October 3, 2004 - Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Lamentations 1: 1-6
PSALM: 137
SECOND READING: 2 Timothy 1: 1-14
GOSPEL: Luke 17: 5-10

How much faith is enough faith? The assumption is that faith is somehow quantitative. If we have enough of it, then we can do something with it. If we don't have enough of it, then we can't do anything with it. This causes some problems sometimes. I remember one time when I was in CPE, and I was ministering to this family whose little girl had leukemia. The mother was there most of the time. I don't think I ever did see the father, but the mother was there most of the day with the little girl. And one day she said to me, "Fred, I don't want you to come around here anymore." And, I said, "Well, why not? We pray together and so on." And she said, "Well, my sister told me that the reason that my little girl is not getting better is because I don't have enough faith, and I haven't been saved, and that is the reason; and I just don't want you coming around here anymore". And I thought, "Oh, my goodness", and she took all of this guilt upon her. Needless to say, I wasn't allowed in that room anymore. The little girl did go into remission. But this is dangerous kind of thinking that, if I don't have enough faith, then something is not going to work - God is not going to work in my life or anyone else's life if I don't have enough faith. I'm sorry that I never got to talk to that woman again, but, fortunately, my supervisor did. I don't know what really ever came of that, but it shows how dangerous that understanding of quantitative faith can be.

Also, another thing that can happen if we assume that faith is quantitative is that it can be a cop-out. "Well, I don't have enough faith, so I don't have to do anything." "I don't have enough faith in God; I don't believe in God enough" - whatever that means.

Faith is not quantitative. Faith is a dynamic. Actually, I believe that the word, "faith", is a verb. We "do" faith. It is something that we do. Faith is alive, and it's dynamic; and it enables us to cooperate with God's grace and power. Faith is something that is given to us. It is freely given to us by God, and it is linked to trust and obedience - trusting in what God does and submitting to God's will, and then doing whatever God commands, which is to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In His parable this morning, Jesus says that a true disciple does not need more faith than that of a mustard seed. If you have faith to serve God and to care for God's people, that's enough. That's enough. You will be surprised what God can do with the faith that you have. Paul Tillick, the theologian, defined faith as courage - that is the courage to step out and do the things that God has asked us to do - the courage to love other people, the courage to love God, the courage to step out and do what we think God wants us to do, acting on the trust that God is faithful.

Faith is simply trusting in God - trusting that God will do what God will do with us, whatever little bit we can do. Sometimes, it doesn't require very much. Maybe it is just sitting quietly with another person. Maybe it is sending a birthday card or a note of congratulations, or just an I'm-thinking-of-you card. Sometimes that is enough to encourage people to live their lives wholly.

Faith is simply trusting in God. Either you do or you don't. And to use faith, that is to use it in ways that will help other people and ways that will help other people to understand that they are not alone, that they are loved, and that God, through Jesus Christ and with the power of the Holy Spirit, loves each and every one of us in a special way. You would be surprised what you can do with a little faith - with just a little faith. You would be surprised what God can do through you with a little faith. All it takes is just saying "yes" to God, "yes" to others, and "yes" to your understanding.

How do we work with that? How do we work on our faith? Read the stories in the Bible how God did what God did throughout the history of Israel. Read in the Bible about what Jesus did for those who were outsiders, who were poor. Listen to those stories and read them. Pray together with one another. Coming to Church here on Sunday morning strengthens that trust that we have in God. It isn't quantitative - it is dynamic, and it works.

You don't have to be qualified in anything to be faithful. You just have to be faithful. Faith expressed in terms of service to others is what Jesus is telling His disciples. It is when we are "faithing" - when we are "faithing" - then we are doing God's bidding to us. The good news is that God never loses faith in us, and I think that is really good news.

And so, Paul's advice to Timothy, I think, is good advice for us:

"Guard that good treasure, which is faith, that is entrusted to you."

AMEN