Day 321

Ezekiel 32:1-33:20, James 1:1-27, Psalm 127:1-5

As we approach the last few books of the Bible we come to one of the shorter letters. This one is sent by James to dispersed Christians across the region.

James was the pastor of the Jerusalem church and we see from his opening verse that he was probably writing to Jewish Christians. The words “twelve tribes” shows us that they are of Jewish origin, add to that his language and the fact that he is the leader of the Jerusalem church we see who his recipients were. And he is clear that they are out amongst the nations – dispersed.

It actually got me thinking about who I might write to, if I had to write a pastoral letter. Would it just be to the church to whom I was minister or would it be to people much wider. You could incorporate people who couldn’t make it on a Sunday. People who had moved on, left the area but still worshipping.  But what about the many many people who were out among the nations, gone away from the church and not actually come back.

If I was writing to them then what would I say, what would you say. To remind them of the love of God in Christ Jesus that has never actually left them, the God who is there with them at every term, the God who longs to have them back. This is something that those in the church need to remember and something we need to tell those outside the church.