There is a legend from the Orient about a traveler making his way to a large city. One night
he meets two other travelers along the road --Fear and Plague. Plague explains to the traveler that, once they
arrived, they are expected to kill 10,000 people in the city. The traveler asks Plague if Plague would do all the
killing.
"Oh, no. I shall kill only a few hundred. My friend Fear will kill the others."
Fear, whether real or imagined, can discourage us, overwhelm us, and strangle us, and fear is widespread in our
society, from the personal - fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear not being loved, to the social - fear
that war and disasters will gone on forever, that society will collapse, that pollution or biological warfare will
kill us, and so on.
There are similar fears in the church as well. The personal fears. The social fears. And the spiritual fears. There
a lot of people who feel - that they are not able to do anything important - that they can not and do not make
a difference to anyone, - that they are unable even to do even a part of what it is that God asks them to do, -
and that the great work that obviously needs to be done will never be done, that they will let God down, and that
God will let them down.
Many spiritual people, children of God are in a terrible state, they have forgotten what their faith is about;
they have forgotten what it is that God can accomplish.
Faith, which is traditionally defined as "a belief in things unseen," could just as easily be translated
as a self-motivating conviction which is not based on physical evidence.
It has been said that the Christian faith is always one generation away from being extinct, and I think about that
every Sunday that we have a baby to baptize. I can not get away from thinking about the "faith" of those
who perpetrated the events of September 11th, for their actions were also motivated by a belief system, a corrupted
faith that they learned from someone else. The excerpts from the letter that was found are scary stuff indeed.
It makes one want to use religious language with great caution, mindful of the fact that even the hijackers received
their "faith" from someone. This is Paul's point in the epistle lesson. Faith is passed on from generation
to generation. What we have received we are also expected to use, and sometimes we have to stir it up because we
have allowed it to sink to the bottom.
All three readings this morning speak a lot about "faith." It is a word that we use quite frequently.
Last week a friend told me that, due to a bad experience, he no longer has faith in the brand of automobile he
used to buy. In the secular world we hear people talk about "good faith" agreements, or that a certain
person was guilty of "bad faith." People "have faith in their banks" because their accounts
are insured. In this sense our use of "faith" means "trust." And we sometimes talk that way
about God, too, don't we? We say, "I have faith that God will help us get through this."
When we speak about "the faith," we are referring to our belief in God as expressed in the totality of
worship. Throughout the service we ask God to "look not on our sins, but on the faith of the Church throughout
history." When we say "Amen" as we receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we declare our assent
to what has been true for people throughout the ages. Our belief is one with the Church yesterday, today and forever.
But there is a third understanding of the word "faith," one that the people of the Old Testament and
their prophets had in mind when they used this word. It's a much fuller sense than we think of today, except in
the most ideal convictions of the marriage covenant. Scripture scholars tell us that for the Israelites, "faith"
included belief and trust, but even more it carried with it the connotation of "bond", and "relationship,"
particularly their unbreakable covenant relationship,
with God.
An unshakable conviction, that in time, God's blessings would come, maybe not according to our timetable, but certain
to come with out fail. A knowledge that God cares, and God will answer. Why? Because "The just one, because
of his faith, shall live" which means "the just one, because he keeps his relationship with God, his
bond with God, shall live."
In the Gospel, Jesus uses the same understanding. "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed" can be
confusing. But how clear it becomes if we hear it as his audience at the time would have heard it: "If you
had even a small, undeveloped relationship with your Creator, you could do anything!"
This is also the clue that unlocks that last part of the reading. Jesus tells us that when we do something good,
we ought to say, "we are useless servants." We say this because we realize that our ability to lead a
good life, to love other people, to be kind, and to serve God and others, is not our own doing. It comes from our
relationship with God. God is our source of power; without whose help we are useless servants. We acknowledge our
bond with God as the source of our own virtue. The stronger our relationship with God is, the more we will be empowered
to do good things, and perhaps even great things. And insofar as we do, we will give God the credit.
That is why St. Paul tells his young friend Timothy that he has to work on that relationship with God. "Faith"
is not only something we believe, and it is certainly not a possession we can lock away or bury in the ground for
safe keeping, to call upon when we need it. Our Christian faith is our bond with God and our communion with one
another in the Holy Spirit.
