A Sermon for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 14 -Year C – August 11, 2013
by Eleanor Lee Wellford, Associate Rector
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old– and Sarah herself was barren– because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
-Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Have you ever tried to define the word “faith”? It isn’t easy. Sometimes I think it may be easier to define it by example or action rather than by words. The part of Paul’s letter to the Hebrews that we heard this morning describes faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It certainly sounds good but I’m not exactly sure what it means.
When my fellow students and I would run across difficult theological words in seminary, our professors would help us – as they would say- “unpack” them; words such as “righteousness” and “justification” and “redemption”. And one way we would do that was by looking at the words in their original language as well as how they were used in different English translations.
We could do that with the word “faith” starting with most people’s favorite translation: the King James Version. It describes “faith” in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews as “the substance (instead of assurance) of things hoped for, and the evidence (instead of the conviction) of things not seen.” That’s a slightly different twist.
The Message is a translation of the Bible in contemporary language. It translates Paul’s definition of faith as “the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.” That’s a very different twist. What I come away with is that there is more to life than what we can see or experience on our own and enough evidence of that to keep us hopeful that we are loved and not left on our own.
I think Paul knew how difficult it was to define faith which is why he then gave examples of acts of faith with which his listeners, the Hebrews, would have been familiar. For example, Paul wrote that by an act of faith, Abraham said “Yes” to God’s call to travel to an unknown place because he trusted God’s promise that it would become his home. By an act of faith Sarah was able to conceive a child even though she was long past the age when this would normally have happened because she trusted God’s promise to make Abraham’s direct descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky.
Even though we didn’t hear it as part of any specific translation, it sounds as if trust is an important part of faith. And if that’s the case, what is it that we have to trust in order to have faith? That’s a question that is explored in a popular book called The Shack, (Los Angeles: Windblown Media, 2007) written by William P. Young. It’s fiction based on the author’s real-life journey of faith. He tells the story through a character named Mack – a married father of 5 children who searches to find meaning in his life after his youngest child, 6-year old Missy, is abducted and killed during a family camping trip.
In the midst of what the author refers to as the Great Sadness which overwhelmed him in the aftermath of his loss, Mack is invited to spend the weekend at a secluded cabin, or shack, in the middle of the woods. His hosts are none other than God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Not knowing whether his encounter with the Trinity occurs in a dream or in some kind of afterlife or in a fit of madness, Mack reluctantly opens himself up to the possibility of discovering something that can help him from drowning in sorrow.
What he is struck by immediately is the beauty of the relationship that is the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the circle of love that they share equally; the trust that binds them implicitly. Mack wants that for himself, but finds himself unable to let go of his pain long enough to trust that that is what God wants for him as well. He struggles with where God is in the midst of his sorrow and in the brokenness that Mack sees in his world. I think it’s a question we’ve all wondered about and whether we ascribe to the author’s particular theology or not, it at least gives us something to think about.
So during breakfast on Saturday morning, God explores this question with Mack by saying: “You humans try to make sense of your world based on a very small and incomplete picture of reality. It’s like watching a parade through a tiny (keyhole or) knothole of hurt and pain. (That’s why you have such a hard time trusting me which then makes you doubt my goodness and increases your pain.) If you knew I was good and that everything (that happens) is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me. But you don’t.” (p.128).
Mack answered by finally stating what had tormented him every day of the Great Sadness: “If you couldn’t take care of Missy” Mack said, “how can I trust you to take care of me? If you loved Missy as you say you do, you wouldn’t have let her go through that horror. She was innocent. She didn’t do anything to deserve that. I might have, but she didn’t.” (p. 92).
“Is that what kind of God you think I am, Mack – a punishing God? It’s no wonder you are drowning in your sorrow. I’m not like that and this is not my doing. What happened to Missy was the work of evil and no one in your world is immune from it. If you could stop judging me when evil things happen that you don’t understand and know me for who I am, then you would be able to embrace me in the midst of your pain instead of pushing me away” (paraphrased p. 164).
“I don’t know how to change that” admitted Mack. “You can’t” replied God. “Not alone, anyway. But together we will watch that change take place in a relationship of love. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. And I do love you” (p. 126). As the weekend progressed, a change took place in Mack and the Great Sadness that had separated him from God for so long slowly began to dissipate.
