Monday, June 14, 2010

By Faith

Text: Galatians 2:15-21

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

An old legend says that when Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden he lay down under a tree and slept, his soul beside him. While he slept the four spirits - Earth, Water, Air, and Fire - stole man's soul and carried it away.

Then the four spirits looked about for a place to hide man's soul so that he could never find it again. The spirit of Earth said, "I will hide it in my depths." The spirit of Water said, "I will sink it into the deepest waters of the sea." The spirit of Air said, "Let me hide it beyond the farthest star."

But the spirit of Fire objected to all these suggestions, saying, "Let me burn man's soul in my flames." To this all the spirits agreed. But in a short while man's soul emerged unscathed by the flames. Then at length the four spirits agreed upon this plan, saying: "We will hide man's soul where he will never find it; we will hide man's soul within man himself." And so they did, so the legend says.

Well, in whatever way man's soul got where it is, God knows it is there. The problem is that sometimes we don't. We let our souls get lost within us. Running in dizzy circles around life's outer edges, we sometimes lose touch with what is at the center.

Here in worship today let's try to find our souls, wherever they are within us. Let's strip aside all the overgrowth that holds them down and keeps them where the shadows are. Let's try to open up ourselves to let some of God's light in, and some of his love. And we may discover inward treasures we never knew were there.


In the 1970s, when the gasoline shortage was at its height, any possible proposal for increasing the miles-per- gallon ratio was taken up with enthusiasm. One popular, but not terribly effective, scheme was to tuck your own car right up behind any large truck barreling down the highway. The conventional wisdom was that the tremendous draft created by the truck would help "drag" your own vehicle along reducing the air friction on it and thus increasing your own gas mileage. Following in the wake of the truck took some of the effort to move forward off of your own car.


For many Christians, following "in Jesus' steps" has become its own kind of spiritual coasting, riding in the wake of Jesus' own first-century actions and reactions in order to relieve some of the responsibility for making our own 21st- century responses. We are not called to follow "in his wake." The risen Christ who lives today wants to make, through us, new waves with our faith. Jesus was not simply a good man and an outstanding moral teacher whose past actions we may continue to follow like a law. Jesus is an indwelling, living presence, ready to live today and act in new and creative ways in this always-changing world.


There was a woman in a community who was well known for her simple faith and great calm in the midst of many trials. Another woman who had never met her but had heard of her came to visit one day. "I must find out the secret of her calm, happy life," she thought to herself.


As she met her she said:" So you are the woman with the great faith I've heard so much about." "No," came the reply. "I am not the woman with the great faith, but I am the woman with the little faith in the great God."


Can we say the same?


              Faith comes from the Latin word fide, which is a translation of the Greek word pistis.  It can be used in two senses: In the first, faith is a quality or attitude, as in such a statement as "So and so is a person of faith."  In the second use, faith may mean the contents or set of beliefs a person holds.  Such as in saying, "So and so believes in the Christian faith."  In the first use, faith is a verb; in the second, it is a noun.


                 The first use is the most proper and is the meaning contained in our text today.  Faith is an action, a means to an end--not the end it-self.  By faith is a process, an exercise of one's will, a putting into practice one's trust in God, rather than belief in certain doctrines or mor-alisms.  This is the upshot of Paul's statement about being justified by faith in Christ alone and not by legal or ethical works.

 

              For you see, faith is more than belief. Faith is more than intellectual agreement with the words of the Apostle's Creed, or even mental assent to the Bible. When we speak of faith, we are talking not so much of propositions to be understood, as of a relationship to be established. Jesus does not say, "Believe that ..," but "Believe in...." Above all, believe in me. We make a shift from belief to trust, from a matter for the head to a matter for the heart.


              We have to believe a person before we trust him or her, but when we arrive at trust, we are at a different level of relationship than mere belief. Even then we have not plumbed the depths of faith.

              There is one more step. Faith is that to which we trust our lives. We move, then, from the business of the heart to the business of the gut--to commitment. Commitment is the key word.


              Faith and commitment are experienced by all who swim or parachute. On person writes of parachuting, "The first time evertything in me resisted. I had listened to lectures. I had mastered the techniques. I had practised under simulated conditions. But I don't think I honestly believed that that frail piece of silk would hold me up. But nothing in the world compares with the thrilll expereienced when I leaped into the sky, pulled the cord, and found that the whole thing was actually true. I worked!"


              Christian faith is the leap of commitment to Jesus Christ. Though our minds may still be filled with quesitons, even doubts, ourlives are lived in response to his words, his example, his style, his spirit. They soak into our lives until we are saturated with them.


              No instruction manuals can make us parachutists nor swimmers. in each, we must dive in and allow ourselves to be supported by the elements -- air, water -- or, with Christ, "presence." God has put these elements in place for our support. That is faith. It is not something we hold. It is eomthing we are held by.


In Superman: The Movie, Superman first reveals his powers to the world with a dramatic rescue of Lois Lane. Lois is dangling from a cable high above the Daily Planet building. She is screaming at the top of her lungs. Just as she begins her long fall toward earth, Superman changes into his power suit and swoops up to catch her in midair. "Don't worry, Miss," he says. I've got you."

"Thanks," says Lois. "But who's got you?"


Just then a helicopter that has been parked on the edge of the building starts to fall straight toward them and the crowd below. But Superman simply grabs it with his one free arm and gently sets both it and Lois safely back on the landing pad. When he turns to leave, Lois stammers out the words, "Who are you?"


Superman says, "A friend" and flies off just before Lois faints into a heap.


That's how we would like Christ to come to us. And that's why we often aren't paying attention when he comes in less spectacular ways.


Paul says, "Christ lives in me." He doesn't say "Christ shows up at the last minute like Superman and rescues me from disaster." He says, Christ lives in me every moment of every day. Christ is an ongoing presence within us, as near as our own heartbeat and just as vital for our survival.

             

Paul says, "Christ lives in me. I live by faith in the Christ within, the hope of glory." Let's live by faith in the Christ within.


If now is one of those times in your life when you just don't feel like you have any faith, act like you have faith anyway. If we act like we have faith, we will find that we do indeed have faith. It was there all along. Not like some Superman Superhero but in the quiet, steady presence of the Christ within. As we get back in touch with the Christ within us, we will get back in touch with our faith.

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The Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston on June 13, 2010