Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole
I have a few disclaimers here...
First for those reading off my friendslist, this is the sermon I gave in church this morning. I'm placing it under an LJ cut not just as I always do for length but also because most of you are fandom friends and may well not be interested in reading what I write for church.
Second to those of you whom I have linked to this journal, this is my writing journal. I have written fanfiction. A lot of it contains graphic sexual content, all of it is clearly labelled with the appropriate warnings. I have explored, and continue to explore, a lot of different things in my writing - not all of it Christian based. Feel free to peruse my writing if you wish but keep in mind that it represents where I was at the time of writing it and not necessarily where or who I am now.
Third, I will be screening comments on this entry and any future entries that contain Christian messages. Having a Live Journal account allows me to make my writing more accessible to more people - whether that writing be fanfiction, original works or sermons. But that said I will not tolerate attacks on my personal beliefs and those comments will be deleted without being displayed. Also if you find yourself wishing to comment to me privately, you can say as much in your comment and I won't unscreen it.
Fourth, I would not appreciate having my father linked to my religious writings. However much you might think he'd enjoy reading this, don't do it. Just don't.
Lastly I am not a priest and not overly educated in such matters.
The readings for today were:
Lamentations 1:1-6; 3:19-26
Paul's Second Letter to Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney - I read a small portion of this aloud prior to giving my message.
When I was pregnant with my second child I contemplated purchasing another copy of [Guess How Much I Love You]. It wasn't so much that the message in the book had struck a chord with me, but much more simply that I could remember enjoying the time spent sharing it with my older son and our copy is rather dilapidated. When I perused an online bookstore for the title the customer rating was both glaring and shocking. How could a much beloved and widely read book have only two stars? I dug deeper and read several of the reviews and found a common theme: several parents felt that the father rabbit in the story was devaluing his son's feelings by constantly one-upping him. I immediately pulled our copy off the shelf and sat down to really read it.
Inside I found a young bunny rabbit grappling with the enormous concept that is Love. He had this big and wonderful feeling inside and he wanted to quantify it. Of course kids always choose those last minutes before sleep to ask the really difficult questions. As the father settles his son down to sleep he shows him that love is bigger than than all the things Little Nutbrown Hare has imagined. He also displays in terms that Little Nutbrown Hare can understand that as much as the young rabbit loves, he is also loved by his father.
I think of Faith in much the same way. It can be very difficult to understand Faith if you're trying to quantify it. Jesus said that Faith the size of a mustard seed would be enough to compel nature to obey our whims. I can imagine that the Apostles were somewhat insulted by this for surely each of them possessed at least that much faith. But they had asked for their faith to be increased as though there were a way for them to be more or less faithful. I think Jesus was telling them, "Either you get it, or you don't."
Lamentations is a short book, but one vivid with imagery of destruction and woe. It is poetic and wrenching to listen to the suffering of a people who realised too late their deviation from the path of righteousness - from the path of Faith. When I read it I am not transported to the time long ago of Jerusalem's destruction, but rather to here and now and to the screams of today's people who realise too late the price of false faith.
I see in my mind's eye the picture of a beautiful woman who can trust no one because she has betrayed everyone. A woman who surrounds herself with people who use her because she has no one left to love her. A woman who has no hope because she has no Faith. It is all too easy to bring to mind the image of a modern woman - famous, infamous, anonymous - who fits this description. It is all too easy to use this archetypal character as a metaphor for a modern society. We are not so far removed from the people of the Bible. Be they characters in a story, legends in a myth, or real people in a historical record, their struggle is real within us and the consequences of their mistakes there for us to learn from.
Lamentations is simply that: a cry from a suffering people. Their Lament is that they had done wrong and been dealt the consequence. Through all their wailing and throwing themselves before the Lord saying, "We're sorry! We were wrong! We shouldn't have behaved this way!" I am reminded of a child's view of repentance. I can distinctly remember my mother saying, "Sorry doesn't cut it." I find myself using that phrase with my own children. That and, "Are you really sorry, or are you just sorry you got caught?" There is more to this repentance thing than simply changing your ways once you've had a small taste of the consequences. Just as there is more to Faith than simply fearing the wrath of God.
In our reading from Paul's letter to Timothy we come at the same lesson from a different angle. Gone is the Lament and in its place we find joyful acceptance. Paul tells us that he suffers but it isn't the punishment of a wrathful God. Rather it is a quest to be the person that God meant him to be. Having put his trust in God, Paul is confident. He feels love and shares love. His trials do not wear him down, but raise him up. He allows the Spirit to enter in and thus is able to spread the Word of God to others. He says, "Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us." I wish I could say this to the woman of the metaphor before she becomes so jaded. Of course there is every probability that she would not have listened - just as the people of Jerusalem knew quite well how they ought to have behaved but chose an earthly glory over a heavenly one.
So where does this leave us? Is our trust in God? If it is then we have everything we need to travel on the right path. We can make the right choices in our lives without concern for the difficulties - doing what we ought to do simply because it is what we have been commanded to do. Or, as I optimistically tell my children, "Be good because it is how you should be, not because you're afraid of the punishment for being bad." Have Faith that in spite of how difficult the right choices may be, they are their own reward.
