thoughts about labels

The teachers at school and some of our friends have been doing a Bible study on James Thursday nights. If you don´t know the book of James, I suggest you check it out... it´s right after Hebrews and a couple before Revelation. It also happens to be a book that I enjoy a lot and find very encouraging. It is very practical.

The study has been really good, we work slowly and really think about little details (it took us 3 weeks to finish the 1st chapter!). Alright, maybe a little slow, but we have gotten into some good, deep conversations. John the 4th grade teacher, leads the study, and I really enjoy his insights as well as thorough research.

So last night we started with the end of the 1st chapter, which is a really good part. I like James a lot because it is very practical. James is a present tense kind of person, and he is all about action. Last week I gave my teacher devotion on the Kingdom of Heaven being here, now... and James definitely talks a lot about religion now.

Last night, though, I had an interesting question. To finish the first chapter, James talks about ¨religion that is acceptable to the Father.¨ He says be careful about what you say, you need to control your tongue... because through your tongue you deceive yourself and other people. Then he says that this religion that God approves of is looking after orphans and widows, and then not being polluted by the world.

I´d like to put ¨polluted by the world¨ aside for the moment and think about this true religion, or religion that God approves of. What does James say it is? He says it is service. It makes me think of Matthew 25 when Jesus separates the sheep and the goats, He acknowledges the people who loved their neighbors, who served Him, who gave the littlest of these brothers of mine to eat, or drink, shelter, clothes, and their time. What does James say is religion acceptable to God? Caring for the least of these brothers of mine.

Ok, that´s all background for my interesting question... or maybe I´ll turn my interesting question into a statement-- James doesn´t say that Christianity is religion that God accepts. He doesn´t use any label when he talks about acceptable religion. In other words, James does not ¨name¨ the correct religion. He merely characterizes it by saying it is service to others.

Now I am no scholar, and haven´t done much research in preparing a simple blog entry, but I did want to go into it a little more. James starts the letter with a greeting to the 12 tribes of Israel, the descendants of Abraham. He is writing to the Jewish people. He uses a lot of Jewish references, the letter has a heavy Jewish influence. Does that mean he is saying the Judaism is the religion that is acceptable to God?

And I have to say no. While his letter is heavily influenced by Judaism, James makes no reference to any name in this passage about acceptable and honorable religion. He just says that it is all about service.

One word or phrase that I have been hearing a lot, or maybe I´m just starting to notice it a lot, is... ¨As Christians we need to...¨ and inevitably continuing about doing the right thing. What bothers me isn´t so much the things people say we need to be, but more the inflected attitude that everyone else is wrong. If you don´t have this label, you are out.

In our study we also touched a lot on how not all Christians live the life they should, and how many are hypocrites and taint the label of ¨Christian.¨ I do agree with that a lot, history and the present give us many examples of ¨Christians¨ doing horrible things. On Facebook (because everything is real if it is on Facebook, hahaha), I have my ¨religious beliefs¨ space say ¨Christ Follower¨ instead of ¨Christian.¨ A lot of that is because there are many Christians I don´t want to be associated with. It is also because of this attitude of ¨we Christians are better than all the rest of you.¨ And all jokes aside about Facebook, it is how I feel. I don´t want to be associated with many of the attitudes that ¨Christians¨ have.

And then we have what James writes... that religion God accepts is in actions, not in a label. I use ¨Jesus Follower¨ because for me, that is what I want to do. I want to follow Jesus. What did Jesus do? He loved His neighbors, He served those around Him. Funny enough, I don´t think he labeled His religion either... He just loved others and talked about His father, God.

Of course this lack of a label runs into a bunch of questions and problems. It´s not nice and neat like you would want a service on Sunday morning. So if no ¨label¨ or ¨brand¨ is correct, how can ¨Christianity¨ be any better than ¨Jesus Follower,¨ or ¨Jew,¨ or ¨Muslim,¨ or ¨Buddist,¨ or ¨Worshipper of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?¨

James writes that religion acceptable to God, our Father, is caring for orphans and widows. Can´t all those other people do that too?

Jesus said that whether you gave the least of these food, water, clothes, shelter, visited them, or cared for them, you did it for Him. Can people with other labels do all those things too? If they did, would they end up on the ¨sheep¨ side that He chooses to go to Heaven?

I could keep going, and keep throwing out questions and implications... and also inevitably disturb people more and more (I´m sure some of you are reading and not really enjoying my making a mess of the ¨Christian¨ label). Each faith group has more thoughts about belonging, how their members should act, and how to get in the club. Those have obviously developed and changed (or become strengthened) by different cultures and through generations and thousands of years of practice.

I don´t want to end saying that having a label is bad. I think as people we need labels to be more organized and help us understand and draw differences. Over centuries these religious labels have become something we cannot change or remove from our societies.

But I do want to challenge us all, with whatever label we wear, to think about what James and Jesus tell us. James and Jesus don´t put labels on people. James and Jesus encourage us, in the present moment and always, to live a life of love towards those around us. Your attitudes and actions are what are acceptable to God, not wearing the right shirt or saying you are Mac or Windows, Yankees or Phillies, gringo or catracho, Christian or Buddhist.

Do you love the people around you? Don´t look at your label, look at your actions.