In the letter of James, we read: “Come near to God and He will come near to you.” (James 4:8).

In the early days of the Fellowship, the reading for the meetings, before the Big Book was composed, the groups used the Letter of James and, at one time, Bill W wanted the group called, “The James Boys,” until it was clarified there already was a notorious group by the same name.

Bill came from an atheistic background and, with the help of Ebby, discovered he could believe in a God “as I understand him.” I don’t believe Bill ever explained how he understood God.

As Bill continued to grow spiritually it makes sense why he turned to the Letter of James. Somewhere in my life I came across the following statement: “[James] is a book written for readers whose faith in God is threatened by a daily struggle with hardship. This ‘testing of faith’ is provoked by a variety of external and historical circumstances or ‘trials.’ Yet more importantly, every test occasions a theological crisis, when the believer is more easily deceived or confused about who God is and how God acts.”        

James understood the difficulties of life and especially the difficulties experienced when we begin to question the existence of, or the nature of God. James’ letter is practical; it deals with the reality of the difficulties of life and the need of perseverance. For James, the person who perseveres at the time of testing is the one who does not let themselves be overcome by negative desires and chooses life. This could be a reference to the Book of Deuteronomy where God said “Today I set before you, life and death, blessings and curses, Choose Life so that you and your descendants may live.” For James this meant making good choices to live rather than be spiritually dead.

Then, as now, there are those in life who are wealthy and those who struggle to makes ends meet. This is true not only society in ancient times, but also at the time of the creation of the fellowship and it continues to this day. For James, the humble rich are those who, regardless of their socioeconomic status, believes their gifts and talents are gifts from God. Those who acknowledge that all they have comes from God and nothing they have could buy the happiness they have or want. Another similarity between the wealthy and the poor is that – no matter how much they have – it will pass away. Put it another way; financial resources or the lack of them are irrelevant to one’s standing with God or Higher Power. One of my joys in the fellowship is the folks I have come to know on a first name basis, and I know nothing about what they do away from the fellowship.

Another human issue is that of favoritism. For James, favoritism is breaking the law “Love your neighbor as yourself.” As James puts it: “If you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” And then

 as now, favoring those who seemed to be more intelligent or wealthy is destructive to a healthy community. All members of the community/fellowship should be welcomed equally, without regard for their socioeconomic status or religious, or lack of it, background.

“Seamus, take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth. You have two ears to listen twice as much as you talk.” I’ve wondered if the individual who said that to me was aware he was, in a sense, quoting James who said: “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” I was too quick to talk, slow to listen, and became angry when confronted about one or other character defect often related to not listening. James also cautioned that although the tongue is a small part of the human body, it is the part that steers the course of the whole of one’s life. But life has not changed; People continue to lie, break promises, spread gossip, break confidences. Sometimes we use words for self-promotion by belittling others. For James, what a person says is an expression of who that person is.

Also, for James, God is the source of all wisdom. Perhaps it is this awareness that rounds off the Steps where we “pray only of knowledge of your will and the power to carry it out.”

The Big Book is still my “go to book” but I also keep in mind that that which formed much of what Bill W wrote and said came from a letter written some two-thousand years ago and it is still valid to this day.

Séamus D. is a semi-retired Episcopal priest in New Orleans.