Do You Have Faith or Does Faith Have You?

Hebrews 11:1-16 (Pentecost 12c, August 11, 2013)

Do you have faith? (Pause) Does faith have you?

 

We are encountered today by these incredible words in the opening of the 11^th chapter of the sermon to the Hebrews: "now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen"...

 

Sounds philosophical, quite detached from us. These words were originally designed for a group of people who were struggling: wrestling with their trust in God, their ability to live their daily lives based upon such trust. Originally they and their forebears had thought Jesus was going to return soon. But now 30 years have elapsed since Jesus had been executed and been raised.

 

These peoples' fundamental beliefs – that God loves each person, that they are called to care for each other even in the midst of an empire and culture that strongly declared that might is right, that nice guys finish last – that getting and keeping things for oneself is what matters – are being ridiculed.They find themselves at times excluded. Indeed, their fundamental conviction that God ultimately will prevail, that God's good and gracious will shall come to fruition – seems to be nonsense to the vast majority of their culture.

 

So, maybe they are not so far removed from us - we whose congregations are shrinking in numbers; we  who struggle with the reality that our children or grandchildren may not share this conviction that is so much part of us, that Christian community and worship are vitally important. We like material things but at our best we know that such things must never be the purpose of nor goal of our living.  Sometimes struggle with this last one too. It's too easy to want more than what we have, especially when others have it. Sometimes due to the influence of our culture, we may feel that we haven't received "all we have coming to us!"

 

Nevertheless, the reality of faith, the struggle of faith, the mystery of faith, the importance of faith,  begin to dawn on us when we are forced to take seriously, to pay attention to what is real, lasting, important,  around and within us.

 

These past weeks I have been struggling with a close friend's death. My friend, Tim, was one who deeply loved his family. He played an integral part in the Church and the larger community. He generously and gladly gave of his time, his talent and his possessions to help others, to serve God – to live out his faith.

 

And yet, one night Tim strolled down his driveway and suffered a massive heart attack. He was 58 years old. By the time his wife realized he wasn't in the house and located him – he was dead. He leaves to mourn his death, his wife, his four adult children, their spouses and six grandchildren under the age of six  years of age.  

 

Now all who love Tm, are left to wonder and wrestle with, Why? Why now? How can we carry on?  One of his children said to me, "I am struggling so much with my dad's death – that he isn't here now, that he won't be here for any of our children's upcoming games, questions, graduations, weddings, joys, heartaches. I need to find peace and comfort. I don't feel secure in my faith. Right now I need to rely on others – on others faith to help me believe and trust that my Dad is OK at this moment"...

 

These living, gut wrenching questions – are not only questions of the "Hebrews" nearly 2000 years ago but they must also be our questions. These are the deep living questions that well up within us and around as we journey the pathways of life and so wrestle with ourselves and God.

 

So let me ask again, do you "have" faith or does faith "have" you?

 

The writer to the "Hebrews" is wise. He or she points the gaze of the people who are struggling to those who have gone before them, those who have somehow been enabled to trust God in such ways that weren't necessarily articulated in a wordy faith confession, but instead were fleshed out in the ways they lived their lives, trusting that God cares both about them, others and the world.

 

Not that such conviction in things not seen is easy or smooth or without get wrenching questions. The writer to the Hebrews names some of the forerunners or crawlers in faith: Abel and Enoch. Then in our text the writer pauses over Abraham. Abraham is called to leave a place where he is known – a place he knows so well. He is called by God to take Sarai his wife and trust in a promise that God gives them: that they will be blessed as they do so – blessed to be a blessing, blessed to have innumerable descendants, blessed to receive a land that will be good. I am not sure that Abraham even understood the promise – how could he in that moment or even his entire life grasp that which would take thousands of years to fulfill? But he experienced the promise and acted upon it. Abraham and Sarah leave Ur to journey on as God calls them. Not that their trust was always strong. At one point Abraham pawns Sarah off as his sister, supposedly to make things easier for himself. And yet, God blesses them both – beyond their understanding... And we along with millions if not billions of others are the benefactors of God's promise and Abram and Sarai's faith.  Wow!

 

God makes promises to us too. When we are brought to the baptismal waters – God makes us God's own children, God's own sons and daughters. Nothing, nor anyone can change that. This is God's promise: stronger than our rebellion, greater than our understanding, steadfast and stubborn. And this promise of God means something for us. We are given this faith. This faith, this trust , this clinging to God's promise propels us, down/through many birth canals. We are washed clean day by day – that person within us that is afraid, that wants guarantees, that avoids conflict by attempting to hide one's head in the sand, to stay "safe"- that one is being put to death. God continues to say, "Get up and go. Go and love. God to forgive.  Go, see the rest of my children, the rest of my creation. Care for them with the gifts I am giving you.

 

There are times when we have that assurance from God of things hoped for – that God's kingdom, God's good and gracious rule will come – where the lion will lie down with the lamb, where there will be enough for everyone to eat at a great wedding feast – and we are glad and we can sing and we can give and give and give.

 

But there are also times when the evil One, when the trials and vicissitudes of life come and sweep us off our faith. Then our minds, beings, our very souls are wounded. Oh God, we need your help- and the help of your people in Jesus Christ  We need help to keep on singing, to keep on praying, to keep on loving so that we might see beyond sight, hear beyond our deafness and trust beyond the most horrible things that are right in front of us and around us. Although Jesus has died, He most certainly is risen. Because He lives we and the whole world too can live.  In such moments we glimpse the truth, the mystery, that the faithfulness of God has us. Alleluia!

 

O God we believe, forgive our unbelief. Amen.

