Circumstances sometimes call us to do strange things – things we would not otherwise do. Circumstances also cause us to do things we should have done but never got around to before.

Two out-of-town visitors were walking along a street in New York City late one night. One of the pair, wary of the reputation of city streets at night, kept glancing over his shoulder, nervously eyeing every alley and shadowed doorway. Sure enough, his anticipation was rewarded. As the two rounded the next corner, two muggers appeared out of the darkness and closed in. The nervous fellow knew what was going to happen. He reached for his wallet, pulled out of a $50 bill and handed it to his friend: “Joe, here’s that $50 I’ve been owing you for six months.”

According to some critics, John Wesley never had an original idea in his life. He just borrowed from others. But the point is, even if it’s true that Wesley only borrowed from others, that would hardly solve the riddle of this man and the spiritual dynamic of the Methodist movement. Wesley’s genius and originality lay precisely in his borrowing, adapting, and combining diverse elements into a synthesis more dynamic than the sum of its parts.

Wesley also had the genius of putting an expansive, explosive truth in a single, sometimes simple sentence or a pithy phrase. He encapsulated his vision of mission and ministry in the sentence that has been on the lips of Methodists ever since: “The world is my parish.” He borrowed from Paul to summarize his theology succinctly: “Faith working through love.” He gave a challenging and rather complete principle of stewardship in the crisp triplet: “Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.”

He put controversy into perspective, and challenged our motives, “Fervour for opinions is not Christian zeal.” He found unique ways to call people back to the essentials of Scriptural Christianity, “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? Can anything but love beget love?” He described his whole approach to differences in belief and church order in the one question: “Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?… If it be, give me thine hand.”   

Together, these references suggest there is a distinctive Methodist style. I want to confirm and commend that. My wife, Jerry, and I live in a life care community. Even casual conversation and the way persons relate in our community reveal something of what they believe. We Methodists are a minority in the community, Church of Christ and Baptists are majorities. Even if I were not deliberately observant, I believe I would sense “something different.”  I think that has to do with style.

Diana Vreeland was an undisputed leader in fashion. She wrote her autobiography with the simple but stylish title, DV. It recorded her lifetime of living with inimitable style. She made a big point about the importance of style by referring to Japan. “God was fair to the Japanese,” she said. “He gave them no oil, no coal, no diamonds, no gold, no material resources-nothing! Nothing comes from the island that you can sustain a civilization on. All God gave the Japanese was a sense of style” (House and Garden, April 1984, p. 36, excerpts from DV). It was the ultimate compliment to the Japanese from this fashion style setter.

Methodists have a style that, to a marked degree, defines our uniqueness. I’m going to reflect on this distinctive style in the weeks ahead, and post here on Wesleyan Accent.

My files are flowing over with magazine and newspaper articles, cartoons, and photos. Unfortunately, I have not found a good “keeping” and “retrieval” system that is not too time costly for the reflections I prize.

Yet, I saw it and I can’t forget it…a cartoon that depicted an older couple, obviously rich and retired, sitting in their posh living room. The lady was reading, her husband looking out the window with a smile on his face. One gathers that he has just shared with her his latest dream for retirement activity. Frowning, she looks up from her book and says: “With strikes, campus unrest, the communist take-over, air pollution on the rise, hippie protest, and immorality rampant, it doesn’t strike me as the time to start a butterfly collection!” 

As we move into this twenty-first century we need to reflect on this wise claim that has been made: the twentieth century has put the human race on trial for its life. 

It is difficult not to believe that. The institutions upon which we have become dependent, around which our lives have been ordered–education, business, medical services, the penal system, organized religion, government–have each in some way been gradually revealed as inadequate, a few of them perhaps beyond renewal and repair. In any case, they have not been equal to their promise; they cannot fill the longing in us. 

