Reflection -- Prayer!  Confession!  Correction!  Praise!

This is one of those passages that invites us to go charging off in wrong directions if we pick verses out of context.  For example, the first verse, standing alone, could be read as suggesting that when we are suffering in any way we should just pray and get over ourselves. 

Far from it!  James is addressing life in community, not life in isolation.  Not only that, he is addressing a Christian community that is alive with the presence and power of God and that takes its mutual obligations seriously; drawing its strength from its creator and each other.  In short, he is addressing a community that is like ours, or like ours is called to be.

Of course when we are suffering physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we should be in prayer.  It is exactly at such times that we should lean most heavily on God to get us through.  But it is also a time to call on our brothers and sisters in community.  It is our great privilege -- and our obligation -- to pray for one another.  James tells us that “the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”  The combined prayers of God’s people are indeed powerful, for they are the petitions of the people of God calling on our source of grace and restoration. 

Does that mean that prayer is a tool for manipulating God and that we will always get our prayers answered in our way?  Will every sick person we pray for be instantly restored to rosy health?  No (although sometimes there will be those miracles!).  Otherwise, all of God’s saints from all time would still be with us.  Does that mean that the prayers were not effective and powerful.  Again no.  The answer to our prayers will be God’s answer, not our answer.  Sometimes God’s answer is just to help us get through life’s painful transitions with the grace of God’s presence in our hearts and through the supportive presence of God’s people.

What of this confession and correction business?  “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”  “My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another,  you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” 

We have a 2-way obligation in Christian community that is not popular in our modern society, with its emphasis on individual independence and zealous regard for personal privacy. 

One side of the obligation is confession.  While we are a Christ-centered community, we are also a human community.  Even the most loving and centered of us will fail from time to time in our life in imitation of Christ.  Pretending it did not happen is silly.  Most likely, our brothers and sisters already know, or soon will.  If we “fess up” and ask for prayer and forgiveness, we will be able to learn from our experience and move on.  If we pretend it never happened, it will become a divisive, festering sore.

The other side of the obligation, correction, is perhaps equally hard.  We are charged, as lovingly as we can, to call each other back when we see each other slip; to bring that divisive problem out into the open before it ever has a chance to divide people from one another. 

Does that mean we are given a warrant to be controlling or to gloat and pretend that we know all the answers and aren’t “sinners” too?  Absolutely not!  Correction is a task we undertake with fear and trembling, being ever aware of our own weaknesses.  I especially like the common sense message of Galatians 6:1, as translated in The Message:  "If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore them, saving your critical comments for yourself.  You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out."  But we can, and must, engage in direct dealing with one another, being gently truthful so that healing may begin.

I’ve saved the best for last.  “Are any cheerful?  They should sing songs of praise.”  Community is also the place to share our joy and praise!  Hiding our joy is just as unproductive as hiding our struggles and our sorrows, for our joy is contagious!  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have gone to church and been lifted and set back on track by the joyful voices of God’s people in songs of praise!  We owe each other our joy!

The bottom line is that life in community is about sharing it all; listening to one another, praying for each other, walking with each other in joy and sorrow, and living out our lives as people who know and believe in the power of God!

revclay

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James 5:13-20

Are any among you suffering?  They should pray.

Are any cheerful?  They should sing songs of praise. 

Are any among you sick?  They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. 

The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. 

My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

[NRSV]