Questions for Thursday

The letter of James is loaded with practical information if you want to build on the solid rock. Here are a few specs concerning James:

1. The author is James, not the brother of blessed John, but the James who was a shirt tail relation to Jesus and became the first bishop of Jerusalem, whom Dr. Luke describes in Acts 15.
2. The letter is informally classified as a catholic epistle -- i.e., addressed to all churches. Yet it does contain an exhortation a bit like the exhortation to the Smyrna church in Revelation. It is a big maybe, though, because there were probably loads of churches who needed this letter's exhortation.

Here are a few questions to work with when reading ahead into the first chapter of James' letter:

1. Joy. Wisdom. Trials. Faith. Crown of Life. So many concepts, and it is just the first chapter! Which sentence in this chapter would be a good place to start a prayer, a needed prayer, in our parish?
2. Have you ever experienced joy DURING a trial or trouble? (Note: we have asked this question before. )
3. What geographic locations would be considered to be part of the dirspersion? Which locations would not be considered to be part of the dispersion?
4. Is there another place in the New Testament that combines the concepts of our birth, first fruits and creation, as James does in v. 18?

Let's work with these questions on Thursday morning, as we gaze into this part of the perfect law of freedom, God's Word

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