We are dissatisfied with things as they are. And while dissatisfaction is as old as the human race, and every period of history is unique in its own fashion, I believe we have reached a crucial moment in human civilization. Atomic bombs are not just more powerful weaponry. Electronic computers are not just more complex adding machines. Neil Armstrong was more than a latter-day Columbus setting foot on the moon. 

Dare I even think it? Maxie Dunnam is not just another old man becoming 90, seeking to make a redemptive difference in a needy world. What can I do? What must I do? What will I do?

What? Count it all joy?

After a brief greeting, James begins his Epistle, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” (James 1:2 KJV)

There is no hesitation, no fumbling to get to the point. It’s really a shout, COUNT IT ALL JOY! He continues, “when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 RSV) 

Ponder verse 3 slowly… “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Pay careful attention to the completion of his thought in verse 4: “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

You see, suffering may produce steadfastness and faith, and we still will be incomplete. We still may lack joy. Pain by itself is evil, and alone, it doesn’t teach us anything. It may discipline us to be strong and not complain. Or, it may turn us into cynics. We may be tough and steadfast in our suffering, always keeping a stiff upper lip, but that’s a long way from what James is talking about– “Count it all joy … that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Philip Yancey, in his book, Disappointment with God, gives us a clue for allowing our steadfast faith in suffering to work its full effect in our life. He tells us about Douglas, who “seemed righteous, in the sense of Job,” and who, like Job, suffered terrible afflictions he did not deserve.

Douglas had given up a lucrative career to start an urban ministry. His wife developed breast cancer, had a breast removed, and was struggling with the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy. In the midst of this crisis, a drunken driver hit their car and Douglas sustained a severe brain injury. He suffered terrible headaches and double vision. He could no longer work full-time to support his wife and daughter. He had loved to read, but now struggled to get through a page or two. If anyone had a right to be angry with God, Douglas did.

Yancey expected Douglas to express disappointment with God, but instead, Douglas said that he had learned “not to confuse God with life”:

I feel free to curse the unfairness of life and to vent all my grief and anger. But I believe God feels the same way about that accident—grieved and angry. I don’t blame him for what happened….I have learned to see beyond the physical reality of this world to the spiritual reality. We tend to think, “Life should be fair because God is fair.” But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life -by expecting constant good health, for example- then I set myself up for a crashing disappointment… We can learn to trust God despite all the unfairness of life. Isn’t that really the main point of Job? (pp. 183-84)

Douglas challenged Yancey to “go home and read again the story of Jesus. Was life fair to him? For me, the Cross demolished for all time the basic assumption that life will be fair.”

Do you see the difference? It’s very clear. We can waste our suffering, or we can allow it to produce trust in God, steadfastness in faith. And we can allow that steadfastness in faith to perfect and complete us–leaving us “lacking in nothing.” 

So the shout of James is real. “Count it all joy!” And we can do that–if we know that growth is not easy –if we will realize that when we are suffering, it doesn’t help us to compare ourselves to others. And, if we will not waste our suffering but allow it to produce steadfastness in faith, that is what will bring us to completion, lacking in nothing.

I’m Maxie. She’s Jerry, my wife.

The setting is almost always the same. Someone introducing us to strangers will say, ‘These are our friends, Jerry and Maxie Dunnam.’ Far more times than not, the person to whom we are being introduced assumes Jerry is the husband and Maxie is the wife. I can’t begin to come close to telling you how many times I’ve had to say, smiling but in a corrective way, ‘I’m Maxie. She’s Jerry, my wife.’

We get more mail addressed “Mr. Jerry Dunnam” than any other intended receiver.

A little reflection confirms names are important. “What’s in a name?” is often critical.

We are in the midst of Advent, a four week season the Christian community has set aside, climaxing with Christmas Day. Christ Followers are called to reflect and pray, centering our attention on the coming of Christ. I can’t think of any question that will serve our reflections more richly than Jesus…what’s in a name? 

