Sunday sermon. Class favorites . . .

As a disclaimer, on Sundays I often write about something that is bothering me in my faith life. I am a Christian, and today's post refers to the New Testament of the Christian Bible.  

The Mobile Press Register reported today that Governor Bentley will cut another third of a billion dollars from the State budget. He has already cut two-thirds of a billion.  He is shooting for more than a billion in budget cuts. The governor quoted from the Bible, the Book of James, Chapter 1, verses 2 and 3:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 

He cited the passage in a speech to  five hundred members of one of the most powerful religious denominations in the state,  the Business Council of Alabama,  suffering as servants at the austere accommodations of the Grand Hotel at Point Clear.  We are all feeling the pinch, I guess.

I wish he had continued to read aloud from James.  It wouldn't take long to get to chapter 2.  Forgive me for using a long passage, but there really is some great stuff in the Bible:

2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”  you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 

I don't mean too be hard on the governor.  Being a governor of a welfare State, that is to say, a state that is dependent on the Federal government, is challenging in these tough economic times.

But the governor attempted to justify the deep budget cuts to education, to youth services, to food safety, to services for the poor and elderly by quoting scripture.  

Perhaps James (Jesus' brother, not the former governor of Alabama) would have suggested that the Governor go to a shelter, or an orphanage, or an inner city or rural school,  or the Church of the Reconciler in Birmingham this morning, for instance, and discussed the needs of the people gathered there and how the state can best handle those needs in a terrible economy.

But, as many are quick to point out, meeting the needs of the poor and hungry is the job of the church, not the government. Apparently it is the task of government to meet the needs of the business and wealth.

So we quote scripture to the Business Council of Alabama to justify balancing the budget on the backs of those who have no voice, no power . . . no money.

I am sure the Governor addressed this with the Business Council.  I mean, he didn't have to bring up the Bible in a meeting of business leaders, but he did.  So I am sure he insisted that James also called on us all to take care of the poor and needy.  I am sure he told them that it might be necessary to raise their taxes just a little bit so that the needs of the least of these Alabamians could be helped.

I am sure he reminded them he couldn't play favorites, cause it says so, right there in the Book of James.

Surely he did.  It's in the Bible.

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