Work-Shoe Faith

Then the slippers are not adequate for the task and they will become wet, dirty, ruined, be in the way, maybe fall off, or make feet slip on a wet floor, etc.

Then they have become not just unhelpful, but actually dangerous for us to use.

What about our faith?

Does it function like house-slippers?

Is our faith comfortable?

Do we put it on when there is not much pressure, when we don't have to think?

Do we kick it aside when we think it is not needed?

Is it ruined when difficulties appear?

We need to look for another image...let's pick work-shoes.

They are sturdy, reliable, ready for action.

They can handle a change of direction and varying circumstances.

This image fits in with the image which Paul used in last week's second lesson, the whole armor of God.

Paul was of course thinking of the Roman soldier, whose armor and training made him ready to tackle almost anything without hesitation.

It was an outfit designed not just for showing off, but for the very practical jobs of protecting the wearer from the enemy's arrows, and not getting in the way too much in moving around and getting things done.

To get the impact of the idea, perhaps we could think about our clothing and shoes.

We are wearing our going-to-a-banquet clothes right now as we gather here for worship, and we have other sets of clothes as we go about our additional duties as Christians, the things that we wear in order to mow the yard, scrub the floor, roughhouse on the playground, go to the office, take care of an aging relative,greet a neighbor, volunteer for Family Promise, prepare a Sunday School lesson, comfort a grieving friend, listen as a person wrestles with one of the deep and difficult questions of life, and hundreds of other things.

The clothes of faith are our work-clothes and shoes that are appropriate for all of those situations, the ones which we can wear and use regularly, and help us be ready to go anywhere and everywhere.

They are not the slippers of ease and comfort, but the clothing and shoes which we use in order to get things done.

Our friend Martin Luther was not anxious to use the book of James which we will be reading for the next few weeks.

He thought that it was too easy to use James to cover up the basic orientation of the faith, that faith is a gift to us from God, which we describe using the word “grace.”

He didn't want anything to hint at compromising our slogan of “justification by faith through grace.”

We grant that insight, but note that there is still an important role for the message of James.

We need to hear it whenever we are tempted to turn the faith into a purely intellectual exercise.

A response that folks will often give when asked about what makes a good sermon goes like this:

“I like a sermon that helps me think about things in a new way.

I like a sermon that engages my mind, that spurs my thinking and reflection.”

What did James say in the lesson today?

“Be doers of the Word, not hearers only, who deceive themselves.”

We're fooling only ourselves if we think that showing up here, listening to lessons and sermon, singing a few hymns, is all there is to the Christian faith.

Be doers of the Word....

It is important to study the baseball rule-book to know what the official rules are and how they differ from the made-up rules from the sandlot.

It is helpful to watch games live or taped, in order to learn how the really effective players work.

It would be nice to be among the 32,000 folks cheering the PA team this week.

Studying, watching, cheering...these are all good activities, but they do not make one a ballplayer, unless we apply all of that studying and watching and cheering in getting out onto the playing field ourselves.

The world will judge the truth of the gospel on the basis of what happens in our daily lives.

By Baptism we are the Body of Christ, but do we look like the Body of Christ when folks examine the things which we actually do every day?

Have our songs and prayers done their proper job of changing us, transforming us, into what we profess?

We're a week away from Labor Day, the annual day when we celebrate our work by avoiding it as much as possible.

A bit ironic, isn't it?

I suppose a bit of my attitude comes from a dairy farm, where every member of the family knew that the cows needed to be milked twice every day without fail, not just when one thought it convenient.

And Luther reminds us that even these mundane, day-after-day tasks are part of our response to the gifts that God has given to us.

How one milks a cow, how one cares for the land, how one loves and cares for a child...these and thousands of other tasks are to be regarded right along with how one uses time for Bible study, how one shares time and resources for our work in the gathered congregation, and how one uses an opportunity to tell a friend what difference the story of Jesus makes in our lives: all of these things are parts of our work-shoe faith.

There is no time here for a house-slipper attitude.

Some of our youth will take on the challenge of being a part of the prayers at the flagpole one morning before school; they have to organize the event all by themselves, and carry it out whether they get praise or ridicule from fellow students.

Some of our youth will take on the challenge of doing their best in their classwork, even when other students may urge them to slack off and just have fun.

And both the prayers at the pole and consistently good classwork are parts of their work-shoe faith, their response to God's gifts.

We could come up with similar pairs of observations about persons in each stage of life.

All of our activities fit together.

All of them are to be guided by the gifts and commands of the Lord

Order my footsteps by your Word, we will sing in a moment. [LBW#480.2]

And we need to be called back to this understanding regularly:

And should I e'er forget your way, Restore your wandering sheep. [LBW#480.3]

What we heard today from James fits with our prayer:

Oh, that my God would grant me grace To know and do his will! [LBW480.1]

Be doers of the Word and not only hearers, who deceive themselves. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.