So what is it that Mack learned about faith and trust that can benefit us? I think he learned about the goodness of God and the relationship of “love and joy and freedom and light” (p. 124) that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit want to be in with us. I think he also learned that our measure of goodness even when it comes to God, is flawed because the standards by which we judge something as being good or not, are flawed. For example, I used to think it was “good” to go sit in the sun. My standard of judgment was how it made me look and feel and that our culture valued a tan. Now I know that prolonged sun exposure is “bad” for me because my standard of judgment has changed to what medical research says.
So, what would happen if we stopped judging goodness on our own flawed terms and trusted God as our ultimate standard of goodness? Then, as it was explained to Mack, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit would be a part of our lives in a way that we would no longer fear nor feel the need to control what we can’t understand. And we would know with our whole heart that we are truly loved. (paraphrased)
And perhaps that’s the best and simplest definition of faith – trust in the absolute goodness and unending nature of God’s love – for us and for all of God’s creation. As hard as we try, I don’t think that’s anything that we can understand with our intellect. It’s something that happens when we are ready for that to happen as Abraham and Sarah were and as Mack finally was. It’s a turn of the heart at its deepest level in God’s direction.
It couldn’t have been more clearly stated than in the Psalm that we read together this morning. “Our soul waits for The Lord; he is our help and our shield. Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy name we put our trust. Let your (goodness), O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you” (Psalm 33: 20-22). Amen.
Proper 14: August 11, 2013
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
“Faith Defined”
Have you ever tried to define the word “faith”? It isn’t easy. Sometimes I think it may be easier to define it by example or action rather than by words. The part of Paul’s letter to the Hebrews that we heard this morning describes faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It certainly sounds good but I’m not exactly sure what it means.
When my fellow students and I would run across difficult theological words in seminary, our professors would help us – as they would say- “unpack” them; words such as “righteousness” and “justification” and “redemption”. And one way we would do that was by looking at the words in their original language as well as how they were used in different English translations.
We could do that with the word “faith” starting with most people’s favorite translation: the King James Version. It describes “faith” in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews as “the substance (instead of assurance) of things hoped for, and the evidence (instead of the conviction) of things not seen.” That’s a slightly different twist.
The Message is a translation of the Bible in contemporary language. It translates Paul’s definition of faith as “the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.” That’s a very different twist. What I come away with is that there is more to life than what we can see or experience on our own and enough evidence of that to keep us hopeful that we are loved and not left on our own.
I think Paul knew how difficult it was to define faith which is why he then gave examples of acts of faith with which his listeners, the Hebrews, would have been familiar. For example, Paul wrote that by an act of faith, Abraham said “Yes” to God’s call to travel to an unknown place because he trusted God’s promise that it would become his home. By an act of faith Sarah was able to conceive a child even though she was long past the age when this would normally have happened because she trusted God’s promise to make Abraham’s direct descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky.
Even though we didn’t hear it as part of any specific translation, it sounds as if trust is an important part of faith. And if that’s the case, what is it that we have to trust in order to have faith? That’s a question that is explored in a popular book called The Shack, (Los Angeles: Windblown Media, 2007) written by William P. Young. It’s fiction based on the author’s real-life journey of faith. He tells the story through a character named Mack – a married father of 5 children who searches to find meaning in his life after his youngest child, 6-year old Missy, is abducted and killed during a family camping trip.
In the midst of what the author refers to as the Great Sadness which overwhelmed him in the aftermath of his loss, Mack is invited to spend the weekend at a secluded cabin, or shack, in the middle of the woods. His hosts are none other than God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Not knowing whether his encounter with the Trinity occurs in a dream or in some kind of afterlife or in a fit of madness, Mack reluctantly opens himself up to the possibility of discovering something that can help him from drowning in sorrow.
What he is struck by immediately is the beauty of the relationship that is the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the circle of love that they share equally; the trust that binds them implicitly. Mack wants that for himself, but finds himself unable to let go of his pain long enough to trust that that is what God wants for him as well. He struggles with where God is in the midst of his sorrow and in the brokenness that Mack sees in his world. I think it’s a question we’ve all wondered about and whether we ascribe to the author’s particular theology or not, it at least gives us something to think about.
