"Faith Enough"

One of the bonuses of having a seminarian working with us at St. Barnabas is that I do not have to preach every week!

It's not that I don't like preaching; it's that it is a lot of work to think, write, and refine a sermon week after week. And since I am still at the same congregation, I don't have the luxuary that some of my colleagues brag about when they tell me that they recycled a sermon from the same lectionary period three...six...or nine years ago. 

Given the extraordinary times in which we are living with the collapsing of norms and our American democracy...I find it hard to imagine that they can easily preach the same sermon from three years ago. Maybe six, but definitely not three. And besides: there are new things always happening. But I digress. The point is that I didn't have to preach on the 16th Sunday After Pentecost, nor will I be preaching on the 18th Sunday either. Yippee!

But I did have to preach on the 17th Sunday....and that was extremely hard given what had transpired in my life as a priest during the week.

The long drama that is the Diocese of Florida and their once bishop John Howard came to a most unsatisfactory conclusion. There was supposed to be a hearing (aka trial) on the matter of his discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people, especially those of us who are or were trying to become priests. Instead, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe worked out an accord (aka settlement) in which Howard admitted no wrongdoing, but gave up his orders as a priest and bishop in the church. In the letter, which was sent to the diocese of Florida, ++Rowe referred to the hearings on discrimination and another one involving Howard's fiscal improprieties as a "significant distraction" taking away from all the good work the diocese was doing to become "healthy." 

After reading just a few paragraphs of his letter, I almost sent a message to my bishop resigning my position. Closing this matter with absolutely no real apology or allowing for the stories to be told by those of us who suffered under Howard's homophobia has only compounded the sin of silence that has plagued the diocese of Florida for decades. Once again, the Episcopal Church has failed to show up for me or for the others like me.

It is with that background that I needed to find a way to preach a sermon on faith. This is what I preached. 

See what you think. 

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I’m sure everyone here at some point…or maybe at many points in your life… have seen the 1939 classic film, “The Wizard of Oz.”

We probably remember that moment toward the end of the film…when the Wizard was going to personally take Dorothy back to Kansas in his hot air balloon.

Then Toto sees a cat and does what a dog does: he leaps out of Dorothy’s arms…she chases him…the balloon takes off…and there goes her one and only hope to get back to Uncle Henry and Auntie Em.

And as she’s moping… and her friends are consoling her…the pink bubble floats in and Glinda the Good Witch comes with her happy news that Dorothy always had the power to go home.

The scarecrow pipes up with “Then why didn’t you tell her before?”

And the ever-cheerful Glinda responds, “Because she wouldn’t have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.”

Dorothy’s power to go back to Kansas had been on her feet the whole time in the ruby slippers. But it wouldn’t have been much of a movie if she hadn’t gone through the many trials and tribulations to seek out the Wizard.

She needed to contend with apple-throwing trees…flying monkeys…and of course…the wicked witch of the west.

And she never would have found her three friends who also didn’t know that the things they yearned for were already innate within them.

And we wouldn’t have a tale that has become an iconic feature of our culture…with many spin-offs and parodies…and Halloween costumes…that speaks to this idea of trusting that sometimes the thing we desire is already with us.

In the case of the disciples in our Gospel… it’s about realizing that they already have all the faith they need as they turn to Jesus and beg him to “Increase our faith!”

I’m not sure why the lectionary diviners started our Gospel reading where they did.

By starting at verse five…they’ve dropped us into the middle of this conversation.

So let’s back up a little bit and fill in what happens before that prompted the apostles to say, “Increase our faith!”

Jesus has just given them another tough lesson.

He’s let them know that they’re faithfulness…is going to be tested.

There are going to be moments when they might feel as if it’s just easier to ignore what’s happening around them…focus on their own needs…seek the security of their family…basically fall away from this journey they’re on with him toward a showdown in Jerusalem.

But he cautions them not to give into those feelings and lead others to also break away from this mission they’re on.

“Woe to those types!” he says.

“It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

That’s harsh. And he’s not done.

“If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.”

Absolutely.

Even to the perfect seven times over and over.

