A Living Faith

I haven't written anything on my blog in the last couple of weeks, but I've been busy! Today I'm stuck at home while some workmen are cleaning and re-insulating the crawl space under the house... so it's a good time to add a couple of posts.

This first is the homily from the weekend before this past one. I left town immediately afterwards, to head to Priest Lake, Idaho, for our annual family reunion. It was great fun -- except for the bears, which came into the camp almost every night. THAT was a little scary... one camper across the way even shot off his gun a couple of times one night, to scare them away...only to succeed in scaring all the campers around him.

In any event, this homily was a takeoff on Hebrews 11, which is a really great passage. And of course I had to add a comment on those two short bits from the gospel, which have always been favorites of mine.


Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Good morning. I haven't shared a homily with you since mid-June because I've been away a few weekends -- I miss it!

Today's gospel includes a short piece of wisdom that for me perfectly introduces what I would like to share about today. It is very simple, and it's right at the beginning: "Do not be afraid, my friends, your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom! Sell your belongings, give to the poor -- for where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." It's very direct, and the message is clear: don't be afraid, trust in God, who has given you everything you have and everything you need; so go ahead and give your treasures to the poor, that way your heart will also be with them. That calls for a leap of faith, doesn't it?

What is so fortuitous is that this little gold nugget of wisdom is placed right next to our second reading, from Hebrews, chapter 11, which is absolutely one of the most classic passages in the Bible, about faith. I urge you to read it over -- it's only about a page and a half: Hebrews, chapter 11. And the particular Christians to which today's words were addressed were in danger of falling away from following Jesus Christ, perhaps because of the rigors of the Christian life. And so this letter reminds them of their great faith heritage -- It reminds them that in the past they had known all kinds of difficulties, even severe persecution -- and they had endured admirably, nobly. And it was a living faith that made this possible.

The actual passage we read today refers primarily just to Abraham and Sarah and their son Isaac, but it also touches on the lives of others -- Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. Finally the passage ends in a rush this way, and I want to read it to you:

“What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword. Some were tortured but would not accept an easy way out of their torture, so as to receive a better reward. Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point. The world was not worthy of them.

“Yet all these, though approved because of their great faith, did not receive what had been promised.
For God had foreseen something better ... for us. Namely, the coming of the One who was Promised, the Messiah, our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

I find those to be really stirring words. Think of those generations of people who lived by faith -- simple people as well as kings, servants as well as prophets – living with a faith that was finally complete in Jesus Christ.

Now we could add to that list of faith-filled people today, couldn’t we? For we have the example of Jesus, and 2000 years of Christians who have followed in his footsteps.

We might well start with the first century roll call, with the apostles, the holy women, and the early martyrs, beginning with Stephen, one of the original deacons. We could list all those in the early centuries who braved the many persecutions of those times, being put to death by lions or fire, or by other tortures. We could name the missionaries, who in spite of great hardship spread the gospel all over the earth, beginning with St. Paul himself, the apostle Thomas who went to
India, to Francis Xavier who went to China, to the Jesuit North American martyrs tortured to death by the Iroquois in the mid 1600's, to Mother Cabrini who came to the United States opening orphanages and schools and hospitals, 67 different institutions, who lived and died right across the street at the Villa.

We could remember mystics, or poets, great philosophers and teachers like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. We could recall those who changed the course of Western Civilization, like Pope Gregory the Great, and as well as those simple beautiful souls who have changed the course of so many hearts, like Francis of Assisi, or Therese, the little flower. And we could end with the soaring souls of the 20th century, people like Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa with their love for the poor, Archbishop Oscar Romero who was assassinated as he celebrated Mass with the poor in El Salvador.

These aren’t fairy tales. These are real people. And these are all people who lived by faith. A living faith. As our reading from Hebrews says, “They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.” By their lives they were “people who made it clear they were seeking another homeland… a heavenly country.”

This passage stirs me up. Why? It makes me ask, How deep does my own faith go? How deep does yours go? How regularly do we exercise our faith?

You know, too often I think people make faith a compartment in their heads, a little place where beliefs are kept. As in, "I believe in God; I believe in Jesus Christ, true God and true man." But is our “faith” mostly the collected sum of our religious beliefs? I think a living faith is something much more. Or sometimes I think people locate faith in their hearts, the place where trust is kept… an internal resource to turn to in times of doubt or trouble. As in, "Keep the faith, hold on." And certainly faith as trust is important for our lives; but a living faith is more still.

A living faith is a WAY. This way has direction and purpose, not only internal but external too. A living faith is a way of moving, a way of doing. This faith is as much in the hands and feet as it is in the head and heart. Sometimes it's a way that carries risks, sometimes it's even a way that brings us trouble.

But Jesus did not ask people simply to believe something about him, and he didn’t call on them merely to feel good about God in their hearts. Jesus challenged people to follow him. He said those words, “Follow me,” over and over again. “Follow me!” In following him, those first believers came to know him as “the way, the truth, and the life.” Through all these holy people we have invoked today, down through the centuries, Christ’s call reaches right through to our own time and our own place -- to you and me. Don’t we see in all these holy people that a living faith is a way for US to follow as well?

And one final thing. Small, but big. Our gospel today ends with words that I find haunting, and I don't like to be haunted alone, so I'll repeat them to you. "Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be expected of the person entrusted with more." I know God has been very generous and gracious to me. How about you? So, what more does God hope for, from us?

Deacon Denny Duffell