Confess and pray
Day 664, Saturday, June 6
James 4:13 – 5:20
The great power of the early Methodist movement was essentially a systematic living out of James 5:16, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
The Wesley brothers drew from the practices of Moravians and others to establish a system of small groups that met together for support and accountability, literally confessing their sins to each other and praying for each other. While the groups created opportunities for fellowship and learning, those were incidental.
The defining question of the meetings was, How does your soul prosper?
And the way this was answered can be found in 5:13-15. “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.”
This end part of the letter of James has many wise statements. It warns the rich who abuse their workers of the judgment to come, it urges against grumbling, it reminds us that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Mostly it follows the lead of the rest of the letter in reminding us that faith that is real leads to action, and deeds that are worthy are prompted by faith. “As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyoine, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is a sin for them.”
Faith requires deeds and deeds require faith. Keeping up both deeds and faith requires a community that lifts each other up and is urgently concerned for the state of one another’s souls. When we recognize this the church thrives. When we ignore it the church withers. It’s as simple as that.
Saturday meditation
Psalms 135:13-21
Your name, Lord, endures forever, your renown, Lord, through all generations. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
All you Israelites, praise the Lord; house of Aaron, praise the Lord; house of Levi, praise the Lord; you who fear him, praise the Lord. Praise be to the Lord from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord.
Prayer focus
Give us the freedom, Lord, to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that our faith and deeds may be one.
-Rev. Mark Fleming