A Burden of Faith

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker: "Jesus is coming. Look busy!"? I have a feeling this joke has its roots in the gospel reading from Luke assigned for tomorrow. Jesus is telling parables and preparing his followers for what is to come by telling them not to worry.

Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. --Luke 12:33-34

He launches into a parable about the slaves waiting for the master to return from the wedding banquet:

Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. --Luke 12: 37-38

Peter wants to know if this message is for the disciples or the crowd. And after another parable involving a master and slaves, in which some who failed to keep up their end of the bargain in the absence of the master get greatly punished, Jesus finishes by saying:

From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. --Luke 12:48b

The way I read this, Jesus is emphasizing the point to all who have ears to hear and are listening. And the second part of his admonition carries a special weight for those who (in the very near future) will be entrusted to tend his flock and feed his sheep. I've said before that I don't think Jesus is looking for a fan club; he's looking for followers, people who will take their Mary-energy and apply Martha-like action. These are the people who, when the chips are down, put their trust in God and lose their attachments to "things" in the process. These are the people of faith, not the people of fear.

That sounds all well and good. But doing it (really doing it) is not always so easy. I know in these past two weeks, as I have encountered some sudden symptoms that caused me tremendous discomfort in my body, I found myself slipping out of that place of trusting in God, and instead, becoming consumed in worry, fear and hopelessness. I never went to the place of thinking that God had abandoned me, but I certainly was wondering if this was some kind of test of my willingness to ask for help... and trust those with the ability to help me. I did get to that place of praying for God to not only be with me, but my nurse practitioner, the nurse, the phlebotomist, the receptionist. There are serious medical issues involving the GI tract in my family history, and without insurance, I was panicking... needlessly. Trust God.

People of faith carry a heavy burden. Putting trust in something that is indescribable, untouchable, and so unearthly is a sign of faith. And it makes one an oddball because "the world" operates in the concrete and not the conceptual. And when you add an extra layer of "gay" on top of it... yeah, then you're REALLY strange for having faith. And yet it is this crazy faith in God that has allowed me to keep a lamp of hope lit that "things" such as Prop H8 would come crashing down. Faith in God means knowing that justice will come... even if it comes slowly and with much pain along the way.

Among the people of faith are those who have been called into the role of the ordained priesthood. These are among the "entrusted" to whom I believe Jesus is speaking. Of this set "even more will be demanded". Ask a priest--they'll tell you, they're in demand! This week, National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" did a segment on the problems of burn out among the clergy. The accessibility with all the means of communication alone makes priests and ministers more available than they truthfully are. And, like any job that is high stress and public profile, it can wear one out... or drive one to deal with the stress through chemical means. What makes clergy stress different from other occupations is that the clergy are saddled with such tasks as explaining the Trinity. And they have to be an administrator. And they have to be a counselor. And they have to be a teacher. And they have to be the complaint center. And they have to do all of that while God keeps them in the oddball camp.

Yet, people do get ordained. I imagine because they trust God. Or maybe it's that God trusts them because God knows them and is prepared to keep the promise of not revoking the covenant with Noah. If they find the flood waters rising, God will get them safely to a different shore.

Have faith. Trust God. All will be well.