We recently had a heated election. We were asked to like and admire George W. Bush and see Al Gore as a loser. And we were urged by the other side to see Al Gore as our hope for a better future and George W. Bush as the loser. The election results showed which advertising agency did the best job of convincing the public -- or maybe the supreme court!

The James who wrote our Epistle for today is tho't by some to be the brother of Jesus. Others question that on the basis of the Greek text, which is somewhat more polished than that of the other New Testament writers. They believe it is unlikely that the son of a carpenter in that part of the world would be capable of such elegance.

The letter only mentions Jesus twice. The author is characterized by some commentators as a moralizer who lacks a vision broad enough or a motivation deep enough to back up his moral demands.

Maybe the problem of some sophisticated scholars is that, even in a refined verbalization, James simply tells it like it is. He nails our faults, then anticipates our self-justification, and finally he trots before us characters we all know and recognize by their attitude and their language!

In today's lection, James zeroes in on our preference for people with status, and our belittling of the poor.

He imagines a worship service in process. In walks a celebrity, dressed to a "T". It isn't exactly a night at the Oscars, but the toadying is sickening.

"Here's a good seat for you," we say to him. But to a rather seedy person who happens in we say, "You stand over there."

Of course, we are not really that transparent in our behavior. But do we fit the picture? If a person inappropriately dressed, someone who is somewhat out of place in our lovely sanctuary, wanders in at the same time, what do we say, or at least think?

Then, in case you missed the point, James drives it home bluntly. Who are these rich people? Are they your friends? Aren't they the ones who really stick it to the poor? who use all the legal tricks in the book to build their own bank accounts, at the expense of yours? They even jack up the price of seeing-eye dogs!

Now I don't need to remind you that I believe God is on the side of the poor. And I don't need to tell you of my attitude toward money, especially money hoarded by the rich.

In 1960, the 10 wealthiest nations were 30 times as rich, per capita, as the 10 poorest nations. Now, 40 years later, we are 72 times more wealthy then they! Back then we sent out 0.6% of our Gross National Product to help poor nations get out of their poverty. Today we spend only one fifth that amount! U. S. News editor David Gergen says we are one of the stingiest nations in the world.

He also goads both parties for not addressing the needs of the world, for not answering the challenging questions about inequity and injustice. "Kofi Annan at the United Nations regularly addresses question like these. So do Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Jimmy Carter of the United States and Mary Robinson of Ireland."

Martin Luther hated the book of James, calling it "an epistle of straw, worth no more than a bundle of sticks." He didn't like the epistle because he didn't like its theology. Which is rather strange, given the famous self-flagellation Luther performed to make himself worthy!

James says when we bow and scrape before people with money, we make a mockery of our worship. Every time we ignore the needs of the poor, our profession is meaningless. "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?"

Then James becomes a bit sarcastic: "When you pass by a brother or sister without food and say , 'Go in peace. Keep warm. Smile, God loves you' you make a mockery of Christ."

Interestingly, the attitude of the rich toward the poor doesn't seem to concern James so much as the attitude of the poor toward the rich.

James is not a comedian. He does not give the poor man a snappy comeback like, "Yea, man, I'm with him!" Actually, James wants us to feel how lousy the poor man feels. He comes to this assembly to worship, to remind himself how fortunate he is to be with the saints.

Suddenly, the boot-licking host belittles him. Who needs that?

It is astounding how contemporary this sounds. The hot, young achievers, high salaries dangled before them, big, beautiful homes and cars, and of course, conformity expected. Most of them do conform. "Nobody gets rich without getting dirty!"

What makes the picture more tragic is the gap between the rich and the poor, which keeps growing and growing.

Also tragic is that the rich look on the poor as lazy, dirty, unprincipled. That justifies their way of life! And it is very often true that the poor are poor because they lack motivation, education, good role models, a milieu conducive to high aspirations.