What a story! “That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20—23 RSV)

No reservation about his name. It had been declared by the prophet, Isaiah, centuries before. The angel had also announced it to Mary at the time of her Annunciation: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High…and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-32, 33 RSV) So, the question, what’s in a name?

The late Erma Bombeck, one of America’s best-loved columnists, wrote a funny but penetrating piece. And I quote her as clearly as I can:

Most of us have never seen anyone smile in the Post Office. The Post Office instead is like a clinic for lower back pain. Well, I was in line yesterday, when the door opened and in walked a lady with a big smile on her face weighted down with boxes for mailing. She held the door open for her three little girls who filed in, each carrying a package. It was quite obvious that they had never seen the inside of a Post Office.

“She bounded over to a man standing over a counter pasting stamps and asked, ‘Are you a carrier?’

“Of what?” he snapped.

“Another one in line growled, “To the back of the line, lady!”

Her eyes fairly danced with excitement as she announced to no one in particular, ‘It certainly is a nice day, and just think, girls, Christmas is only one week away.”

“Will granddad get his presents?” asked one child.

“Of course, he will,” said her mother “We’ve got it all timed just about right. On Christmas Eve he’ll be sitting around the fire, the door bell will ring and a postman will knock and say, with a big smile, “Merry Christmas from your family in Arizona.”

Every eye in the Post Office turned to stare at this cross between Mary Poppins and Tiny Tim.

“Look girls, doesn’t the Post Office look like Santa is on his way?”

We all looked around. With the exception of Santa pointing his finger at us from a poster and warning, “Mail early” the place had the spirit of a Recovery Room.

Finally she got to the head of the line. “When will dad get these packages?” she asked.

The postal clerk shrugged, “Depends. Maybe by New Year’s or we could get ‘em there in one day.”

“One day would be fine!” she exclaimed.

“It’ll cost you,” he said, scribbling down some figures. “$45.83.”

The woman hesitated, then picked out one box and said, “This one must get there by Christmas Day. It’s my father’s birthday.”

The clerk shook his head and said, “Boy, that guy’s a loser. Imagine having a birthday on Christmas. One present fits all. Thank God I don’t know of anyone born on Christmas Day.”

The man behind me whispered loudly, “Thank God, I do.”

I’ve told that long story by Erma Bombeck to ask: Well, do you? Do you know anyone—do you know the One—who was born on Christmas day?

December is the month of Advent, an expectant season when Christians around the world pay special attention to who this One was and why we want to know more.  We may be a little confused by the people around us, but let us be clear about the One who was proclaimed to come – and did.

This is the seventh installment in Maxie’s series on Core Convictions. You can find the first seven articles here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Someone will say “You have faith; I have deeds. ” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, ” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. (James 2:18-24)

As you look closely at this word of James, you realize that James is not asking whether works without faith can save us, but rather, whether faith without works can save us. His answer to that is a resounding no.

Before we take issue with James, let’s look at the similarity between his words in this theme text and Jesus’s parable of the last judgment in Matthew 25:31-46. This is the only time Jesus told us what judgment is going to be like. He says that when the Son of Man comes in his glory and gathers before him all the nations of the world, he’s going to separate the people the way a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. He’s going to place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left. He will say to those on his right hand (the sheep), “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me (vv. 34-36).”

That was a surprise to both the righteous and the unrighteous, because neither of them knew they were guilty of Jesus’s accusation. They asked, “When did we see you hungry?” His response to their question is unforgettable: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (vv. 37, 40).

Nothing about belief, nothing about right doctrine, nothing about proper churchmanship. As is often the case for me, a Charles Schulz Peanuts cartoon speaks to me here. Linus and his sister, Lucy, are having a conversation. Linus says to Lucy, “You think you are smart just because you are older than I am!” Lucy gets up and walks off, but Linus follows, saying, “You just happened to be born first! You were just lucky!” Then he screams, “I didn’t ask to be born second.” And in the final frame, he adds in despair, “I didn’t even get a chance to fill out an application.”