I think it’s pretty easy to imagine then why the disciples were thinking, “Sheesh! Increase our faith!”

Up to this point…the lessons Jesus has shared…the parables about sitting at the wedding banquet…dishonest managers…rich men and Lazarus…have been challenging the disciples to re-examine the ways of the world against the way Jesus says is their reality in God.

Telling them that they will have to make choices that let go of a simple easy life…and demand making an acquaintance of suffering…none of this stuff is easy to hear…and harder to do all the time.

How many of us would relish these kind of demands?

So we might hear behind this ask of the apostles:

“Jesus… teacher…please: give us a word…a prayer…something so we are strong enough to meet the task ahead of us.”

 

Jesus looks at them. Some may think he’s rolling his eyes at this moment…but what if we imagine him looking at them in much the same way Glinda looked at the distraught Dorothy…and with a smile of reassurance…he tells them:

Even if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed…faith that is so small like one of those teeny little seeds…you have all the faith you need to do what you need to do…and more!”

To help them understand this a little more…he uses imagery that in our 21^st century context sounds harsh.

The history of slavery…and that culture of masters and slaves…conjures up an image for people in this country of the oppressive and brutal sins of our past…with Africans stolen from their homeland and brought here to be sold like livestock.

In the times of Jesus……masters and slaves were common place…but they were reflective of the classism and money of the ancient world.

Slaves in the Hellenistic culture could be anything from civil servants and workers in the temples to miners. They did not have rights…but they were not bound by chains either.

In the Jewish culture of Biblical times…people could sell themselves into slavery as a means of paying off their debts.  

Unlike the type of chattel slavery that we had in this country…the slavery in these times was often more like indentured servitude.

So Jesus uses this cultural reference to make his point about faith.

At first…he’s asking the disciples to think of themselves as part of the wealthy class…sitting down at the table for a meal.

Do the wealthy ask their slave…the one who has been out making all the goods that make them rich…working in the fields or the mines to produce more wealth for them…does this class of citizens then say to their underlings, “Come: sit down at the table and share a meal?”

The answer of course is “No.”

Then he makes them switch roles, and consider if, as a person who is a servant…toiling away and giving themselves…their bodies… to build wealth for the monied class, “Are you a less-than just because you did your job as you were supposed to?”

Again the answer is “No.”

“If I did what I was supposed to do…then I’m not worthless.”

It’s just too bad that Luke never has Jesus give us a wrap-up word or two to this brief teaching.

But if we think about it…and connect the dots…we might see that he’s again giving them a hard truth…but also reminding them of their own inner worth.

Nobody is going to give them an easy time…or lavish praise…for their faithfulness.

And yet their faithfulness…their willingness to stick with Jesus…and being ready to forgive those who return to them…hat in hand and with a sincere apology…is all they need.

Their faith will be increased…by doing the little acts of kindness…and showing mercy…compassion…and justice to those they encounter.

We could stand to have more of that right now, couldn’t we?

I caught only a short segment of a program on the radio this week…where the topic was about kindness.

What struck me most was listening to the voices of little children talking about the “kind” things that they had done for a sibling or a friend or even a stranger.

There was the one child who talked about giving people pieces of candy.

Such a simple gesture not only brought out a smile from the recipient but the child who was giving away the candy said that it made them feel “warm inside.”

The researchers on the show said that type of physiological response was exactly how such random acts of kindness not only create more positive feelings in the recipient…but the giver as well.

It’s those wise words attributed to St. Francis:

“It is in the giving that we receive; it is in the pardoning that we are pardoned.”

I would add that it is in our willingness to keep practicing these ways of Jesus…the motivation to give without expectations…that’s the way we can increase our faith.

And as our faith increases…we will deepen our relationship to God…through strengthening our connection to one another.

This is the type of countercultural work we need to combat the loneliness and the nihilism that is too prevalent in our society now…and is feeding the culture of hatred and fear.

We each have it in us to do these small acts that make a bigger impact…and can shift the energy around us.

This is how we can be the change we want to see…all made possible by our faith in God…no matter how great or small our faith is at the moment.

 In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.