James 1

James is looking at the big picture.

Which one has a greater hold on my heart? Let’s take a look.

Hearing the word and doing it aren’t as far apart as Martin Luther thought.

It began when I realized the church has always had a process for changing its mind.

How one youth leader stopped being a chief counselor of fun and discovered something better.

And are we practicing it?

My first piano teacher, Mr. Jackson, was the best. I didn't like him.

I don’t know about you, but I find it challenging to preach on non-narrative texts. It’s easy to make a good story from the Gospels or the Old Testament come alive in a sermon. It’s a lot harder to do that with a theological treatise, so I tend to neglect preaching on the epistles.

My childhood church used offering envelopes with six checkboxes on them, a sort of spiritual scorecard. When I finally met James, hiding behind Paul, I proudly showed him my envelope. He laughed.