So during breakfast on Saturday morning, God explores this question with Mack by saying: “You humans try to make sense of your world based on a very small and incomplete picture of reality. It’s like watching a parade through a tiny (keyhole or) knothole of hurt and pain. (That’s why you have such a hard time trusting me which then makes you doubt my goodness and increases your pain.) If you knew I was good and that everything (that happens) is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me. But you don’t.” (p.128).
Mack answered by finally stating what had tormented him every day of the Great Sadness: “If you couldn’t take care of Missy” Mack said, “how can I trust you to take care of me? If you loved Missy as you say you do, you wouldn’t have let her go through that horror. She was innocent. She didn’t do anything to deserve that. I might have, but she didn’t.” (p. 92).
“Is that what kind of God you think I am, Mack – a punishing God? It’s no wonder you are drowning in your sorrow. I’m not like that and this is not my doing. What happened to Missy was the work of evil and no one in your world is immune from it. If you could stop judging me when evil things happen that you don’t understand and know me for who I am, then you would be able to embrace me in the midst of your pain instead of pushing me away” (paraphrased p. 164).
“I don’t know how to change that” admitted Mack. “You can’t” replied God. “Not alone, anyway. But together we will watch that change take place in a relationship of love. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. And I do love you” (p. 126). As the weekend progressed, a change took place in Mack and the Great Sadness that had separated him from God for so long slowly began to dissipate.
So what is it that Mack learned about faith and trust that can benefit us? I think he learned about the goodness of God and the relationship of “love and joy and freedom and light” (p. 124) that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit want to be in with us. I think he also learned that our measure of goodness even when it comes to God, is flawed because the standards by which we judge something as being good or not, are flawed. For example, I used to think it was “good” to go sit in the sun. My standard of judgment was how it made me look and feel and that our culture valued a tan. Now I know that prolonged sun exposure is “bad” for me because my standard of judgment has changed to what medical research says.
So, what would happen if we stopped judging goodness on our own flawed terms and trusted God as our ultimate standard of goodness? Then, as it was explained to Mack, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit would be a part of our lives in a way that we would no longer fear nor feel the need to control what we can’t understand. And we would know with our whole heart that we are truly loved. (paraphrased)
And perhaps that’s the best and simplest definition of faith – trust in the absolute goodness and unending nature of God’s love – for us and for all of God’s creation. As hard as we try, I don’t think that’s anything that we can understand with our intellect. It’s something that happens when we are ready for that to happen as Abraham and Sarah were and as Mack finally was. It’s a turn of the heart at its deepest level in God’s direction.
It couldn’t have been more clearly stated than in the Psalm that we read together this morning. “Our soul waits for The Lord; he is our help and our shield. Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy name we put our trust. Let your (goodness), O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you” (Psalm 33: 20-22). Amen.
Proper 14: August 11, 2013
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
“Faith Defined”
Have you ever tried to define the word “faith”? It isn’t easy. Sometimes I think it may be easier to define it by example or action rather than by words. The part of Paul’s letter to the Hebrews that we heard this morning describes faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It certainly sounds good but I’m not exactly sure what it means.
When my fellow students and I would run across difficult theological words in seminary, our professors would help us – as they would say- “unpack” them; words such as “righteousness” and “justification” and “redemption”. And one way we would do that was by looking at the words in their original language as well as how they were used in different English translations.
We could do that with the word “faith” starting with most people’s favorite translation: the King James Version. It describes “faith” in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews as “the substance (instead of assurance) of things hoped for, and the evidence (instead of the conviction) of things not seen.” That’s a slightly different twist.
The Message is a translation of the Bible in contemporary language. It translates Paul’s definition of faith as “the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.” That’s a very different twist. What I come away with is that there is more to life than what we can see or experience on our own and enough evidence of that to keep us hopeful that we are loved and not left on our own.
I think Paul knew how difficult it was to define faith which is why he then gave examples of acts of faith with which his listeners, the Hebrews, would have been familiar. For example, Paul wrote that by an act of faith, Abraham said “Yes” to God’s call to travel to an unknown place because he trusted God’s promise that it would become his home. By an act of faith Sarah was able to conceive a child even though she was long past the age when this would normally have happened because she trusted God’s promise to make Abraham’s direct descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky.