Like any relationship, our relationship with God must be worked on. We need to be aware of it, pay attention to
it, and devote time and energy to it. We need to "fan it into a flame," and that takes vigilance and
effort. If we don't, the spark can become an ember, and the ember can die out. If we are really serious about our
faith, our bond with God, we will spend time with God in prayer, in reflection, and in adoration. The most important
relationships in our lives are also in our thoughts and on our lips. We talk about the people we love to the people
we meet. Do you talk with your friends about your relationship with God? If not, why not?
Perhaps because we focus on the distinctions instead of the commonalties; and alter our bond accordingly. We in
the Church will become increasingly aware that the Hawks and Doves are back, and must guard against allowing our
political feelings to affect our spiritual convictions. We cannot allow what is happening in this world to break
down the connections established long ago and forever in a world still very much in the making.
The foundation of our own happiness, and the foundation of our goodness toward others, is our relationship with
God. That is a bond we need to guard and nurture, a flame we need to keep alive "in the faith and love that
are in Christ Jesus."
When the disciples encountered the responsibility of trust-building, spiritual formation, and nurturing of the
children of faith, they got frightened and asked for their faith to be increased. How could they possibly show
the kind of forgiveness and understanding that Jesus was demanding of them? The Power of Faith is then revealed
to be in the tiny seed...even the tiny seed of faith has such great power to transform the individual, the group,
the society, the culture, the world.
There are many ways to strengthen our relationship with God.
"Faith" in Greek, as used in this dialog, is a noun ("pistis") but it is derived from an active
verb ("pisteuo"). When the disciples ask Jesus to "increase" their "faith", they
are asking him to help them be more active in their faith, not simply fill them up with some commodity they lack
which will work some magic in their lives. "Having faith" is NOT the same thing as "having active
faith" (or, better, "being active in faith") -- in the Greek language this is clear ... in English
it is not.
Brian S. in Crossmarks quoted a prayer: "Lord, I don't need enough faith to move a mountain. I need enough
faith to move me."
Jesus says that the amount of faith isn't the issue - any faith will do. The child needs only enough faith to be
able to rest secure in its parent's arms - it never asks, "dad, give me more faith!" Whatever it has
is enough. Faith is exhibited in the many small acts of life - not in some great spiritual encounter, not in great
feats of faith - but in day-in and day-out faithfulness.
I suppose the reaction of the Christian people in those churches where Timothy had been sent to pastor was similar
to our reaction to the recent terrorist attacks here. Nero had begun his persecutions, and believers were suffering
terrible fates and hearing horrible reports about atrocities committed against them.
A Pew Research Group poll released just this week says that 71% of Americans are experiencing depression over the
tragic events of September 11th. Nearly half those polled have difficulty concentrating. And one in three of us
report difficulty sleeping at night. According to the Pew Research Group, Americans are more saddened, more frightened,
and more fatigued in the aftermath of these events than they were during the Gulf War.
Certainly we can sense it right here in our own church. At our Service of Remembrance held after the attacks, you
could just about reach out and touch the terrible emotional burdens people carried with them into the service.
As our leaders plan our Stewardship Campaign for next year, they have done so with deep concern about how these
difficult economic times will affect our ability to fulfill our responsibilities as a church. Many of our members
worry about their children, and grandchildren - especially those who are now being deployed to far away places.
Those who depend upon investments to support them in retirement are anxious about their security. And the young
families of our church - what a difficult time for them as they try to interpret for their children the dangers
of this life, and try to allay their fears.
Old "resting places" are gone. We now have been thrust out of our assumed safety, across oceans from
where bad things happen, and now we must face the same daily doubts that folks in many places around the world
have been dealing with for decades. Yet this morning in places of worship throughout this planet, in all nations
this Sunday, people will lift loaves and cups and pronounce, "This is my body...my blood"…singing the
Lord's song in a foreign land.
Our world has changed, but our Kingdom is still strong.
Activist Dorothy Day said many years ago, "We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love each
other we must know each other in the breaking of bread. In so doing we discover we are not alone anymore...heaven
is a banquet and life is a banquet too. Even with a crust there is companionship. Love comes with community.
We can do the impossible, and create new realities.
Have faith!
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