Serving the Lord in Leytonstone, London
It is sometimes said that God cannot be both all-good and all-powerful because if He was there would be no evil. So either He’s in favour of evil, or He can’t do anything about it. This passage shows Jeremiah wrestling with a version of that dilemma
The role of deacons is to serve the Church…
James is correcting the worldly thinking which is influencing his distant Christian friends. They are living in Jewish communities where too much respect is paid to the rich and the poor are too easily dismissed.
Although he doesn’t mention it directly, what happened on the cross to the Lord Jesus feeds into the ideas which James presents in his letter.
James was the half-brother of Jesus. He loved Israel and was faithful to his Jewish culture. But he also recognised his brother was God’s anointed king and the Son of God.
Becoming a Christian and joining a Church is a serious and life changing commitment, and should not be undertaken lightly.