When it comes to the last judgment, there are no applications to fill out. The conditions have been predetermined by Jesus himself. Consider James’s word in light of that. Again, his question is not whether works without faith can save us, but rather whether faith without works can save us. To gain clarity, consider these bold affirmations.

• One, there is no salvation without discipleship. We can’t claim Jesus as Savior without a willingness to surrender to him as Lord.
• Two, an emphasis on faith that does not include fidelity to Christ’s call to walk in newness of life is a distortion of the gospel. This is what James is saying: Faith that does not give attention to ethical issues-to telling the truth, seeking to live morally clean lives, shunning evil, fighting personal immorality and for social injustice, feeding the hungry, caring for the needy, seeking the lost, suffering for those the world has said no to–is dead.
• Three, a faith that emphasizes ethics and good works as a saving way of life is a false faith. Ethics and good works do not save us, but rather are the expression of the transforming work of the Spirit within us.

Faith and works.  Not faith without works nor works without faith.  Our deeds reveal our faith, and our faith comes from following our Lord. Salvation by God’s grace runs through sanctification by faithfully Jesus and arrives at deeds we are empowered to do by the Holy Spirit.

This is the seventh installment in Maxie’s series on Core Convictions. You can find the first six articles here, here, here, here, here, and here.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, ” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

One point of theology and faith where there is often tension is the relationship of faith and works. Hans Küng, the brilliant Roman Catholic German theologian, spoke a corrective word about this issue. “Whoever preaches one half the gospel is no less a heretic than the person who preaches the other half of the gospel.”

An ongoing temptation of most preachers is to preach one half of the gospel. Most of the time, it is not a matter of whether we believe one half more than the other; it’s what we feel is the need of the people to whom we preach. There is a narrow line we walk, preaching a gospel of faith alone, or one in which works are essential for being Christian.

James is an unequivocal champion of works. He minces no words. Our theme Scripture (James 2:14-17) is the primary emphasis of James’s entire Epistle. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. This is what has caused so many problems for this epistle through the years. Martin Luther called it a “right strawy epistle,” for he was calling his church back to the core of the gospel: justification by grace through faith. “Faith alone” was Luther’s battle cry, and he felt that James was undercutting that core of the gospel by contending that salvation also had to do with works.

The battle has raged ever since. The need is to keep the perspective that Jesus comes to us as both Savior and Lord. We don’t have to keep those separate, believing that Jesus first comes to us as Savior, offering us eternal salvation; and later comes to us as Lord, with a call to surrender ourselves to him, to clean up our lives, and to follow him as disciples.

Again, it is helpful to think of justifying and sanctifying grace. Jesus is not Savior now and Lord later. He comes to us as one, Savior and Lord at the same time. In full salvation, we surrender to Christ as Savior and Lord and are regenerated by his grace. As we explored earlier in this study, the metaphor of a house is instructive. Justifying grace is the door, and sanctifying grace is all the rooms in which we live as we grow as disciples in holiness.

“Faith alone,” or works, in extreme expression, is not only limited, but is a distortion of the gospel. Some extremists insist you can be a Christian without being a follower of Jesus. They are so committed to preserving the gospel of “faith alone” that they separate the offices of Christ. They say that Christ comes to the sinner only as Savior and makes no claims of Lordship. It is only after you become Christian that the lordship of Christ has any claim upon your life. That understanding encourages a person to claim Jesus as Savior by simple intellectual affirmation, by saying yes in his mind to four spiritual laws,” or to believe a particular “plan’ of salvation, and defer until later, or never, the claims of Christ in the transformation of life. This leads people to believe that their behavior has no relationship to their spiritual status. Thus, there is nothing different between these Christians in terms of the way they live their lives in the world and those who are not Christian.

Jesus, Savior and Lord, is the door to both eternal life and a life which makes a difference for the Kingdom here and now. Do your neighbors see the fruit of both in your life?