www.theworkofthepeople.com

The epistle reading in the lectionary for this week is James 1:17-27, which you can read here http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=James+1:17-27&vnum=yes&version=nrsv. I love the imagery of the God of "Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." I thought of the way in which the sun casts shadows that are slowly and constantly changing as the Earth rotates around it. The light of God is beyond vision, so that even the rising and setting of the sun cannot change its brightness in our lives. We know that the world changes from one moment to the next; perhaps the only thing that changes about God is our understanding of God, or the periodic "en-light-ening" made possible by our perspective.

To shine a little more Light on the Subject, the author of James goes on to talk about being "quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for your anger does not produce God's righteousness." I'll admit, i get angry when i see things that i consider to be out of line with God's righteousness, but it didn't really occur to me that my anger was unproductive. Sometimes the actions inspired by my anger at injustice are actions that God uses to promote righteousness. It is because of my anger at injustice that i volunteer to help people in need, write letters to politicians, and speak out against oppressors on behalf of people who do not have a voice.

Do you think that God might want me to skip over the anger part, and right to the working to overcome injustice part?

www.theworkofthepeople.com is a resource that we use at SU in the Spiritual Life office. We have found many multi-media elements that are thought-provoking and powerful. For example, the current featured film, loop, and stills series called "Slow to Anger" contains accusatory-looking pointed index fingers, bullhorn-toting yellers, and people carrying signs that say "God hates fags." We have all seen the protesters of anything that may even hint that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/intersexed, or queer (LGBTQ) persons might be loved by God or acceptable as human beings.

I am confident that the carriers of those signs believe that God is using their actions to overcome injustice, just like me. How can we be serving the same God?

So, to this subjective thinker, sometimes lost in the shadows and sometimes blinded by the sun, the questions of anger, action, listening, and speaking grow ever more complex. But in light of all this, i keep on moving, quickly by the light of the sun, more cautiously by the light of the moon, but always in the Light of our Abba, Creator, Enlightener and Friend.