The Feast of St. James the Fisherman
The Rev. Edwin Johnson
July 28, 2024
It’s a blessing to be with you my heart is up in flames.
To be with you here in Wellfleet with the great people of St. James.
My excitement grew and grew as my family drove South East.
For the honor and pleasure to celebrate yours and my son’s patronal feast.
The feast of he who with his brother, had visions of greatness in his dreams.
Only to learn that following Jesus into the Kingdom isn’t always what it seems.
The feast of one whose apostolic journey, took him a particular way.
Giving us the great Camino de Compostela, that many walk to this day.
My prayer is that as we may seek things great in stature and span.
May we like James stumble into our place, within God’s divine plan.
That we may in this amazing life, as we seek to answer God’s call.
Play our unique role, in creating life for all.
Good morning St. James! It is so wonderful to be with you this morning and I want to thank you
for your warm welcome not only of me but also of my wife Susan and our sons Francisco and Santiago.
As I alluded to in my poem, today is a big deal for you and for me and my family. As you celebrate St.James Day as the community of St. James Wellfleet we celebrate it as la fiesta de Santiago as the name Santiago is Spanish for St. James. So we were meant to be together on this day and I want to thank Tracey for making it happen, Linda for hosting us and Emily for just being plain cool.
In my spare time one of the things I love imagining the most are Heavenly reunions. You know, the moments in Heaven where partners, family members, and friends are reunited. While those are no doubt heartwarming I particularly enjoy imagining those that might have a little awkwardness to them. One such reunion might be the one of Jesus, James and John. You see in our Gospel passage we are reminded that James and John, sons of Zebedee, sons of Thunder as they were also known came to Jesus with a request to be at his right and left hand in the Kingdom. These brotha’s had dreams of greatness and as they did answer the call to serve God in following Jesus they imagined this leading to them becoming legends, being crowned in Heavenly glory and perhaps even in Earthly glory as well. At this point it still seemed at least somewhat possible that Jesus in his amazing preaching a miracle making would rise to prominence amongst the people and they wanted to be there on the right and the left.
Well, we know how things turned out. Care of Acts of the Apostles we learn that James became the first of the twelve apostles to be martyred. Tradition teaches us that this happened after he journeyed to what is now Spain to share the Gospel. John, on the other hand had a very different fate. While James was the 1st of the twelve to die John was the last, and the only to die of natural causes. He lived a long life and would come to author or at least be attributed two major books of the Bible along with three additional letters, rendering him in some ways immortal while thoughts of his brother would seemingly pale in comparison. All told, while neither perhaps found the kind of glory in this world that they had been hoping for on several fronts John seemed to do a lot better. One could say then that at their reunion in Heaven many years after the events of Acts of the Apostles Jesus had some explaining to do.
Nonetheless I believe that there is ample reason for us to find hope, solace, and a guide in James. It is true, James did not write words that would become canon for millennia. It is true he likely lived fewer years on this earth than most of us have. And yet he charted a path as he sought to bring the good news of Jesus to those who had never heard it and that path went on to become El Camino De Santiago De Compostela. A path that Tracey, because she’s the coolest, has already traversed and one that we as a family will take our Santiago on in the years to come. That path has been a source of spiritual discernment and spiritual awakening for many people. Where John’s words have reached hearts through the minds of those who read and heard them El Camino has engaged people’s bodies and their senses while also making clear just how dependent we are on each other. This is all to say that James, Santiago, he who dreamt of greatness eventually put his head down to do the work of God in his own way and ended up making a way for thousands upon thousands of others.
So then, what might this mean for all of us? Going back to the Gospel one might say that we should all seek to grow in humility, that we should all beware of seeking our own glory. This is true perhaps. But the lesson from this that excites me more is the blessed assurance that even in our seeking of good things for ourselves, even in our succumbing at times to the draw of greatness and recognition, that if we seek relationship and connection with God’s people and if we, in our own unique ways, seek God and invite others to do so, a true, lasting and difference-making thing can spring forth.
And so I have an invitation to you as you seek to continue to serve God and follow in the example of James. First, even if you are, as I am, on the journey and not there yet in terms of truly humbling yourself, in terms of subjugating your desires for good things and recognition as you try to serve God, I invite you to lean into your gifts and do all you can to take risks for the Gospel. Yes you will get in the way at times, yes you will mess up at times but as we see with this son of Thunder God can work with that. (consider… what are you good at? what do you feel called to do? what brings you joy? Do that, and do it even as you are figuring out how to really do it for the glory of God.
Secondly, as you consider leaning into your life in faith and ministry I invite you to consider taking a step that will or will likely come with some cost to you. At some point along the journey it must have become clear to James that he at the very least was putting his life at risk. As he left home it must have at least dawned on him that he may not return the place that he loved. He did it anyway. So I invite you to consider something in your life that would likely or certainly come with cost that can bring life and life to others. In my work of Episcopal City Mission part of this involves inviting congregations and individuals to consider reparations and reparative investing. Seeking repair, restitution and rejuvenation of marginalized communities over return. For me personally this means using the capital I have built in our church to challenge others even as it could be costly to me at a leader of color in a church that still struggles with that. Whatever it is I invite you to consider something meaningful that appears to come at cost, that perhaps scares you a bit and could for sure have a positive impact.
Lastly, wherever you are in your journey I invite you to share that journey in ways that feel safe and perhaps a bit risky, for just as James’ Camino came to inspire others your unique path of life, ministry, discernment, search what have you may do the same to others. For I assure you there is some one around you, some one who may know you a bit who could find their path in learning more about yours. It may not be as immortalized as El Camino and if it helps but one other person it means all the world, and if all of us do it, it’s a movement. So I invite you to consider, how you might – ego, dreams, faults and all – might just go for it. And invite you to find some one or some particular way to share a bit of your journey.
Speaking of journey, as I imagine the reunion when John completed his journey to Heaven with James and Jesus there to meet him, I imagine there was some gentle or not so gentle ribbing about besting his brother. I imagine James countered by saying if he actually went and did something consequential that it wouldn’t have taken him so long. But what I am sure of is this, that part of the peace and joy that James shared in that time came from knowing that in his life he sought one kind of greatness and God enabled him to play his unique part in something truly great. May we all do the same and while we can, may we tell that story.