I want you to imagine that you are among James’ original audience. A letter comes from James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, and you are all gathered together to hear it read. Right out of the gate, James starts with “Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds… what kind of trials were these early Christians facing? Well, Bruce just told you that they had been scattered due to persecution. So many had lost their homes and been forced to abandon their way of life. We don’t have to go too much further into the letter to know that there were some deep divisions in the early churches. Not only was there poverty, but rich people were exploiting those who had little. There was conflict and in fighting in these assemblies. So yes, these people were experiencing “trials of many kinds”