Deleted Scenes: James 3:13-18. Wisdom at The Gleaners

As many of you know, about 40 of us from The Bridge Church spent last week at the Okanagan Gleaners in Oliver, BC. Here’s a quick debrief in case you’ve missed it: the Gleaners is a ministry that takes donated food that can’t be sold for various reasons. Volunteers like us do a variety of jobs that end up with the food being dried and packaged as soup mix to be sent around the world. All of this is in Christ’s name. This year, we were able to see how the soup mix is ultimately packaged. There’s a note that comes with the packaging with John 3:16 printed out and a short explanation about the motivation behind their work. I love that! It truly is an amazing and biblical ministry (check out Leviticus 19:9-10 and Ruth 2 for the biblical context of “gleaning”).

At the end of the week, we always have a debrief session with the group. We asked what the Lord had taught them about Himself through the week. Everyone was supposed to share, even the kids (though they were allowed to simply say what their highlight was if they wanted). Most of them, however, chose to answer the “harder” question. Their responses were incredible. A couple of them talked about seeing how everyone contributed something to the end result. Whether they were washing trays, cutting vegetables, delivering clean water to the cutting stations, every part was necessary. They saw the connection between that and the church, that everyone contributes their various gifts and ministries to the work of God’s Kingdom. Similarly, one of the kids mentioned how what we were doing in one sense seemed small, but that God was using our week of work to feed the hungry all over the world. He’s able to use what looks small in the eyes of the world to accomplish some pretty incredible things.

In James 3:13-18, which we looked at on Sunday, James contrasts earthly and heavenly wisdom. He says that earthly wisdom produces envy and selfish ambition. As some at the Gleaners debrief recognized, doing a week at the Gleaners is a “flattening” experience. Regardless of your status or work in the rest of your life, there is no glorious job there. Selfish ambition and envy won’t get you anywhere. On the other hand, the work you do there is all about mercy, good fruit, and sowing peace in troubled and war-torn lands. The work draws people together and grows deeper relationships with fellow believers. Those are the things James says heavenly wisdom produces.

The point is, it’s wise to come to the Gleaners! We’ve already got our week booked for next year: July 21-25. We’ve also received permission to expand our group a bit, especially with adults or older teenagers. If you’re interested, talk to my wife Carolyn for more information (craigandcarolyn@gmail.com). And even if you can’t, look for other ways you can serve and work that cultivate what James talks about in 3:13-18. There’s always opportunities here at The Bridge to serve. (You can fill out a serve card below.) Some might seem small and insignificant, especially if your occupation is “high status” in the world. But as the kids at the Gleaners recognized, those kinds of apparently small jobs can teach us big things about God’s work in the world.