A Faith That Works

In September, our worship theme will focus on the New Testament book of James, which is the epistle reading for the Revised Common Lectionary (the set of prescribed readings for worship) for this season. Some think that James has a unique place in the Bible for its nononsense, practical, proverbial wisdom. Others follow Martin Luther’s lead, who thought that James was an “epistle of straw” because in his opinion, he thought people would take its writings and put together a straw (i.e., weak) foundation of works righteousness instead of a gospel of grace.