Daily Worship

All have needs

February 21, 2015 0 0

James 2:14-20

Faith without Works Is Dead

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren?

In the Grassmarket Centre we have about 300 members. We do not use the terms “service users” and “volunteers”, everyone is a member. So, people who come to us because they have been homeless or struggling with addiction or a mental health problem are treated in exactly the same way as a business executive who wants to “give something back” by volunteering. The reason is that we believe we all have needs, we all have learning difficulties and there is no such thing as a person who is entirely “fixed” and another who is full of problems with nothing to offer. In the exchange that happens between our members the traffic is always two way. We are always learning from one another and receiving gifts as well as bringing them.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, just as you expanded the imagination of your disciples
to see that God’s love was for more than just the people of Israel,
help us daily to grow in our understanding of the scope and depth of your love.
Help us to avoid policing the boundaries of our churches
and imagine that there are insiders and outsiders,
when all are your children and worthy of your love.
There is no them and us, only us, your children.
Amen.