Today’s passage continues from that reading and further describes ways that his community are at odds with one another. In today’s verses he talks about how those issues and conflicts are keeping them from closeness with God and therefore full connection with what they need the most from God – wisdom, gentleness, and peace.

It’s this goal or need of believers – individually and in community – to be close to God that connects all that he is saying. Here are a few of the behaviors he’s witnessed: bitter envy, selfish ambition, arrogance, lying, murder, disputes, and coveting.

All of these are keeping his community from the peace that flows from God’s wisdom, keeping them from being close to God. I would say that that, overall, the people in Jame’s community are deeply distracted. Here the top 2 definition of being Distracted: 1) having one’s thoughts or attention drawn away: 2) unable to concentrate or give attention to something. All the internal and external struggles and conflicts in this community are drawing their thoughts away from God and making them unable to give attention to what God wants for them.

I understand being distracted – by both trivial and serious matters. Tell me if this has ever happened to you:

A few weeks ago, I had to call my phone provider about some inconsistencies in my billing. I had to call because I could not resolve this on the website or in the App. So, I called and got the automated greeting that told me what number to push based on the reason for my call. Press 1 if you would like to start service, 2 if you would like to make a payment, 3 if you need technical support, and so on. As I was listening all of sudden, I hear the voice say, “press 7 to go back to the main menu” – wait, what? What happened to the choice to talk about a billing issue? I realized that I had only been half listening because I was so distracted by my thoughts about other things – what I needed to do right after that call to get ready for a meeting, laundry that was piling up at home, the friend who texted a week ago and I still had not replied, a test result that concerned my doctor.  Everything but the reason I was on the phone.

So, I did what any normal person would do, I pressed 0, hoping it would get me to a live person who could connect me with the right department, because I did not want to go back to the main menu and listen all over again. That did not work – I ended up listening to another message describing new products at which point pressing 7 for the main menu didn’t work. I had to call back and start all over again – this time I was determined to pay close attention so that I wouldn’t miss my #. Wouldn’t you know, it happened again. I was so distracted by other thoughts that I didn’t hear anything until the message got to #6 or 7.  It took me 3 times to finally listen well enough to press the correct #.

I had what I needed right there on my phone, but I couldn’t perceive it because of what else was going on in my mind and heart. James’ community had become so distracted by their thoughts about themselves and each other, they could no longer perceive that what they needed from God was right there with them. He sums it all ups this way:

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

When I first read this, I thought, oh that’s beautiful – if we can put aside what is distracting us from God, God will come to us. But the more I reflected, the more it bothered and challenged me. The phrasing in this English translation makes the relationship with God sound a bit transactional, that how close God is depends on something we do.

It took me back to many years ago, when I experienced a real change in my faith that eventually led me to seminary and the ministry. I think I’ve shared some of this before. I was overseas with a group of people who had come to Christianity in dramatic ways. They were full of joy and enthusiasm about their faith, and they were also strict about what was required for believers – especially the importance of praying in the right way to see the right results. For them that meant praying without any distractions such as doubts or questions, praying as much as possible every day at regular times – by yourself, with groups, and in worship, praying with scripture, praying in tongues or in the spirit. There was one woman, devout and deeply compassionate. She told me that I needed to pray on my knees, literally, for several hours at a time.

All of these instructions and encouragements were based on a belief that if I or anyone didn’t hear answers I needed from God, was upset about something, or not getting what I asked God for, it was because I wasn’t praying correctly or enough, that I had allowed worldly matters to distract me from God’s Spirit. They could have gotten some of this from today’s passage in James that also says, ³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, …

I have come a long way in my faith journey since that time, but I will admit that I have lingering doubts about how I pray and often wonder if there is something I should be doing differently, better, more of, or all of the above. I still have those old voices in my head making me feel that there is a perfect form or method of prayer that I have yet to figure out – some approach to prayer that will bring me as close to God as possible. It has felt like I am trying to follow what James says, that if I can draw near to God in the right way, then God will draw near to me, but what I finally realized is that these voices have themselves become a distraction, that they are keeping me from perceiving that God is already right here with me.

After this realization, I had a new thought about prayer – that the goal is not to become connected with God, because I am always connected to God – God made me, God loves me. I don’t have to do anything for that to be true and there’s nothing I can do to make it untrue. With this in mind, prayer for me is becoming more of a time to remember my connection with God, and then to pay attention, to notice, all the ways I see God in my life, in the world, in the church, in other people.

This can be for a few seconds or longer time, it can happen in silence, while saying words or singing songs that come to mind, reading scripture or another text. There is no one or perfect form. I am discovering that what I need the most is a way to quiet the voices that distract me from knowing this simple truth – that God is with me, God is near me, that what I need the most from God, I already have. When I am able to put aside those voices of distraction, I am better able to perceive how close God always is.

It makes me wonder if this is closer to what James meant – that drawing near to God begins with our recognition of all that may be distracting us or getting in the way of our understanding of how God is with us and how much God loves us. He gives that detailed list of examples of internal and external struggles and conflicts that are drawing his community’s thoughts away from God and making them unable to give attention to what God wants for them.

Voices and circumstances that feel relevant to us and our world today, that keep our attention away from our connection with God, that cloud the way we think about God, ourselves and others.

To all of us, James is saying – whatever those circumstances are, don’t let them make you forget that God is with you, God is right there for you.

As we each move into the rest of this day and this week, may we all remember that fundamental truth and find ourselves noticing all the ways God is present, how God might be speaking, and where God might be leading – each of us and all of us.

In the name of our Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen.