1. The sermon for the festival of St. James, the Elder, Apostle is included in this volume for two reasons. First of all, a saint's day affords a good opportunity to look at the story of a person's life. Second, this sermon weaves together three stories: James, Elijah and Jimmy. It is a proclamatory sermon in a three-story mode. The same kind of approach can be taken on any saint's day.

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus. "Teacher," they said, "There is something we want you to do for us."

"What is it?" Jesus asked them.

They answered, "When you sit on your throne in your glorious Kingdom, we want you to let us sit with you, one at your right and one at your left."

Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup of suffering that I must drink? Can you be baptized in the way I must be baptized?"

"We can," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup I must drink and be baptized in the way I must be baptized. But I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. It is God who will give these places to those for whom he has prepared them."

When the other ten disciples heard about it, they became angry with James and John. So Jesus called them all together to him and said, "You know that the men who are considered rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. This, however, is not the way it is among you. If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; he must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people." (Mark 10:35-45)

Some years ago, a Christian friend told me that she always looked forward to Christmas for many reasons, not the least of which is the annual Christmas play put on by the Sunday School of her church. This woman, a Sunday School teacher, said: "Every year one of my students who has been a discipline problem appears in some lead part as an angel, or a shepherd, or Joseph, and I say to myself, 'See, it's worth all the trouble you go through to try to reach his potential.' " She stopped for a moment, laughed a little and then continued: "One year that stands out for me is the one that Jim, a particularly difficult student, played an angel. He was anything but an angel in class. I had to laugh when he appeared in the chancel right on cue, dressed in white with an angelic look on his face, but with his halo tipped on the side because he had bumped it on the way to making his entrance." Then she paused for a moment and said, "When I saw it, I thought to myself, 'that's how God sees all of us.' "

Today, we celebrate St. James, the Elder, Apostle Sunday. This minor festival of the church year affords us an opportunity to focus on the nature of sainthood as it applies to the present.

We tend to think of saints as sanctified souls who have been separated from the world; people who are so utterly different from us that we find it hard to identify with them. We tend to feel that the saints of old would not understand the stress we must face every day.

The biblical corrective for a theology of "incubator sainthood" is found in the story of St. James (Mark 10:35-45) and the companion story of the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19:9-18), the appointed lessons for this festival Sunday. Both stories lift up the dangers and possibilities of stressful situations.

Stress Can Lead to Self-Centeredness

In the case of Jesus' special friend James, at first stress led to self-centeredness of the worst kind. James makes the bad behavior of Jim, our Sunday School student, pale by comparison.

James and his younger brother John came to Jesus with a bold, self-centered proposal: "When you sit on your throne in your glorious Kingdom, we want you to let us sit with you, one at your right side and one at your left." In other words, they wanted to be the closest in power. In other words, they wanted the best seats in the house. In other words, they were "thinking of themselves first, last and always," as the popular saying goes.

Why did they act this way? Because of fear. Because of the stress of anticipated death. The context of the story tells us the reason for this fear and stress.

The apostles were walking on the road to Jerusalem, "Jesus walking ahead of the others" (Mark 10:32), when suddenly he turned, stopped and spoke: "We are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise." (Mark 10:33-35)

He had said it before. Now he says it again. There is no mistake about it. The apostles know: "Our friend is going to suffer a horrible death. He is going to leave us."

Ten apostles were lost in confused talk or quiet withdrawal and depression about what Jesus said. James and John reacted differently. They went forward to Jesus and tried to make a deal which would guarantee them places of honor. James, the elder of the brothers, led off, "Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you." Quite a statement for openers!

People act in strange ways when they are under pressure. This is especially true when pressure comes with death. Perfectly normal people, when faced with the stress and strain of the death of a loved one, sometimes turn on innocent by-standers or devoted family members or friends in a fit of rage befitting a wild animal.

Or they fight. Normally good people who love God and go to church sometimes fight like pagans with brothers and sisters about who will receive what in an inheritance when death comes knocking at the door.

Or they do something uncharacteristically selfish. You often see this in the "little death" we call divorce. Divorce is very much like death because it means severe loss. All losses are experienced as grief. Unlike death, there is little expression of sympathy from the community when there is a divorce. Bizarre, self-centered actions like going to a house of prostitution or moving in with a partner of the opposite sex (perhaps even someone you hardly know), or drinking, or using drugs, or being severely critical of a child, or cheating or lying are symptoms which sometimes come with grief because of an inability to cope with some loss.

Some people withdraw from their normal community - friends, family, church. Grief at any loss through death, divorce or any one of a hundred things which cause that feeling of separation and loneliness often results in behavior which is the opposite of the felt need. We need people, so we withdraw from people. We go off by ourselves and join the "Poor Me Club."

