Community Life According to James

In Chapter 5 of James, I've been struggling to find a theme. Then today as I re-read it, I realized it's written almost like an anxious father sending his child off into the world & he's scurrying to say everything he thinks that he has either forgotten or is so important it needs said again.

And the theme I think is community living. This letter is to the church (not a building, a community of Jesus-followers) and he has instruction for how their lives are to be lived out together:

v. 8 Be patient
v. 8 Strengthen your heart & endure (continued in vv. 10-11)
v. 9 Don't complain against each other
v. 12 Let your yes be yes, and your no...no
v. 13 The suffering must pray
v. 13 The cheerful must sing (maybe to help encourage the ones suffering??)
v. 14 The sick should call the elders to pray over & anoint him in the name of Jesus
v. 16 Confess your sins to each other & pray for healing
v. 19 If anyone strays from the truth, attempt to turn him from the error of his way

And that's it. There's no summary, no closing, no goodbyes...that's it. Makes me wonder if he had so much to say, he just had to quit or go on forever.

Obviously, this isn't an exhaustive list about community interaction, but it's a good place to start!