社交媒體已經融入我們的日常生活之中——這有好有壞。壞的是，我們看到網上越來越多的負面消息，而大眾都會極速回應。在紹斯波特(Southport)發生一件瑜伽和舞蹈工作坊襲擊事件，那次襲擊中，兇手刺傷了11名兒童和2名成人，3名非常年幼的女孩不幸當場去世。事件後，有人在線上散布了虛假信息導致多人迅速走上街頭。

伊坂幸太郎有一本小說，英文版譯名為《子彈列車》，中文版譯名為《瓢蟲》。小說裏面，有一個小學生的角色叫“王子”，他談到幫派時說：人們的行為往往是出於本能，而不是理性。他們像是受到某種力量的控制，不能自控地去合理化他們所觀察到別人做的事，而他們自己也跟著去做。就如許多在暴動中被捕的人向法庭辯稱他們的行為是“異於平常”的一樣。然而，法庭仍然判定他們需要為自己的行為負責。

通常說某人“容易被估到/墨守成規”，通常意味著他們是無聊乏味和死板。雖然我們通常比較注意有多樣性和不按本子辦事的人，也都認為“生活就是需要多姿多彩” 。但有時“異於平常”的行為會令朋友或伴侶受到意想不到的傷害，例如為了追求新鮮刺激而見異思遷。

小時候在主日學，我經常唱這首詩歌的副歌：
“昨日今日直到永遠，耶穌不改變，
天地縱變，耶穌依然，耶穌不改變。榮耀歸主名。” 這首歌多年來安慰了許多人。

今日《雅各書》的經課稱頌上帝的恒久不變。上帝不會改變，外在的事物不會令上帝失常。光不能把他的影子扭曲，使他失去本來面貌。上帝不需要每天修改他所設定的計劃去應對不能預計的事情，我們也無法用對上帝怒吼而逼他就範。

雅各勸勉我們要效法上帝，認識自己的真本性。我們與上帝不同，我們可能需要改變，但即使要變，這改變也不能在未了解自己真本性的情況下完成。雅各說，我們可能只認識自己很表面的地步，就像在鏡子中瞥見自己一樣，但對我們的行為或他人如何看待我們卻毫無所知。與望鏡相反，雅各建議我們從上帝堅定不移的本性，對照出我們真正的自我。隨著我們逐漸通過上帝的眼光了解自己，我們的生活將與偉大而解放人心的上帝一致。

在福音書的經文中，當時的宗教領袖，即那些法利賽人和文士，他們忠誠地敬拜和禱告，熟悉經文，曾受教育，守護傳統，但他們抓住機會攻擊耶穌，指責他的門徒沒有按照傳統在吃飯前洗手。因為虔誠的猶太人在每餐之前都會進行一個簡短的儀式，用特定的方式洗手和手臂。法利賽人認為這個儀式可潔淨他們免受任何被認為不潔之物的影響。

耶穌對此感到失望——因為不是所吃的讓人不潔和不得上帝喜悅。反之從人心靈裏面所發出的邪惡意圖，通過卑劣的行為表露出來。

雅各說，只是聽上帝的道是不夠的，基督徒必須要行上帝的道。若這些經文對我們日常生活並沒任何影響，每星期所聽的經課就毫無用處。雅各說，你不能只口稱自己是基督徒，但一開口就出賣了自己。多少次我們說出排斥、批判、破壞和摧毀他人的話？雅各說，如果是這樣，我們的信仰是毫無價值的。

​我們應該快快的聽，慢慢的說，慢慢的動怒——這正好與許多人在網上的行為方式相反。我最喜愛的詩歌之一是Eddie Espinosa在Vineyard教會寫的：
願我心改變  誠實也公義
讓祢更新我  跟主祢相似
主陶匠的手  粘土我改造
陶型並塑造  此禱告盡訴。

願我們靠著聖靈的大能，接納上帝在我們生命中的作工，令我們更像基督，並在我們身上結出忍耐同節制的果子。阿門。

The social media is now embedded in our everyday lives – sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse. Unfortunately, we see increasingly negative interactions online, where quick reactions are expected. Many quickly took to the streets after misinformation was put online following the attack at the yoga and dance workshop in Southport, where the attacker stabbed 11 children and 2 adults, and tragically 3 very young girls died at the scene. 

In the novel ‘Bullet Train’ by Kotaro Osaka one of the  characters, a young school boy called ‘Prince’ says in relation to gangs, people are motivated by instinct not reason. They are controlled by an act of force by which they observe other people doing something and they full into a trap of rationalising the act which then they too get caught up in. Many of those arrested at the riots, in court pleaded that their actions were ‘out of character’. Nevertheless, the courts held them accountable for their actions.

To say someone is predictable often implies that they are boring and narrow-minded. Even if we think ‘variety is the spice of life’ and we rather value versatility and unpredictability in people, there may be occasions when acts ‘out of character’ cause unexpected hurt to friends or partners such as by leaving them for someone new and exciting. 

As a child in Sunday school I used to sing the chorus:
 “Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to his name.”
it has comforted many, for years.

The reading from James today praises God’s unchangingness. In God there is no change. Things from outside him cannot make God react uncharacteristically. Light does not force strange shadows from him, making him appear what he is not. God does not have to return to the drawing board each morning with his design and alter it to fit unpredicted events, and we cannot force God’s hand by shouting at him. 

James exhorts us to imitate God in knowing what we are really like. Unlike God, we may need to change, but even this cannot be done if we do not really know ourselves in the first place. We can, he says, know ourselves in a completely superficial way, so that we might recognise ourselves if glimpsed in a mirror, without any idea of how we behave or others perceive us. // Instead of looking in the mirror, we have to look, James suggests, into the steadfast nature of God and begin to see our true selves . Slowly, slowly as we get to know ourselves through God’s eyes, our lives will become consistent with the great and liberating consistency of God. 

In the Gospel reading the Pharisees and the Scribes, who were the religious leaders of the day, the educated keepers of tradition, knowing their Scriptures by heart, faithfully at worship and prayer, seize the opportunity to challenge Jesus about his disciples not washing their hands before eating as they should according to tradition. Before each meal, devout Jews performed a short ceremony, washing their hands and arms a specific way. The Pharisees thought this ceremony cleansed them from any contact they might have had with anything considered unclean. 

Jesus is exasperated with them – it’s not what goes into a person that makes them unclean and out of favour with God, but what comes out. Evil intentions come from the human heart and are displayed to the world in unworthy deeds.

James says it is not enough to hear the word of God, Christians must be doers of the word of God. It is no good listening week in and week out to the Scriptures, if it makes no difference to the way we live moment by moment. You can’t call yourself a Christian , says James, and then let your tongue betray you every time you open your mouth. How often do we speak words that exclude, judge, tear down destroy others? If we do then our faith is worthless says James. 

He says we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry – the very opposite of what many default to online. One of my favourite songs written by Eddie Espinosa of the Vineyard Church is:
“Change my heart, O God,
make it ever true;
change my heart, O God,
may I be like you.
You are the potter, I am the clay;
mould me and make me:
this is what I pray.”  

​May we be open to God working in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that the fruit of patience, self-control may grow in us and we become more like Christ. Amen.