Sermon: St James the Apostle

In 1961, C.S. Lewis published ‘The Screwtape Letters’, some correspondence from a senior devil. Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, offering advice on how to deal with his ‘patient’: a Christian he was charged with leading astray from his  commitment to Christ. The letters had first appeared in the Manchester Guardian during the Second World War.

In the last week some new correspondence from Screwtape has come to light…

From the Office of His Abysmal Sublimity, Undersecretary Screwtape,

Monday

My dear Wormwood

What a surprise to hear from you again. It seems a long time since you sought my advice about how to handle your patient. Sadly, that correspondence fell into the hands of one of the Enemy’s minions, C.S. Lewis, who made a name for himself writing books that did us a great disservice. His publication of some of my letters set back our progress in undermining the faith of some of those miserable Christians very drastically. 

So, you have a new patient to work on. I must caution that you take extreme care with him; the Secret Police tell me that he is particularly dangerous because he was one of the close friends – they use that distasteful word ‘disciple’ – of our Enemy when he confounded us by being born as a human. I can’t tell you how much trouble that dirty trick caused us, we never saw it coming and we’ve been trying to make up the lost ground ever since. Suddenly there is this new born baby in a stinking backwater of a town, and the whole heavenly host goes mad, singing to shepherds and all that nonsense. It means that those miserable humans now have someone they can look to who knows what it is like to struggle as they do against our best efforts to keep them away from their God, our arch-Enemy. We got him killed by his own religious leaders – a masterstroke that was – but of course we’ve had nothing but trouble since from his pesky followers who won’t accept that he is dead. 

I got my research assistant Tapeworm to find out more about this particular disciple. James is one of two brothers who, with that appalling commitment our Enemy seems to induce in some people, left their father’s fishing business to follow him around when he was on earth. Both brothers have fiery tempers – they could be among our own subservient minions when they are angry, so you might want to take advantage of that – it could serve our purposes nicely: ‘Sons of Thunder’ our Enemy calls them, so a little bit of provocation and annoyance here and there wouldn’t go amiss because they can be relied on to wind up their companions. Their mother even came up with this ridiculous suggestion that her miserable sons should get the best seats by our Enemy’s side. Wow, did that set the other disciples going: jealousy, jealousy! It was a glorious moment for us and we hadn’t even set it up. More disturbingly, Tapeworm tells me that our Enemy took James and two others up a mountain – we thought they’d be safe from harm there so relaxed our watch – and then he revealed his glory to them in what they call the Transfiguration. It’s what we call the Miserific Vision, and it is vulgar. But given that it has happened, you might puff up your patient’s pride a little, suggest he’s been given a great privilege that the others haven’t had, and see what happens. 

Meanwhile, keep an eye on him because this preaching of the gospel and saying that our Enemy is risen from the dead, while laughable, needs to be stopped. 

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape. 

Tuesday 

Dear Wormwood, 

I was delighted to hear from the Secret Police that your patient has been arrested by Herod. That stops him passing on the dreadful stories of our Enemy and persuading people to become Christians. Be careful not to overstep the mark – locked up in prison he can’t do Our Father Below much harm, but dead he could attract a following. 

Yours affectionate uncle,

Screwtape. 

Wednesday 

Dear Wormwood, 

Scabtree was here yesterday and reminded me about a previous patient he had to deal with, he showed me the dossier and I thought I’d pass some advice on to you in dealing with your patient, James. Scabtree had a complex case a while ago involving a prophet of our Enemy, Jeremiah. We’d been under pressure because our Enemy had put in place what he called a good king, but from our perspective was a severe obstacle to the cause of Our Father Below. Josiah – that was te king’s name – had somehow persuaded the people to worship our Enemy with unedifying amounts of devotion so Scabtree had to stop this. His methodology was brilliant – he caused Josiah to be over confident in his military prowess and to attack the King of Egypt who had been marching his army to and fro past Josiah’s puny country to do battle with bigger enemies like the Babylonians. It was a splendid moment for us: the King of Egypt was far too strong for Josiah and easily finished him off just like that. You could hear the celebrations in the underworld below when our Enemy’s people were defeated – the fires of hell burned brightly that day and we had a barbecue. After that, all we had to do was get a pathetic king put in his place who lasted three months, which weakened and our Enemy’s people’s confidence nicely, and then Scabtree got the King of Egypt to depose him and replace him with his weakling brother. Just for a laugh, and to remind him who was really in charge, Scabtree planted the idea with the king of Egypt that he should rename this pitiable specimen of royalty, and he gave him the name Jehoiakim. He lasted for eleven years and it was all good fun for us and then Scumgut tempted the King of Babylon, that other great power, to come along and take him prisoner. 