God's Embrace

Hosea 11:1-11; August 4, 2013

 

I speak to you only by the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Imagine! Iimagine being a parent, the father, the mother of a child. You deeply love this child. As a mother you have carried THIS CHILD in your own body. You have delivered this child. But deliver-  is too easy a word isn't it? Your body has contracted, stretched, been reshaped so that this child, YOUR CHILD could be delivered into the world. Yet what has happened to your body then and since in this process is nothing compared to what is happening within your heart.

 

You have nourished your child at your breasts and watched him/her grow. You have changed their diaper, awakened at their bidding, their cries finding paths into the caverns of your being.  Tired was a word that you thought you understood. But now – your life is no longer solely your life. Your life is given over in many ways to THIS CHILD, YOUR CHILD. How proud you are as you watch your child grow – attempting to take their first step, as you hold out your arms, inviting, encouraging almost begging that wee one with those chubby legs to come to "mama". How you watch that child, wish for that child, pray against prayer for them to grow up healthy, happy, experiencing your love and the love of others, to become a strong young man or woman. How you long for her to know God, to trust God – to be in relationships with God and you that are strong and healthy.   

 

For you men, imagine being a father. Imagine being with your wife as together you learn that she is pregnant – as you celebrate that. and try to imagine what that will be like for you. Be in touch with your joy and your fear. Joy: that together you will bring a new life in this world. Joy: that you are on this adventure together, with so many unknowns, and so many wonderful possibilities. And fear, apprehension, that you won't be the kind of father, you want to be, that you need to be for this amazing child. Imagine that you are going through the birthing process with this woman you love. Now you have an amazing child. You get up with this child in the middle of many nights.  Now as you go to work it's for an even greater purpose – even more than you and the woman you love, it's also for this child, your child. Imagine the dreams you have for this child as you watch them walk and learn, begin to read and write, run and play, skate and ski.  You are proud and humbled. How wonderful it all is – not easy , but wonderful.

 

And then mom or dad – imagine this. That somehow, someway, this child, this daughter or son that you love so much – more even than your own life itself – begins to turn his/ her back on you. It may start in small ways. "I don't like you!" A defiant squeezes itself out throught their lips towards you,  again and again. Too soon there are "friends" – friends that you really wonder about. Suddenly your child is in trouble – not the kind of trouble that most children have – being sent out into the hall at school or the occasional "warning" on a report card – that they talk too much or don't really pay attention in school. No you are receiving much larger warnings than any of those. First your child isn't going to school. Then they aren't coming home. They deride your deepest convictions and beliefs – of God,  love, honesty and priorities.

 

So soon they are suffering the consequences of their actions, their choices, their "friends". The police become familiar with your address. Your are worried sick about where this is all going. You feel so helpless. You know your child has lost their way. In many ways you feel powerless about it. What shall you do? You have tried time outs, discipline – everything you know – and nothing has worked. And yet, you still love them – even though they have hurt you – even though sometimes you have been so angry with them – even though at times you have felt like throwing in the towel. YOU STILL LOVE THEM. YOU CAN'T, YOU WON'T ABANDON THEM, EVEN IF IT AT TIMES YOU HAVE HAD TO TELL THEM, THAT IF THEY WERE GOING TO DO "THAT" HERE, IN YOUR HOME, THEY WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE. Because you love them so and because they have lost their way, you are beside yourself!

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It's this "imaginary" scenario that we are privileged to listen in on from the 11^th chapter of Hosea. Here God is speaking through the prophet Hosea to the people of Israel. God loves them so. God has rescued them from slavery, given them daily life – and YET, They continually turn away, toward other nations to rescue them from their own choices. They have forgotten their own poor. They haven't worshipped or trusted God. Too often they have acted as if they knew better than God, as to what is "best" for them.  

 

Their decisions have caused God great pain. God is holy. God gives laws for our own good. But the people of Israel then have seen God's laws as something foreign to them, something to be overcome, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. So, they have lost their way. Their country is defeated.  Their holy places have been desecrated. They are exiled to a  foreign land.

 

What does this have to do with us, with me? Everything – whether we wrestle with God's laws on an individual basis or on a larger more collective basis.

 

So, I ask you, Who gives us life, our flesh and blood, our hearts and minds, a mother or father, a family who loves us, a social network, a country, a medical system, a faith tradition where others in their experience and walk of life have been encountered by the triune god, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Who gives you and me all of that – some of us even amazing children, grandchildren, spouse, friends, neighbors – so much more than we need? Isn't God this GIVER?

 

And yet, don't we often turn from God? We will keep the large bulk of what we have for ourselves! At what cost – to ourselves, to others, to God, to creation?  

 

Don't we also often think we know what's best for ourselves? After all, we are busy. We have places to go, things to do. We don't need to make time to listen for God, to pray, to seriously ask God what God is calling us to do, how we can or need to change? So, we go our own way until and unless we realize that so many things we try to construct our lives upon – human relationships, jobs, careers, even friendships – are less than dependable as foundation material, unable to bear the full weight of our need for lasting purpose, hope, meaning.

 

You see our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

 

So, dear people, we need to hear what God is saying to us through the voice of the prophet Hosea. Thanks be to God, even though we are so often rebellious, God may forgive us. God refuses to give up on us, because God's love is greater than God's wrath.

 

Truly God becomes human in Jesus, but God the Creator also refuses to relinquish God's divinity. An essential part of God's divinity is to keep reaching out to us, keep loving us, keep working to have us return home, to trust God, to obey God. In God is our life, lasting love, our forgiveness, purpose, hope.

 

Oh God, help us to hear you, to trust you, to be opened to you. Forgive our rebellion, for Christ's sake. Amen.