Stress Can Lead to Self-Pity

Elijah, man of God, prophet of Yahweh, outspoken critic of the idol-worshiping Baal priests had just won a monumental battle for good against evil at Mt. Carmel. (1 Kings 18:20-40) He had challenged the Baal priests to a showdown. "You call on your gods and I will call on the Lord," he said. "Let's see who really is in charge here." From morning till noon the priests of Baal begged and pleaded with their gods to send rain on the drought-worn land. Nothing. At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, "Are your gods sleeping? Have they taken a little trip? Are they away on a long journey?" No voice. No answer. No one heeded the prayer to Baal.

Then it was Elijah's turn. "Come near to me," he said to the people. They watched him repair the altar of the Lord which had been torn down and neglected as the people were caught in the chaos of idolatry. Elijah placed twelve stones around the altar to remind the people of their heritage of the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he dug a trench around the altar and put wood in it. He started a fire, then added the sacrifice of a bull to the fire. Then he had the people sprinkle water on the sacrificial offering as he prayed to the Lord. "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that thou, 0 Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back." (1 Kings 18:37)

Fire from on high fell and consumed the burnt offering. Then came the rushing of the rain which saved the people caught in the throes of drought. And the people returned to the Lord.

A short time later, however, the wicked Queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah for what he had done to her Baal priests. Elijah fled to the wilderness. Exhausted from his battles for the Lord, tired of fighting Jezebel, he lay down under a broom tree. (1 Kings 19:4-8) There he fasted. There an angel appeared, and during the next forty days said to the prophet on three separate occasions, "Arise and eat."

A short time later, Elijah came to a cave on Mt. Sinai. The stress and strain caught up with him, and he joined one of the most popular clubs in the history of human beings - the "Poor Me Club." He said, "I have spoken for you Lord, against the people, against the false prophets, and now on top of everything else, they seek my life. I am the only one left, the only true believer, and I am going to die."

So, the prophet is fallible after all. So, the strong man of God is weak, just like the rest of us. So, even a man of God can fall into the trap of feeling sorry for himself. So, after great victories, people can be particularly vulnerable to temptations.

The scene is set. The tension has peaked. The drama unfolds. The man of God, the only one left, in his opinion, is ready to give up. What will God do?

First, Elijah, standing on a great rock on a great mountain just outside his cave, feels a wind beginning to blow. His hopes rise. "Maybe God will be in the wind." But no. Trees tumble. Rocks fall. But God is not in the wind. Then an earthquake begins to rumble. "Surely," thinks the prophet, "God will speak to me and revive me with the power of his voice coming out of the quake." The sound of the quake rises to near unbearable levels, but no voice of God. Then Elijah observes that the earthquake has resulted in a rapidly spreading fire. Hopefully, he watches the fire for hours, but still no word from God. As the fire dies down and all hope seemingly dies with it, the prophet hears "a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12) from within himself.

Question: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Answer: "I have been jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts ... and I, even I only, am left and they seek my life, to take it away." Answer: "Go to Damascus ... you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria and Jeha ... king of Israel and Elisha prophet in your place. There are 7,000 left, Elijah, you are not the only believer."

Elijah did as he was told, and the Lord greatly blessed his ministry. Stress can be a doorway of opportunity.

Stress Can Lead to Sainthood

Elijah is considered one of the greatest prophets of Israel. James is considered one of the greatest apostles of Christianity, a part of Jesus' special inner circle: "Peter, James and John." The prophet and the apostle had their glaring faults, tendencies toward selfcenteredness and self-pity, which came out under stress, but both were brought back to reality, able to face suffering, able to do the work of the Lord. Under stress they nearly broke, but they came back hearing the still small voice of God: "Serve me." Today we remember them as very special leaders in the movement of God in history.

The abbreviation of saint is "St." Perhaps it comes from the first two letters in the word "stress." Saints are made under stress just as surely as diamonds are made that way. A diamond is, after all, a piece of coal which has been put under tremendous stress.

St. James, you were a saint, in spite of your humanity, your weakness, your ill-founded ambition and pushiness. St. James, we can identify with your weaknesses. You were a saint made under stress. That is an encouragement to us. We feel stress too!

St. James, your halo was tipped. Under the stress of Jesus' announced death, you fell apart and did something foolish, asking for honors and power, but when Jesus said, "The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many," you listened. It was a slap in the face that put you back on the way of service.

St. James, your halo was tipped, but you went on and watched the Lord die. You joined with the others behind closed doors, gripped by grief, not knowing where to turn. Then you heard the good news, "Jesus is alive. He has risen just like he said he would." You gained heart and overcame your selfish tendencies.

St. James, your halo was tipped. But you are an encouragement to us because we remember that you weren't perfect. You aren't so different from followers of the Way today.

James, you died the death of a martyr, the first apostle to die for Christ. Your head was cut off by the sword of the Roman state. We probably won't have to face that kind of persecution. We wear red today2 to remember your martyrdom but also because you are blood of our blood, our brother.

2.The liturgical color for this day.

Jimmy, you weren't any "great shakes" as a Sunday School student. You missed some of the lines in the Christmas play. Your halo was tipped, but so was the halo of your namesake. We love you. God loves you and he will use you, if you let him.

To tell you the truth, Jimmy, our halos are tipped too.