Chapter Five
Chapter Five brings us to a fitting bookend for our series, as the whole book has called us to a life of action. The verses remind Donyale of a Twitter hashtag: #nomorethoughtsandprayers - a call to people to bring about concrete action, not vague feelings. James was also bringing a similar mindset against those who said “go in peace,” yet did nothing to stop the problems of the day. But James also calls on those same people to pray - in fact, call the community together to pray, underscoring it is our collective responsibility to care and alleviate suffering. When we pray, we are responding to God’s urging. We are responding to God’s invitation to get a glimpse of God’s understanding of others and the world. We can understand the hashtag, but let us not give up our prayers.