James 5:12-20
So today we finish James. It’s been a good ten days!
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him… (vv. 13-14) How fitting are James’ words for the current time in which we live! There are probably a number of people in our church who are “suffering” to some degree, maybe laid off from work or frustrated being homebound. I don’t know of anyone sick. And I hope that most of you are cheerful. Whatever our situations, our elders are taking James’ words to heart. Our church leadership team has taken it upon themselves to check on everyone in our congregation. They have divided up our church directory, everyone they can think of, and are making phone calls at least once a week checking up on our corporate welfare. They’ve got a series of questions to ask to guide their conversations and, at a minimum, will be praying for our welfare. So if you haven’t already, you’ll soon be getting a phone call. And if you don’t get a call by the end of this week, let me know and I’ll check up on it for you.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (v. 16) I’ve been attending our 12-Step group, Freedom Road for the past two years. AA seems to have taken James to heart. They are big on confession, with mentoring. They would maintain that it is difficult for an alcoholic to go “cold turkey” without someone to walk alongside, encouraging them as they go. And no, their success rate is far short of 100%, but their program seems to work better than anything else out there. A first cousin to this confession and mentoring that we emphasize in many of our small groups is accountability – again, a one-to-one or one-to-a-group responsibility that a person places on himself or herself to stay on a right path, for whatever issue has been troubling them. It’s a good model to follow. I would hope that each of you is accountable at some level to another person or to a larger group. It’s a good discipline to own.
Slava Bohu!
Thank you, Fred. I signed up for several of Samuel’s prayer chain slots, and am especially thankful for the time with God. On faithful praying, God heals but our prayers are somehow part of that process. Our prayers don’t cause Him to act, but He responds to us with so much love!