St. Christopher's Episcopal Church: Sermons

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A Sermon Preached at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Oak Park, IL
on the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, October 7, 2007 (Proper 22, Year C)
by the Rev. J. Paris Coffey

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." - Luke 17:5-6

When I was a child my grandmother gave me a necklace with a mustard seed embedded in a bubble of glass that served to magnify the seed. It had to, since otherwise the tiny embryo would have been too small to see. "This seed," my grandmother told me, "comes all the way from the Holy Land," inspiring me to endow it with magical properties that I was sure, as Jesus suggested, could make trees walk or better yet, older brothers do as I said. Time and again I held that little bubble of glass hopefully in my hand and wished for the moon. But time and again it failed me until finally my grandmother explained that the seed was not meant to order-up miracles, but to remind me to order my life more faithfully by the life and teachings of Jesus.

It was an important lesson, and yet one that eludes not only children but adults who see God as the great file clerk in the sky filling the orders we place and seeing that the goods arrive on time as we expect. Most people, of course, don't overtly profess such theology. Nevertheless it's there, as seen when someone survives a plane crash and attributes her survival to God, or conversely, in a family who loses their loved one and says, "How could God have let such a thing happen?" We see such responses all the time, especially in times of crisis. What's more, people sometimes go a step further to suggest they're being rewarded for good behavior.

Surely such suggestions are misguided, and yet people often attribute healing or even riches to their own faithfulness. In fact, some of us may have joked upon finding a convenient parking space that it must be due to clean-living? It's true that we mean it as a joke. Unfortunately it's also true that we live in a self-aggrandizing culture of take-charge/take-credit kinds of folks who like to spotlight personal achievement and deflect vulnerability. We like to be in charge, and although we may say along with the disciples, "Increase our faith," what we often mean is, "Increase our control." This, in part, is what the disciples mean when they ask Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus, on the other hand, tells them that what they need is not more faith - there is no 'more' or 'less' in faith - but some faith/any faith. "Faith is part of the minimum job requirement," says Jesus, "if you plan on a career as a disciple. No more, necessarily, but no less either. So don't go aggrandizing yourself," he says. "Don't go demanding more faith, more glory, more power, and don't expect a bonus either. Simply do what God requires, and call it good."

And indeed it will be good, for with enough faith to order our lives according to the life and teachings of Jesus, God can accomplish great things in and through us. Perhaps not great by worldly standards - acquiring riches, wielding power or conquering nations; but great by God's - confronting sin, forgiving one another over and over again, and battling life's temptations without ever causing even one of God's little ones/God's vulnerable ones to stumble. Now you may think these standards tough, but these are precisely the things Jesus talks about in the verses immediately preceding today's reading. In fact, these are the things the disciples hear Jesus say that lead them to think and say, "Oh my God, we don't have what it takes to do that. Give us more faith!"

Jesus, however, says that even with a tiny bit of faith, we can do these things, because that's what faith is and what discipleship means. It's not about leaping to decisions about who God saves or doesn't save when planes crash or natural disasters strike. It's not about offering pat answers to complicated life questions like illness, divorce, lost work or lost life. It's not about being a person who can work grand miracles that invite people to stand before us in awe. Rather discipleship and faith are about seeking and serving God in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves, owning our vulnerabilities and standing together, bearing the burdens of one another.

This is the faith I witnessed Wednesday right here at St. Christopher's when one member of our morning Bible Encounter group shared her struggles with a teenage child. "Life is hard," she said flatly, and we all agreed. In fact, one by one the members of our group began to share stories of vulnerability. We shared and listened, and as we did our burdens seemed lighter and our faith stronger. God's Presence was revealed in our midst, which for me was a reminder that it is in the love and care of one another that we come to know and follow Christ. Indeed, it was moment of remembering my Grandmother's wisdom and knowing she was right when she said that faith was not about clutching my mustard seed necklace - which I lost long ago - and ordering up miracles. Rather it is about ordering our lives after the life and teachings of Jesus, which in truth is the greatest miracle of all.

Amen.