Episodes
Sunday Oct 02, 2016
We Believe
Sunday Oct 02, 2016
Sunday Oct 02, 2016
We Believe…
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, October 2, 2016, World Communion Sunday.
Text: Luke 17:5-10
Foundry Core Value #1: We believe in Jesus Christ. Everything we do begins with Christ. We remember how he ministered to the poor, fed the hungry, healed the sick, befriended sinners, welcomed the shunned and sacrificed himself to save us. He rose from the dead and gives us hope.
What does it mean to say “We believe in Jesus Christ?” What are the disciples asking for when they say, “Increase our faith!”? Religious faith and belief are often thought of in terms of agreeing with an idea, a concept, a point of doctrine, or a particular philosophy. But biblical scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer reflects on this saying, “The word ‘faith’ (pistis, in the Greek) is often spoken about as if it meant trying to talk ourselves into intellectual assent to something, with ‘increasing our faith’ meaning that we are successfully persuading ourselves that we have adopted an idea we think is ridiculous. That's not faith; it's self-deception, and usually a pretty unsuccessful kind of self-deception that results in our feeling a little guilty and hypocritical, as we know that we don't actually believe what we say. But faith is not about intellectual projection and assessment…Faith is relationship—a relationship of trust, of allegiance.”[i] Hold on to that for just a moment because we’ll come back to it…
A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of seeing the musical “Come From Away” at Ford’s Theater. The show recounts real events beginning on September 11th, 2001 when, in the wake of the attacks in New York, 38 planes with 6,579 passengers were rerouted and then stranded in a remote town in Newfoundland. People from all over the world landed in this remote place surrounded by trees in the middle of the night. They had no idea where they were or why their flight had not landed where it was supposed to land; they were not allowed to get off the plane, and they received NO INFORMATION for hours. I don’t do well when I don’t get an update after sitting on the tarmac for 10 minutes, so the thought of being in this situation makes me twitchy. But the people were being held because there was no place for them to go and there was little information and heightened security. As they sat on the plane, the people of the small town of Gander (who had the benefit of television) knew what had happened in the U.S., had been made aware of the thousands of people sitting on planes at the airport, and were kicking into gear to create shelters out of the school and the Elks’ lodge and every available space. They were gathering food and supplies, cots and air mattresses, diapers and extra clothes to provide shelter for almost as many people as actually lived in their town. Eventually, the “plane people” as they came to be called were shuttled by school bus into Gander. They were from dozens of countries, spoke different languages, had various medical conditions and infirmities, practiced different religions, and represented every race, culture, gender identity and orientation. Just imagine trying to provide hospitality on the fly for that kind of community! But the people of Gander did it. They barely slept for days as they cared for the needs of all the people and animals—including a pregnant orangutan!—who came to them off the diverted planes.
Among the personal narratives highlighted in the show, one I want to share is of a hardened New Yorker. He is suspicious of where he’s landed and doesn’t trust the generosity and kindness of his hosts. This guy fears that World War 3 has begun and worries that someone is going to shoot him… and steal his wallet. Throughout the musical, we see him transformed; this man goes from being aloof, defensive, and distrustful to allowing himself to open his heart and receive the gifts being offered with real joy. It is a delightful transformation to behold.
What caused the transformation? It was not that he was provided with a copy of “Seven Steps to Move from Fear to Trust Like a Rock Star” (I just made that up); it was not that the man was given a treatise outlining the character and actions of the people who lived in Gander and decided to “believe” it; it was the people themselves and the relationships he formed with them that brought about the change. Those folks just kept showing up and being kind and patient and generous. He learned he could trust them—and could trust himself with them.
That is what we’re talking about when we talk about “belief” and “faith” being about relationships. It’s about trusting the relationship between ourselves and another; about believing in what can be held and transformed and overcome through the power of love, friendship, trust, and commitment. It’s about believing in the intentions and heart of those with whom we are in relationship. And that happens as each person shows that they are worthy of trust, that their promises are not empty, that there is safety in opening up. It’s akin to saying to another person and really meaning it: “I believe in you. I believe in us.”
For Christians, faith is to say that to God. God, I believe in you…I believe in us. It is to trust God’s perfect, steadfast love, to believe in what can happen through our relationship with God. If that is what faith is, then how does it increase? Jesus responds with a rather enigmatic parable that is further complicated for us (at least as it comes to us in translation and in our context) because it is about a “slave” knowing his or her place. Because we don’t have time today to deeply examine the parable, I simply remind us of what we know about the one telling it. We know that Jesus doesn’t think human beings are worthless (you don’t give your whole life for people you deem worthless), Jesus doesn’t enslave people, he sets them free (e.g. Lk 13:16), Jesus loves and values people not as commodities but as partners in the work of God’s saving love in the world. Knowing all that, we’re left to ask the question: what is the point Jesus is trying to make in the parable? At its most simple, the story presents hardworking servants whose relationship with the one they serve leads them to proclaim, “We have done only what we ought to have done!”
When it came time for the “plane people” to leave Gander, they kept wanting to show their appreciation in some tangible way to the people who had opened their homes and lives so generously. But the Newfoundlanders said, “No, no, you would have done the same for us…We have done only what we ought to have done.” It was about relationship, about doing what was right, about stepping up to love and care and be generous with others.
Perhaps that is the point Jesus makes. To increase faith (to deepen trust and love in relationship with God) we simply need to keep doing what is faithful—doing what we have been given to do as followers of Jesus Christ. Pray and serve and give and seek justice and love, love, love. As you do these things, by God’s grace, faith increases—your own and that of the people around you.
In Gander, Newfoundland in September of 2001, in the midst of tragedy, a kind of “world communion” took place. Self-giving love was poured out. Hearts and homes were opened to the stranger. Prayers were shared. The language of care and gratitude became the common tongue. People got fed. That is what we celebrate today and seek to embody every day at Foundry Church. It is not through words about Jesus Christ, but through following Jesus in sacrament, service, generosity, and love that our faith grows and becomes a living witness to the world. May it be evermore so…and may we do all we can to make it so…may we do what we ought to do.
[i] Sarah Dylan Breuer, “Sarah’s Lectionary Blog,” http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2007/10/proper-22-year-.html
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