Daily Worship

Christ the Master Carpenter of Nazareth

February 20, 2015 0 0

James 2:14-20

Faith without Works Is Dead

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren?

 

At the Grassmarket Centre we have a number of craft activities that provide training and skills that lead to greater self-esteem and work opportunities for our members. It is wonderful and inspiring to see people whose lives have been at rock-bottom finding a new sense of worth and accomplishment in our various workshops. I am convinced that craftsmanship is a wonderful thing and that whatever task people are engaged in it is really important to instil a sense of pride in the work we do. I have also come to see that most people really do want to contribute to society and do some useful work, they do not want simply to be warehoused and left watching daytime TV all day. I like to think that Jesus was apprenticed at his earthly father’s workbench in his early years and that good work is one of the keys to recovering our human identity. We were put in the garden to tend it and serve it, according to Genesis 2:15. Work is our natural state.

Prayer:
Help us, good Lord, to cherish our work and to value whatever task we have been given.
Help us also to overcome our tendency to imagine that those without work chose to live that way.
Give us generous hearts and the imagination and courage to work towards a more inclusive and fair society
that values good work and recognises that faith without it is barren.
Amen.