Even though we didn’t hear it as part of any specific translation, it sounds as if trust is an important part of faith. And if that’s the case, what is it that we have to trust in order to have faith? That’s a question that is explored in a popular book called The Shack, (Los Angeles: Windblown Media, 2007) written by William P. Young. It’s fiction based on the author’s real-life journey of faith. He tells the story through a character named Mack – a married father of 5 children who searches to find meaning in his life after his youngest child, 6-year old Missy, is abducted and killed during a family camping trip.
In the midst of what the author refers to as the Great Sadness which overwhelmed him in the aftermath of his loss, Mack is invited to spend the weekend at a secluded cabin, or shack, in the middle of the woods. His hosts are none other than God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Not knowing whether his encounter with the Trinity occurs in a dream or in some kind of afterlife or in a fit of madness, Mack reluctantly opens himself up to the possibility of discovering something that can help him from drowning in sorrow.
What he is struck by immediately is the beauty of the relationship that is the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the circle of love that they share equally; the trust that binds them implicitly. Mack wants that for himself, but finds himself unable to let go of his pain long enough to trust that that is what God wants for him as well. He struggles with where God is in the midst of his sorrow and in the brokenness that Mack sees in his world. I think it’s a question we’ve all wondered about and whether we ascribe to the author’s particular theology or not, it at least gives us something to think about.
So during breakfast on Saturday morning, God explores this question with Mack by saying: “You humans try to make sense of your world based on a very small and incomplete picture of reality. It’s like watching a parade through a tiny (keyhole or) knothole of hurt and pain. (That’s why you have such a hard time trusting me which then makes you doubt my goodness and increases your pain.) If you knew I was good and that everything (that happens) is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me. But you don’t.” (p.128).
Mack answered by finally stating what had tormented him every day of the Great Sadness: “If you couldn’t take care of Missy” Mack said, “how can I trust you to take care of me? If you loved Missy as you say you do, you wouldn’t have let her go through that horror. She was innocent. She didn’t do anything to deserve that. I might have, but she didn’t.” (p. 92).
“Is that what kind of God you think I am, Mack – a punishing God? It’s no wonder you are drowning in your sorrow. I’m not like that and this is not my doing. What happened to Missy was the work of evil and no one in your world is immune from it. If you could stop judging me when evil things happen that you don’t understand and know me for who I am, then you would be able to embrace me in the midst of your pain instead of pushing me away” (paraphrased p. 164).
“I don’t know how to change that” admitted Mack. “You can’t” replied God. “Not alone, anyway. But together we will watch that change take place in a relationship of love. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. And I do love you” (p. 126). As the weekend progressed, a change took place in Mack and the Great Sadness that had separated him from God for so long slowly began to dissipate.
So what is it that Mack learned about faith and trust that can benefit us? I think he learned about the goodness of God and the relationship of “love and joy and freedom and light” (p. 124) that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit want to be in with us. I think he also learned that our measure of goodness even when it comes to God, is flawed because the standards by which we judge something as being good or not, are flawed. For example, I used to think it was “good” to go sit in the sun. My standard of judgment was how it made me look and feel and that our culture valued a tan. Now I know that prolonged sun exposure is “bad” for me because my standard of judgment has changed to what medical research says.
So, what would happen if we stopped judging goodness on our own flawed terms and trusted God as our ultimate standard of goodness? Then, as it was explained to Mack, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit would be a part of our lives in a way that we would no longer fear nor feel the need to control what we can’t understand. And we would know with our whole heart that we are truly loved. (paraphrased)
And perhaps that’s the best and simplest definition of faith – trust in the absolute goodness and unending nature of God’s love – for us and for all of God’s creation. As hard as we try, I don’t think that’s anything that we can understand with our intellect. It’s something that happens when we are ready for that to happen as Abraham and Sarah were and as Mack finally was. It’s a turn of the heart at its deepest level in God’s direction.
It couldn’t have been more clearly stated than in the Psalm that we read together this morning. “Our soul waits for The Lord; he is our help and our shield. Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy name we put our trust. Let your (goodness), O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you” (Psalm 33: 20-22). Amen.