What will we be? [James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a - Proper 20B]

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The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

What will we be?

 

I remember exactly where I was when I realized this virus was serious.  I was in my car, pulling out of the parking lot of First Baptist, when the voice on the radio declared that the NCAA had canceled March Madness, the extraordinarily popular college basketball tournament.  That’s a billion dollars.  No one, especially not the NCAA, throws away a billion dollars – unless they absolutely have to. 

 

In the days that followed, cancelations and closures piled up.  And pretty soon, the world was on hold.  Our clocks kept ticking, but there were no longer appointments.  We stilled crossed off the days on the calendar, but our calendars were empty.

 

March of 2020 was eighteen long months ago.  What seemed at first an unwelcome interruption, a short inconvenience, became a pandemic slog.  I shed tears of disbelief when the virus interfered with our Easter plans – the first time, Easter of 2020, less than a month in.  Because I couldn’t believe we were still living in the shadow of the sickness.

 

The earliest estimates suggested an inconceivable death toll.  Early in the pandemic, the CDC estimated that more than 100,000 people would likely die from the virus – even with some intervention.  Those horrific early estimates turned out to be wishful thinking.  The death toll kept growing until it became almost abstract.  Almost seven times that many people in our nation have died of COVID – and the total is still growing.  There were almost 2000 new deaths on Tuesday – according to the CDC, the highest one-day total since February.[1]

 

Our world changed a year and a half ago.  And whether we recognize it or not, we have changed with it.  No one is immune. 

 

We have learned things about ourselves.  We have learned, perhaps more than we would like, about others.  Relationships have grown stronger; relationships have grown strained.  We have developed new habits; old habits have, in some cases, died on the vine. 

 

And for many of us, we have come to understand more deeply, more profoundly, what it is that we value.  Because in a world in which there is so much loss, we are forced to consider what it is that we simply cannot lose.

 

And that makes me wonder: what will we be?  What will we be when this is finally over?  And even, what will we be, in what we hope, are the waning days of this time of tribulation?

 

As I considered the reading from the letter of James, this is the question that dominated my thoughts.  Because he makes it very clear that the things we do are manifestations of the people we are.  And so if we hope to make this world a better place, it is important that we ponder the question: What then will we be?

 

James says, “Show by your good life…”  On a long enough timeline, it is impossible to hide what is in your heart.  What you truly value becomes the fruit of your life.  The evidence will eventually be revealed.  If your thoughts are ruled by selfish ambition, so then will your actions be.  If your heart is full of envy, so then will your life be.  If you let the weeds grow, eventually they will take over. 

 

But what if the value that defines your life is love?  What if it is Jesus who rules your heart? 

 

“Show by your good life.”  Show the world that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in you.  Show the world the love that lives in you, the love that defines you.  Let the beauty inside out.  In this traumatized world, be good.

 

And let that goodness grow fruit.  Gently cradle those with fragile hearts and broken spirits.  In these unforgiving times, show mercy.  Sow seeds of peace in the fields of battle.  Do the things that they say saints do: carry the good news of God’s love on your lips; open your heart dangerously wide; spread hope like a contagion.  Let the good you are become the good you do.

 

You get one life, one sacred opportunity to make the world a more heavenly place.  What will you make of that precious gift?  What are the values that will write your legacy?  In this big world, in these strange times, in this tender moment: What will you be?       


 


[1] https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailydeaths

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