Dear Friends,

So, Martin Luther called the book of James an “epistle of straw.” And I’m pretty sure he was thinking about wheat (or oat or rye or barley) straw. (Were drinking straws even a thing in 1522?)

He’s talking about straw as in the dried stalks from having grown grain - the leftovers after having separated the wheat berries from the rest of the plant material. Straw, then is part of the chaff, the trash, the stuff scripture’s either labeling as so inconsequential that a breeze can whisk it away or so worthless that it’s destined for the firepit. Yet, I beg to differ.

Soon we’ll see wheat straw strewn across front yards in hopes of shielding grass seed from the birds. About the same time we’ll be seeing decorative bales of hay on front porches, beside mailboxes and along sidewalks, too. Visit a barn and I expect you’ll find straw serving as bedding or adding fiber to an animal’s diet. And, though my current “straw” hat is probably made of recycled plastic bottles, once upon a time our straw hats were made of actual straw.

Google expanded my list:

• Barley straw aids in pond management by controlling algae growth;
• Straw is used in forming some composite building materials;
• And there seem to be both construction and gardening techniques based on use of whole bales of straw.

Useful stuff, chaff. Huh?

By Sunday, I expect I will have read Luther’s actual rationale for calling James an “epistle of straw.” I’m pretty sure that, as an early and outspoken reformer, Luther was reacting to what he saw as a “works righteousness,” or a faith based more on what we do than what God does. As I read James, though, the writer’s talking about faith that lacks expression through one’s behavior. So, I’m inclined to think Luther was so doggedly protecting his emphasis on God’s grace that he tossed out some pretty useful “chaff.”

I expect Sunday’s sermon (based on James 1:19-27) will head in a different direction, but this morning I’m thinking about the things I label and discard without further consideration of their usefulness. And, while that might well apply to the items in the trash bin or recycling box, I mean it more in terms of ideas, movements and even people. What chaff might you reconsider?

See you Sunday!

Peace,

Lisa

Photo credit: Nik on Unsplash.

(In searching for an image for this post, I found myself weighing the merits of pine straw versus wheat straw and then grinned when I found this photo of a drinking straw. So, in case you ever doubted it, yes, I do have a rather odd sense of humor. Not to mention: photos of pine straw and wheat straw were not very compelling!)