Be Still And Know

James 2:1 Do you have favourites? Or do you look at all other people in exactly the same way whatever their age, education, wealth, beauty, race or religion, and irrespective of whether you know them or not? We would all like to claim that we don’t have favourites, but James points out to his readers that favouritism very easily creeps into our thinking. James describes a situation that could happen in any local church. A wealthy person comes into a service and is welcomed generously and given a good seat. He is followed by a scruffy man, whose poverty is plain for all to see, who is rudely told to sit down or find a place on the floor. James proclaims boldly that this should not happen. Favouritism should not happen in us or our churches because God doesn’t do it. God welcomes everyone, whoever they are, and we are called to do the same. On the face of it, this sounds very reasonable and straightforward. But it is far harder to put into practice. We all have preferences and we all get on with