But there was a problem with from Jeremiah who tried hard to persuade King Jehoiakim and his people of the error of their ways. To start with it all went our way and the people arrested Jeremiah and threatened to kill him – they were doing our work for us nicely, we barely had to lift a finger. But the wretched man never gave up and in the end he won them over and the cowardly people backed down from the idea of putting him to death but instead said he had spoken to them in the name of their God, our Enemy. Can you believe their fickleness? Usually we can sway it to serve our ends but our Enemy cheated and played our game. Despicable! And that wretched Jeremiah went on to cause us endless trouble over the years. 

I mention this, because you need to beware just how stubborn Jeremiah and other disciples of their God, our Enemy can be. So keep your patient out of the way, Herod has done us all a great favour by locking him up and his Abysmal Dreadfulness, our Master, is pleased. 

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape. 

From the Underworld Office of Libel and Half Truth

Saturday. 

Wormwood: 

You idiot! I said keep your patient out of the way. I didn’t say let Herod kill him. Do you realise what you have done? You have made a martyr out of him. That’s what you have done and it is a disaster for us. We needed him weakened and rendered ineffective, not martyred. We’ll have to find some way to cover it up before news gets through to High Command, but lies always have been our strong suit which is why I have called in Globsmear and his team to try to salvage something. I will write to you again when they have some idea how to deceive Mudslugger and his lot in High Command because His Abysmal Dreadfulness will be furious if he finds out. At the very least you’ll be sent to the House of Correction for Incompetent Tempters. 

But you realise, don’t you, that now there will be no stopping the followers of our Enemy – those vile Christians – from saying what a great man of faith this James was and how they should follow his example of faithfulness to God whatever the cost.  They’ll be calling him Saint James next and, if we are not careful, they’ll give him a shrine and go on pilgrimage to it. Who knows, in 2000 years time they might still be celebrating his life and witness in their Cathedrals and naming churches after him? 

Your despairing uncle,

Screwtape. 

Sunday, 

Dear Wormwood: 

It is exactly as I feared. They are celebrating St James. And where did it all start? Where did you miss the warning signs? Think back to that story about how he and his brother followed Jesus and left their father to deal with the fishing business because from now on they would be catching humans. What a ridiculous thing to say, but you should have paid more attention. Because what led to James being the dangerous martyr we now have on our hands was the fact that once upon a time he was so passionate about his commitment to our Enemy that he was prepared to put his life on the line for him. That is what made him what they persist in calling a saint. It wasn’t so much what he did in life – although that is bad enough from our perspective – but it is his commitment to Jesus Christ, the one they believe is God born as a human, risen from the dead and now at God’s side in glory. It’s a miserably pathetic belief in our eyes, but we have no answer to it. If one of our Enemy’s disciples wants to become a saint – and they are all dangerously capable of being saints because their God makes no distinction between the strong and the puny ones – then where they have to begin is with intentional commitment which then controls all they say and do. Oh yes, they fail, sometimes quite spectacularly, but our Enemy has this ghastly habit of offering them forgiveness and a chance to begin again. And at times other people get the better of them – think of Scabtree’s experience with their prophet Jeremiah when he got the senseless people in enough of a frenzy to finish him off – but, if they don’t lose faith, then somehow Our Enemy turns the tables and brings them through. It is all quite appalling. 

Oh, yes, Wormwood, what they call saints are made in and through the ordinary events of life, and if they do something spectacular like going all round the world preaching their gospel, or being martyred for it, then that doesn’t make them a better saint in God’s eyes, just more of an example to their fellow Christians. So watch out as James, now he is a saint, is honoured by the Christians and held up as an example. If they follow it, it will be perilous for us, Wormwood, very perilous. 

Your disconsolate uncle,

Screwtape. 

And so we pray that we might be as faithful as James in our discipleship through times of testing and trial, remembering that even saints like James have to begin with simple commitment to follow Jesus when he calls. 

Merciful God

Whose holy apostle Saint James,

Leaving his father and all that he had,

Was obedient to the calling of your Son Jesus Christ

And followed him even to death:

Help us, forsaking the false attractions of the world,

To be ready at all time to answer your call without delay;

Through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord,

Who is alive and reigns with you

In the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God, now and for ever. Amen.