Discipleship in the Alzheimer's Wing
James 1:17-27
by Jim Westmoreland
A man was hired to paint the lines on the highway that divide
the lanes. Now the company didn't have a lot of resources so he had to do his painting on
foot. After the first day at work his supervisor was very impressed when he learned that
this new employee had painted three miles' worth of lines.
Unfortunately, the next day his results were not quite as impressive. He was only able to
extend the lines for two miles. The third day he only painted less than one mile of lines.
The supervisor went from being impressed to being concerned. The new employee's
performance was now not acceptable. He called him into him into his office and said,
"I'm going to have to let you go." The employee dropped his head and got up to
leave. As he was going out the door he turned and said, "It's not my fault. I've
never worked so hard in all my life. Its just that the paint bucket keeps getting further
and further away!"
We laugh at this man's problem. His problem was that his paint bucket was too far from
where he was doing his work! His supply source was too far from where the brush hit the
road! What he needed to do was to take the bucket with him! How is it that things can be
so glaringly obvious in a story like this and, yet, they can be so hard to see in our own
spiritual lives? When we find ourselves reading the bible handed out in S.S. or reading
the bible provided in the pew and then not opening our own bibles during the week, are we
not working too far from our buckets?
Our passage from this letter from James challenges us this morning. In
1:22 he writes, "But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive
themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look
at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately
forget what they were like."
As I read this text I couldn't help but think of friends and relatives that slowly lost
the connection between the "real world" and their memory and consciousness.
There is a very pleasant man who sits on the porch at Heritage Place Nursing home where
Janet's brother is a resident. We often take our Yorkie terrier, named Samson, with us. As
we walk to the porch with Samson on the leash, the man will say these precise words:
"Cute little dog. What's his name?" We'll tell him and he'll repeat it and say,
"Cute little dog." When we come back out, he will say again, "Cute little
dog. What's his name?" He can no longer connect one moment to the next.
My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and lived in a nursing home in Kansas City
her last years. She was a sweet little lady and used to delight in being kind and helping
out the "old people" who lived there. She loved to push people who were confined
to a wheelchair around the halls. But, they had to restrict her from doing that because
she would often take people who didn't want to go, and she would also get distracted and
leave them far away from their room and hallway.
Perhaps, each of us have our own stories about loved ones that we smile about, but we also
know the pain of loving someone who no longer remembers us or many of the special memories
that we have shared together. It is a sad thing to lose our history, all the many memories
of relationships and shared moments. Sometimes, we get trapped at some point, "back
when" that we keep reliving Sometimes, we may live our lives spiritually
disconnected. Apparently, that was true for some of the people to whom James was writing.
There were people in James' day who were claiming to be followers of Jesus, and perhaps
they were also gathering with others for the teaching and worship times of that early
church. But, something was lacking that James was addressing in his letter. There was a
critical "disconnect" that nullified their claims to be a disciple. What was
this "disconnect"? They were hearers of the word and not doers! That's when the
"tilt" buzzer went off for James. He was saying to himself and to us,
"What's wrong with this picture?" What was wrong is that there was no action!
For believers and followers of Jesus, it is natural, normal and healthy for us to grow in
our spiritual lives, which includes both our knowledge and understanding and the way we
live and minister to others. James forces us to ask ourselves, Am I growing in Christ, or
not? I must ask myself, Have I been growing as a Christian for 47 years, or Have I been a
Christian for 1 year 47 times?
James said that to hear the word and not do it was like people who looked in a mirror and
looked away and immediately forgot what they were like. We know the sadness of living with
someone with Alzheimer's. What James is describing is like someone trying to be a growing
disciple in the Alzheimer's wing. They look in the mirror. They hear the word of God come
to them in worhsip, preaching, music, scripture, and then they leave and forget everything
they heard, and they live there lives disconnected from what God has shown them.
For James the problem is not a mental disability, but a spiritual malfunction that is
traced to disobedience and lack of commitment. The Word of God is sharper than a two edged
sword. It penetrates our self-induced satisfaction, and it burns our hearts with the
illuminating and purifying presence of God. We have the choice of turning away or of being
changed. The old minister was right when he said, "First, you gotta believe it. Then,
you gotta behave it. Enough of that gatherin' at the churchhouse and talkin' the talk!
Now, get on out there where people are hurtin' and are all messed up and walk the walk!