There are reasons to believe God is on the side of the poor: "A poor man pleads for mercy, but a rich man answers harshly." (Proverbs 18:23) "Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse." (Proverbs 28:6) "A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him." (Proverbs 28:11) "The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep." (Ecclesiastes 5:12)

Jesus was pretty harsh on the wealthy: "Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'" (Matthew 19:23, 24)

In the Sermon on the Mount he said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven." (Luke 6:20)

We need to dig more deeply into the text to determine just what Jesus was blessing. He surely was not blessing indolence or poor stewardship. Several of the parables teach the value of hard work and good stewardship.

Maybe the trouble with being rich is that we can solve most of the practical problems that bedevil ordinary people; we just use our checkbooks! But we are often left with nothing but problems which money cannot solve -- how to be happy, how to love and be loved, how to find meaning and purpose in our lives.

In desperation, the rich try to fulfill these needs too with their checkbooks. Perhaps that is what led Jesus to say it is about as easy for a rich man to get into heaven as it is to get his Cadillac thru a revolving door!

John Kenneth Galbraith once said, "Wealth has never been a sufficient source of honor in itself. It must be advertised, and the normal medium is obtrusively expensive goods."

So James describes the wealthy doing just that, displaying their wealth by flashy jewelry and fine clothes. Naturally, we won't all draw the line the same!

The bottom line, for James and Jesus, is that the way up is down. To be truly rich is to put wealth in its place, in perspective. That means to be "poor in spirit" according to Jesus.

Roman philosopher Marcus Aurelius said, "Thou seest how few things are needful for a man to live a happy and godlike life; for, if he observe these, heaven will demand no more."

About 1700, Cotton Mather wrote, "Religion brought forth prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother," Christianity as a culture has brought prosperity to the Western world, and prosperity per se is not evil. The evil is not so much what money does to the person who has it (altho there are some real dangers there) but it is the wall of separation from the poor. Once that wall is in place, the poor do in fact appear to be unattractive, which is precisely the point James is making.

Do you remember the calypso tune of a while back?

The poor man, he would give his soul

If only he had the rich man's gold.

The rich man, he would give his wealth

If only he had the poor man's health.

We need to interpret God's Word in juxtaposition to the society in which it was given. Are there some differences in poverty? We have welfare, social security, medicaid, which they didn't have. Does that, should that give us a different slant of things?

Governor Huey Long was speaking to a group of country folk. He saw a man he knew: "Brother Jones, if you had 3 Cadillacs, wouldn't you give up one of them so we could gather up kids and take them to school and to church?"

"Yes, sir, I sure would."

"And if you had $3 million, wouldn't you give a million of it to help the poor?"

"Yes, sir, of course I would."

"And if you had 3 hogs . . ."

"Wait a minute, governor, I have 3 hogs!"

It's what we do with what we have that determines our liberality. Is every rich person guilty of sin for being rich? No, or course not. Our sin or innocence is not determined by how much we give, but by how much we have left after we give! Remember the widow's mite. "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything -- all she had to live on." (Mark 12:43, 44)

If someone did that today, some people would call it poor stewardship. She should have planned for the future.

Are there circumstances that call for all we have? Like the rich young man to whom Jesus said to sell everything and follow him?

Dear saints, I can't answer that. Each of us must determine our priorities and our values, and then live and give in line with how we feel led by the Holy Spirit. It is vitally important that we not judge others by our own standards. The Holy Spirit does not impress us all the same.

Wealth is certainly a woe to anyone who thinks as James did, and as Jesus did!

James leaves no room at all for compromise. Faith without responsibility is not faith. "Faith without works is dead." Faith is incompatible with favoritism. Faith is incompatible with indifference. Faith is incompatible with hierarchy.

Because you and I are rich, and we are, we must contemplate seriously our role in the Kingdom of Christ. No wonder James comes down hard on us.

The letter of James has been called a collection of Christian wisdom, something like Proverbs, our Old Testament reading today.

The matter of financial priorities is consonant with what Jesus says in next week's Gospel. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." (Mark 8)

The way up is down!