A fair number of us went to KEC (Katoomba Easter Convention) to either participate or to serve in running kids programs during the sessions. While I can only truly speak for myself, the weekend was a great time of fellowship, work and both personal and church wide challenge. The topic: Wealth.
I’m sure others who were there (and those who were able to attend the morning sessions) could give a far more comprehensive and enlightening recount. But nonetheless, I found the evening talks I heard from John Dickson greatly challenging in more ways than one.
Looking at the first two chapters of James, I was shown to see this book in a different light. It seems easy for us to gloss over a strong emphasis on wealth and how we should use it, shown in verses such as 1:9-11 and 2:1-7, as irrelevant to us. Not so.
How do you, individually, and we, as a church, approach money and wealth?
Perhaps more importantly, how seriously do we take the command given in 1:26-27, to “visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world“ – to care for the poor and shun impurity and worldly attitudes?
How do we show the partiality mentioned in chapter two? Surely I’m not that bad – right?

In discussion with some of our members throughout the convention, it was clear that several of us have been convicted of the need for change by God’s Spirit. I saw how I am a master of justifying my actions – “I’ll just pay off this first” or “when I’m more financially secure, then I can give more”. And I think many of us are like me.

However, wealth is only one aspect.
For some time now I’ve felt an undercurrent of movement amongst some Factory Night Churchers – a desire to live what we preach in a far more public and real way, a need to impact our local community effectively and powerfully. A movement to be Christians who live far more real lives that proclaim Christ as Lord.

Friends, I write this not to judge us or instill guilt within us. I write this to spur you to thought, but far more importantly, action. Yes it is true, our mercy and our actions are not what saves us, but surely they are a sign of our faith and our salvation.
Let us work together to improve how we treat, relate, and care for each other as well as how we relate to our parish, our community, our country and our world.