James is a straight talker. He is not mean-spirited. He is direct. He gives us a picture
of someone who is content to hear and do nothing. It is tragic enough for a person to be
deceived by others, but there is something especially pathetic about a person who is
guilty of self-deception. And, this is precisely what we do to ourselves when we hear the
Word of God taught or preached, give assent to its truth, and all the while our lives are
unchanged.
It is too easy to listen so long as nothing is required. It doesn't cost anything to
listen. However, Jesus never called anyone merely to be a listener. He challenged the
fishermen: "Come after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men" (Mk
1:17). He commissioned his followers: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). Jesus' call is always to
follow and to go, never simply to sit and to listen.
When we find ourselves going through the motions, just sitting and listening, we are
missing out on what God has to offer. When the scripture or the sermon never penetrates
beneath our skin, no matter what is said, nothing happens. Thre is no conviction of sin,
no realization of doing wrong. There is no deepening of love for God and for one another,
and there is no compassion for those who do not know God through Jesus. There is no
encouragement to service and ministry, and we are numb to the guilt that God expects more
than is being done.
Sometimes, we say that we want to grow in our spiritual lives. What I have learned is that
obedience is the door-way to growth. We don't grow because we don't do what we already
know to do! God has more things for us, but we are not prepared to learn more until we do
what he has already shown us to do. So, when we start doing what we now know to do, then
God will start teaching and revealing new things to us.
Instead of hearing God's word for us and going away and forgetting everything about it, we
begin to think about how God wants us to clean up our lives, or to minister to others in
need. Sometimes, we minister by sharing with others how God is leading us to grow through
some of the rough spots we have gone through.
A colleague of mine from Memphis, Brooks Ramsey, was a writer, a professional counselor,
and was one of the ministers that accompanied Martin Luther King, Jr. on the symbolic
march supporting the Sanitation workers just before King was killed. Brooks tells the
story of the queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon, and how, one day, she put him to
the test. She brought artificial flowers so perfectly formed that no human eye could
detect them from real flowers. She put them in a vase on Solomon's table, in his throne
room next to his flowers. As he came in, the queen of Sheba is reported to have said,
"Solomon, you are the wisest man in the world. Tell me without touching these
flowers, which are real and which are artificial." It is said that Solomon studied
the flowers for a long time and spoke nothing, until finally he said, "Open the
windows and let the bees come in."
There are ways to tell the artificial from the real--let the bees come in; they will know
where the real is. If we live with the authentic Jesus long enough, we will recognize the
artificial when we see it. --Dr. Brooks Ramsey, "When Religion
Becomes Real", a professional counselor and former pastor of Second Baptist Church in
Memphis, TN
When we hear what God wants us to be and what he wants us to do in our worship, and when
nothing changes in our lives in what we do, when we feel no tension between where we are
and where God is calling us to be, this says that there is a critical
"disconnect" in our lives. It is the difference between the artificial and the
real. It is hearing the right things and then flushing them out of our minds on our way
across the parking lot to our cars. It is a sad thing. It is something that Christ will
help us to overcome. But, unless we make the commitments to real change, then we are
condemned to going through the motions of discipleship in the Alzheimer's wing.
A certain downtown businessman became fond of the little boy who shined his shoes every
day. He did such a good job that one day the businessman asked him, "Son, how come
you are so conscientious about your work?" The boy felt complimented. He looked up to
the man, and said, "Mister, I'm a Christian and I try to shine every pair of shoes as
if Jesus Christ were wearing them."
The businessman saw something genuine in the shoeshine boy. Soon after that, he began
reading his Bible. When he decided to be a Christian himself, he credited his decision to
the little boy who shined every pair of shoes "as if Jesus Christ were wearing
them." That's a blessing. --Charles R. Leary, Mission Ready!,
C.S.S. Publishing Company, 1990.
There's a "connection" between faith and reality, between what we hear and what
we do. But, as James wrote, "For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they
are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on
going away, immediately forget what they were like." That kind of
"disconnect" is sickness and weakness.
When we, as followers of Jesus, make a strong connection between our hearing and doing,
then others are attracted to us like bees to fresh flowers. They know the real from the
artificial. And they are attracted to us because we shine every pair of shoes, we do every
kind deed and act of charity like we are doing it for Jesus. When we make that kind of
"connection" between hearing and doing, there is no doubt that Christ lives in
and through us!