I can see clearly that this congregation doesn’t take the Bible literally, seeing that Jesus said, “if it causes you to sin cut off your hand… your foot…gouge out your eye…”, and all of you still have your body parts intact. We recognise that Jesus was a poet employing hyperbole (dramatic exaggeration) to emphasise the seriousness of sin.  Here at St Luke’s, we honour and revere the Bible as the authoritative holy writings of our Christian faith, so we take interpreting it with the utmost seriousness.

A case in point is the fifth and final chapter of the letter of James.  James writes, “if any of you are sick call the elders to pray for you and anoint you with oil and you will be healed”.  Common sense would say, “No, go and see a doctor as the first resort.”  On the other hand, if someone is seriously ill and/or very worried and/or feeling isolated and/or their loved ones are very worried, then a personal visit from the minister or other Christian friends is a really good idea.  When you are visited or phoned up when you are sick it can be a very encouraging experience.  Also, anointing can be very helpful as it is something that is visible, tactile, symbolic and sacramental.  When we are sick it often sharpens our awareness of God because the normal props of life are kicked away, for instance good health, happy social life and regular activities.  Instead, we are confronted with our fears, weaknesses, guilt, sinfulness and doubts.  It also means that we are often more likely to listen to what God has been saying to us for a long time but previously we were too busy and preoccupied and complacent to listen.  So, ministry to the sick is an extremely important opportunity to help people in their Christian walk.

Further on, Elijah is presented as an example to follow.  Here it is important to go back to the story of Elijah in the First Book of Kings.  In chapter 17 we read of Elijah confronting King Ahab who together with his wife Jezebel has lured the Israelite people to worship the god Baal instead of the Lord God. Baal was the God of thunder, lightning, rain and fertility.  So, Elijah as a prophet of the Lord God warned King Ahab that there would be a three-year drought as a punishment.  At the end of the three years God told Elijah to tell Ahab that the drought would break.  Elijah challenged Ahab to bring together the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah to Mount Carmel for a contest with Elijah.  The prophets of Baal were unable to get their God to send lightning to burn up their sacrifice.  But when Elijah prayed to the Lord lightning came down from heaven and burned up the whole sacrifice.  Then Elijah told the people to slaughter the prophets of Baal.  The rain came and Elijah ran down to the royal palace where Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him.  It was too much for the overwrought prophet.  He broke down and travelled into the desert where God looked after him and sent him to Mount Horeb the mountain of the 10 commandments in the Sinai wilderness.  Elijah complained to God and God spoke to him not through lightning or thunder but through a tiny voice and told him to go and anoint Jehu as the King to replace Ahab.

So, when James writes that Elijah was like us, he wasn’t in the sense that he was an outstanding prophet and a king-breaker and a king-maker.  On the other hand, he was like us in his frailty, feeling afraid and alone after Jezebel threatened him.  James writes that, “Elijah prayed and there was three years of drought, then he prayed, and it rained.”  Yet in the Old Testament story it doesn’t say that Elijah asked God for these things but rather God told him these things would happen and he passed God’s message onto the rebellious King Ahab and the unfaithful nation of Israel.  So, when James writes that, “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”, exemplified by Elijah, it’s not because God is like a genie in a bottle who grants the wishes of a person because they are righteous, and he is pleased with them.  It is because a righteous person, by definition, prays in line with God’s will.  James writes about God’s will at the beginning of his letter in verses 2 to 4: “Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish his work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.”  Faith grows through testing and suffering and God’s will for us is to become mature and complete, growing to the fullness of Jesus Christ.  James continues: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him.”  God’s will is for us to grow and wisdom is the key thing to pray for.

In chapter 5, James writes of different types of prayer: the prayer of one in trouble, the prayer of one who is happy, the prayer of one who is sick, the prayer of one who is confessing sins, the prayer of one who is encouraging another person.  Here at St Luke’s church, you are exposed to a very healthy diet of prayer in the church services.  A good way to remember the different types of prayer is the acronym A-C-T-S.  This stands for adoration. contrition or confession of sins, thanksgiving and supplication, (which is divided into petition which is prayers for self and intercession which is prayers for others).  In today’s service, we covered adoration in when we sang “Joyful joyful we adore you” and also “Glory to God in the highest”.  In the service we have the prayer of contrition where we confess our sins and seek absolution.  At the heart of the communion service is the Eucharistic Prayer which means the prayer of thanksgiving.  And finally, in the intercessions and in the prayer points in the bulletin we have the prayers of supplication, St Luke’s is a church with a disciplined prayer life summed up in the prayers and hymns on a Sunday morning.  The challenge to each of us as individuals is to adopt a healthy diet of prayer in our own lives.  I want to challenge us all on a daily basis, to include in our prayer life prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication.  A healthy prayer diet helps us to be healthy disciples of Jesus.

Amen.