meaning of “I control you.” It’s often used in prison and in gangs as either an expression of “I’m looking after you” or “you are defenseless against me.”[2] But for Red Sox Nation, the phrase will be forever remembered in terms of the 2004 American League Championship Series against the hated New York Yankees.

Can it be two years already? Remember that in September 2004 the Red Sox played two series against the Yankees. After a particularly bad outing, our ace, Pedro Martinez, said this: “I tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy … I can’t find a way to beat them at this point.”

English isn’t Pedro’s native tongue so who knows exactly what he was trying to say. But that sound bite became fodder for New York fans, who from that point on loudly chanted “Who’s your daddy?” whenever Martinez pitched. In fact, during the Championship Series, “Who’s your daddy?” became a virtual mantra of Yankees fans. Major League Baseball even produced t-shirts using the slogan. However, we got the last laugh when the Red Sox staged the greatest comeback in sports history, winning the pennant after being down three games to none. Then Red Sox fans were wearing t-shirts that said “Who’s Your Daddy Now?”[3]

I think “who’s your daddy?” is a James-type question. Who owns us? Who controls us? To whom are we loyal? To whom do we belong? To the world or to God? Let’s think about that for a few minutes today.

We can think about it by considering the many kinds of loyalties we all have or the groups to which we belong. We all belong to a family, of course. Whether or not we know much about your ancestors or are conscious of family traditions, the families into which we are born and raised influence us greatly. We all have racial and ethnic backgrounds which exert powerful influences on how we live. We are citizens of a country — the United States for most but not all of us. We belong to companies or schools or political parties and all manner of teams and organizations and clubs. And if we had time, we could ask the who’s-your-daddy question about all of these things. How do the many things to which we belong influence us? Which loyalties lead us towards godly wisdom and which make us too friendly with the world?

We don’t have time today to think about all the groups or associations to which we belong but I want to think about one that we all have in common, namely that we are part of the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury. I know that not all of you are “official” members of this congregation but by virtue of participation you belong here. I also know that denominational loyalty is far less important today than it was even 25 years ago. And I’m aware that many of you were not raised as Presbyterians. We have a lot of former Catholics here, and all manner of different Protestants, and some who were not raised in any particular religious tradition. I know all of that but to be here, even if just for today, is in some sense to be Presbyterian.

This afternoon at four o’clock at Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia there is a worship service celebrating the tricentennial of Presbyterianism in North America. For it was about this time of year in 1706 that the Reverend Francis Makemie and six other pastors formed the first presbytery on American soil. In other words, Presbyterianism began in America seven decades before the Declaration of Independence and a century before the Lewis & Clark Expedition.[4] There were not a lot of Presbyterians in those days and most were desperately poor and widely scattered.[5] The distances between churches or parishioners were great, horses were scarce, and roads either nonexistent or often impassable. Being a Presbyterian and particularly a Presbyterian pastor were not for the faint of heart. But they pressed on and today we remember the beginning of that first presbytery.

One of the hymns they will sing today at Old Pine Street church was written to mark this 300th anniversary, a hymn entitled “We Look to You, O Jesus” by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. You received a copy of those words with your bulletins this morning and I’d like you to find that insert now. In fact, I think we should sing this hymn. It goes to the familiar hymntune of Lancashire.

It’s a good hymn, not a great one, but it does express the character of what it means to be Presbyterian. Of course, the Presbyterian way of being Christian is not the only way and it is not a very common way in New England. I heard recently that Presbyterians here represent just one-half of one percent of the population. So our witness here is small but I think important nonetheless.

I like the hymn when it said, “Perfecter of the faith, Lord, we look to you each day; We work for peace and justice, we worship, learn and pray.” That’s what we try to do at the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury, expressed in our tagline, Upward, Outward, Onward.”

• Outward: we work for peace and justice in many and various ways.

When we do these things we are sowing in peace what James would call a harvest of righteousness. These things are what being a Presbyterian Christian is all about.

Of course, it’s easier to talk this than to walk it. So we have to keep asking the who’s-your-daddy question to make sure we’re not talking about belonging to God when in fact we are living according to the world.

I’ll close with this. A few weeks ago Merrie and I went to the organizational meeting for all the churches and groups participating in this year’s CROP Walk which, as Merrie mentioned in the minute for mission today, is coming up on October 15th. CROP Walks are sponsored by Church World Service, one of the best helping organizations working today. The director of Church World Service in the United States was there and said that they are now focusing on water. We take it for granted. We go to the tap and have all that we want and it’s clean and safe and good. Not so in most of the developing world and Church World Service is working harder than ever to build wells so millions can have at least a little of what we have in abundance. There is no life without water.

He told about visiting a village in Africa where they were hoping to build a well. Another Church World Service staff member was there talking with the villagers about what they did for water. This staff member was a big man, well over six feet, and since we’re working in the book of James, we’ll call him Jim.

Jim asked a woman from the village how far they had to go to get water. She replied that the river was about a mile and a half away. In an unguarded moment, a moment Jim came to sincerely regret, he said softly to another staff member, “A mile and a half. That’s not so far.” But the village woman heard what Jim said.

In a very quiet voice she said, “You’re right. A mile and a half is not so far to go for water and it’s all down hill. But, of course, it’s all up hill coming back.”

“Yes, it’s not so far,” she said, “but the jars weigh more than forty pounds when filled with water and they are difficult to carry.”

“Yes, it’s not so far. But it’s the 12-year old girls that have to get the water before they go to school in the morning and then some of them can’t get to school on time.”

“You’re right. It’s not so far. But the alligators lurk in the river and sometimes the girls are attacked and even eaten alive.”

“A mile and a half is not so far,” the village woman said finally. “But even when we get the water, it is contaminated because the river is polluted.”

Some of the money we raise at this year’s CROP Walk will help build wells because it is too far.

Who’s your daddy, my friend? To whom do we belong? We say that God is our Heavenly Daddy. We say that we belong to God. But James reminds us that it is easy to say and much harder to do. We can’t do everything. But for God’s sake, let’s do more. Let’s be wise and so something so that God might draw near us and work through us.

[1] Walter Brueggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, James D. Newsome, Texts For Preaching, Year B (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1993) 519.

[2] See http://www.answers.com/who's your daddy, Internet, 1 Aug. 2006. “I’m looking after you” may derive from the term “sugar daddy,” and in many contexts can have sexually suggestive undertones. The “you are defenseless” connotation may allude to abusive parental dominance and authority or control by other members of a group or association. Sometimes “who’s your daddy?” is an insult questioning as person’s parentage.

[3] Red Sox fans reversed the phrase on the Yankees and 2004 World Series opponent St. Louis Cardinals by chanting “Who’s your Papi!,” a reference to ALCS MVP David Ortiz, who was affectionately known as “Big Papi.” Power hitter Ortiz hit the RBIs that won two ALCS games in extra innings.

[4] In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson picked Meriwether Lewis as commander of expedition. Lewis invited William Clark to join him and share command. The expedition began on May 14, 1804.

[5] Lefferts A. Loetscher, A Brief History of the Presbyterians (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958) 54. Also see Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People, vol. 1 (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1975) 331-337.

[6] The 300th anniversary of American Presbyterianism was celebrated on October 1, 2006, in Philadelphia at Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church. The first presbytery was formed in Philadelphia by Francis Makemie and six other pastors in 1706. To mark the anniversary, hymn writer Carolyn Winfrey Gillette wrote “We Look to You, O Jesus.” Gillette is the author of Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today’s Worship (Geneva Press) and co-pastor of the Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, DE. The hymn is sung to the hymntune Lancashire composed by Henry Thomas Smart in 1835.