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The Rev. Frank Logue
True Religion—an improvisation Louis Armstrong was once asked to define jazz. The great trumpeter quipped back,
Here’s the best definition I can offer. [Play a short clip of Louis Armstrong playing Skokiaan.] Louis Armstrong explained to his doctor a few months before his 1971 death why he had to keep a concert date despite failing health,
Louis Armstrong could not only hit the right notes with the right pitch, but he could do it again and again never playing a song the same way twice. He was a true virtuoso. After all, many people hit all the right notes in the right order and tempo, but still can’t really play. Knowing the notes is important; hitting the pitch is essential, but those skills alone do not make a master musician. Like Louis said on another occasion, “If ya ain't got it in ya, ya can't blow it out.” Louis Armstrong’s music rang true because it rang out from the very depths of his being. I mention this because Louis’ words work well alongside our reading from the Book of James on pure and undefiled religion. Like pure and undefiled jazz, pure religion comes from the depths of your being and may be easier to live than to define. But as we are talking about pure religion, you should know, the Bible isn’t too keen on religion at all. There are only two references to religion in the Old Testament and two in the New Testament and all four are ambivalent at best. Of course that tells you more about the word “religion” itself. It’s not that the Bible was against religion per se as it is, after all, it contains the founding documents of the religion of billions. But the Bible is against outward signs of being religious for its own sake. Look at the word itself. The New Testament Greek word for “religion” is Thraiskos. The word came from the Island of Thrace which was known for excessive religious devotion. In other words, the folks on Thrace were seen as fanatics and the word religion means that you are like the people on Thrace. The same way Barbarians and Vandals referred to real peoples who would not have seen themselves as bad guys the word for someone from Thrace came to be used to describe a religious person. It is more like our word religiosity, which means “an excessive devotion to religion.” Our perhaps we are not so different as calling someone “religious” is still a bit derogatory. In contrast to this, James states,
So the answer for James is a two part one. Part A is to care for people in need as they are in distress. Widows and orphans were those not otherwise being taken care of by the family-based society and so they are the prime example. Part B was to keep oneself unstained by the world. You can be in the world. You have to be in fact to live and to work. But you do not have to be stained by it. So take care of people in need while not becoming marked with the negative parts of the culture around you and you’ll be practicing the good kind of religion. A simplified way of looking at this is a statement on a bumper sticker I saw which says,
Now keep in mind that this is very different from the idea that getting faith right is to answer correctly to a whole bunch of doctrinal questions. James is not interested in asking your theology on this or that. He just wants to know whether you put your faith into practice. One problem with this historically, is that if you get busy reading and living into the Book of James you could see faith as if it is only something you do, and not about a relationship with God or even what you believe. James does say,
However the thrust of scripture is that if you are a doer only you also deceive yourself. After all, in Ephesians we read,
And James is really where the two ideas—faith and good works—most clearly come together in scripture. To the question which matters most, having faith or doing good works, I want to paraphrase Louis Armstrong to say, “If you have to ask, you’ll never know.” For James and for others who write in scripture, once you come to faith, real faith, really trusting God with your life, then what you do and why you do it will change, it just will. You don’t help out people in need to get on God’s good sign or to earn Brownie points toward heaven. You help out people in need because the people in need do need help and you’ve got the ability to do something about it. It’s that simple. To take the jazz great’s words way out of context once again,
The reason I like Louis Armstrong as an example is that jazz is not about rules. Jazz is about improvisation. And I think the life of faith is a lot more like jazz than like simply playing scales or arpeggios. And “If ya ain't got it in ya, ya can't live it out.” Just sitting hear and hearing the Bible readings and the sermon don’t make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a rose garden makes you a rose. To move beyond hearing, you have to plant the word down deep. And it’s not even complicated. You want to know what’s the thing that if ya ain't got it in ya, ya can't live it out? It’s love. Jesus simplified everything he taught to two guiding principles” 1) Love the Lord your God with your heart mind soul and strength and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. These two principles work into a natural progression. Love God and you’ll come to understand how much God loves you. Sure you’re not perfect. Sure you have some change you could use making. But God loves you as you are and wants something better for you. Those are not my words, those are the words Jesus had for the corrupt tax man Zacchaeus, for the woman caught in adultery, for the thief on the cross next to him and for so many others. Jesus continually showed real love for people right where they were. Then once that sinks in and you see how God loves you just as you are, you can love yourself a little more. This then helps you love others as Jesus never taught you to love your neighbors more than yourself, or instead of yourself. Jesus taught to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Once you come to love God and through that love, to love yourself more, then you start loving those around you more, you will be doing the word, not just hearing it. Wondering what rule applies in a given situation. How should you act? Try wondering what response would be the loving response. Now this isn’t always nice and sweet. Sometimes love is firm. So what is a loving response may be a “no” to what someone wants you to do. Being loving does not mean being a doormat. It does mean being genuinely, deeply concerned about the other person. So true religion is not a bunch of rules and regulations follow. True religion is not a bunch of tricky dogma to learn. True religion, which is pure and undefiled comes in loving God and loving your neighbor and yourself. Focusing on this love makes happen the pure and undefiled religion of James—to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Christianity is not complicated. It’s about falling in love and that is often a lot of fun. Like good jazz, this life of love is not boring repetition. This pure, true religion has enough substance to create and amazing life of endless variation on the theme of love. Amen.
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