Author Index
First for those reading off my friendslist, this is the sermon I gave in church this morning. I'm placing it under an LJ cut not just as I always do for length but also because most of you are fandom friends and may well not be interested in reading what I write for church.
Second to those of you whom I have linked to this journal, this is my writing journal. I have written fanfiction. A lot of it contains graphic sexual content, all of it is clearly labelled with the appropriate warnings. I have explored, and continue to explore, a lot of different things in my writing - not all of it Christian based. Feel free to peruse my writing if you wish but keep in mind that it represents where I was at the time of writing it and not necessarily where or who I am now.
Third, I will be screening comments on this entry and any future entries that contain Christian messages. Having a Live Journal account allows me to make my writing more accessible to more people - whether that writing be fanfiction, original works or sermons. But that said I will not tolerate attacks on my personal beliefs and those comments will be deleted without being displayed. Also if you find yourself wishing to comment to me privately, you can say as much in your comment and I won't unscreen it.
Fourth, I would not appreciate having my father linked to my religious writings. However much you might think he'd enjoy reading this, don't do it. Just don't.
Lastly I am not a priest and not overly educated in such matters.
The readings for today were:
Lamentations 1:1-6; 3:19-26
Paul's Second Letter to Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney - I read a small portion of this aloud prior to giving my message.
When I was pregnant with my second child I contemplated purchasing another copy of [Guess How Much I Love You]. It wasn't so much that the message in the book had struck a chord with me, but much more simply that I could remember enjoying the time spent sharing it with my older son and our copy is rather dilapidated. When I perused an online bookstore for the title the customer rating was both glaring and shocking. How could a much beloved and widely read book have only two stars? I dug deeper and read several of the reviews and found a common theme: several parents felt that the father rabbit in the story was devaluing his son's feelings by constantly one-upping him. I immediately pulled our copy off the shelf and sat down to really read it.
Inside I found a young bunny rabbit grappling with the enormous concept that is Love. He had this big and wonderful feeling inside and he wanted to quantify it. Of course kids always choose those last minutes before sleep to ask the really difficult questions. As the father settles his son down to sleep he shows him that love is bigger than than all the things Little Nutbrown Hare has imagined. He also displays in terms that Little Nutbrown Hare can understand that as much as the young rabbit loves, he is also loved by his father.
I think of Faith in much the same way. It can be very difficult to understand Faith if you're trying to quantify it. Jesus said that Faith the size of a mustard seed would be enough to compel nature to obey our whims. I can imagine that the Apostles were somewhat insulted by this for surely each of them possessed at least that much faith. But they had asked for their faith to be increased as though there were a way for them to be more or less faithful. I think Jesus was telling them, "Either you get it, or you don't."
Lamentations is a short book, but one vivid with imagery of destruction and woe. It is poetic and wrenching to listen to the suffering of a people who realised too late their deviation from the path of righteousness - from the path of Faith. When I read it I am not transported to the time long ago of Jerusalem's destruction, but rather to here and now and to the screams of today's people who realise too late the price of false faith.
I see in my mind's eye the picture of a beautiful woman who can trust no one because she has betrayed everyone. A woman who surrounds herself with people who use her because she has no one left to love her. A woman who has no hope because she has no Faith. It is all too easy to bring to mind the image of a modern woman - famous, infamous, anonymous - who fits this description. It is all too easy to use this archetypal character as a metaphor for a modern society. We are not so far removed from the people of the Bible. Be they characters in a story, legends in a myth, or real people in a historical record, their struggle is real within us and the consequences of their mistakes there for us to learn from.
Lamentations is simply that: a cry from a suffering people. Their Lament is that they had done wrong and been dealt the consequence. Through all their wailing and throwing themselves before the Lord saying, "We're sorry! We were wrong! We shouldn't have behaved this way!" I am reminded of a child's view of repentance. I can distinctly remember my mother saying, "Sorry doesn't cut it." I find myself using that phrase with my own children. That and, "Are you really sorry, or are you just sorry you got caught?" There is more to this repentance thing than simply changing your ways once you've had a small taste of the consequences. Just as there is more to Faith than simply fearing the wrath of God.
In our reading from Paul's letter to Timothy we come at the same lesson from a different angle. Gone is the Lament and in its place we find joyful acceptance. Paul tells us that he suffers but it isn't the punishment of a wrathful God. Rather it is a quest to be the person that God meant him to be. Having put his trust in God, Paul is confident. He feels love and shares love. His trials do not wear him down, but raise him up. He allows the Spirit to enter in and thus is able to spread the Word of God to others. He says, "Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us." I wish I could say this to the woman of the metaphor before she becomes so jaded. Of course there is every probability that she would not have listened - just as the people of Jerusalem knew quite well how they ought to have behaved but chose an earthly glory over a heavenly one.
So where does this leave us? Is our trust in God? If it is then we have everything we need to travel on the right path. We can make the right choices in our lives without concern for the difficulties - doing what we ought to do simply because it is what we have been commanded to do. Or, as I optimistically tell my children, "Be good because it is how you should be, not because you're afraid of the punishment for being bad." Have Faith that in spite of how difficult the right choices may be, they are their own reward.
Author Index