October 3, 2004
By Jack Price

Swimming can be great exercise.  The only thing you really have to remember is that you don’t breathe the water.  You have to breathe air, which means you only breathe when your nose and mouth are out of the water!  And you can’t just hold your breath unless it’s a very short swim.  It’s really a matter of faith.  You have to let go of the air you have before you take in fresh.  You have to breathe out first, and then you can breathe in.  And when you hold your breath, the excess breath doesn’t go away.  Your lungs are full, but the oxygen gets transformed into CO², not very helpful stuff to have in your lungs. 

There’s a similar scenario with food.  You’re not exactly hungry, but you feel the need for something to eat.  You’re emotionally hungry, but the food you eat doesn’t quite satisfy.  This hunger is never quite satisfied even when you eat to the point of being overstuffed.

Again, it can be the same way with money or success, popularity or achievement.  We may crave these things, but it’s hard to get your fill, hard to have enough.  There’s another hunger you are trying to fill.  With food, money, popularity, or achievement, it’s the same hunger in each case:  the hunger to know you are loved, the hunger to feel secure.

Fear and insecurity lead to gluttony and greed of a different kind – often, a gluttony of faith.  We ask for more faith even when we fail to use the faith we already have!  Thinking of this prompts a crazy question -- what happens to all that unused faith?  Is it like oxygen in our lungs?  When we try to store it up, does it go bad?  Does it transform to something different?  Or is it just wasteful; just poor stewardship?

I can’t say that Jesus tells us the answer to such a crazy question.  But it is clear, especially from today’s gospel lesson, that faith is a very important commodity.  A little goes a long way and it’s important to use what you have.

The disciples approach Jesus with a request.  “Lord, increase our faith.”  Jesus responds, typically not saying either yes or no.  He tells them, “If you had faith the size of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”  What was his answer then?  What did it mean?  Two things are clear:  faith is extremely potent and a mustard seed is extremely small.  Jesus is saying to the disciples one of two things.  Either they don’t have even a tiny bit of faith or they only really need a little bit of faith and that they already have plenty.  I suspect the second is a more likely option.

Then comes a curious parable told by Jesus.  “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from a hard day’s work, ‘You poor thing, sit down, have some dinner.’”  In reality, you would say, “First, you prepare supper for me.  You can eat later.  After all, you’re the slave and I’m the master.”  Would you thank a slave for doing what was commanded?  Slavery was not a pretty reality, but reality it was.

Jesus concludes by addressing the disciples directly.  “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”’ 

What’s Jesus saying?  Is he advocating slavery?  Certainly not!  Is he calling us slaves of God?  That doesn’t appear to be Jesus’ meaning here. Jesus also does not advocate the harsh treatment of slaves.  He is just doing what he often does:  using an existing understanding to make a point.  The Roman empire was built on slavery and masters did not treat slaves tenderly.  Slaves were not equals.  The master in Jesus’ parable was a pretty good master actually.  The reality was that a slave’s duty and very life was to obey the master.  It was not special behavior to do so.  Again, that doesn’t make slavery good by any means.  It’s just the way it was.

What is the meaning of this passage?  The disciples are asking Jesus, “Increase our faith.  Give us more!”  Jesus tells them, faithfulness in ministry is its own reward.  There’s no additional reward, no bonus.  Faith is not a reward for service.  Faith is a means to serve and you get it as you need it.

As I read this, the disciples didn’t need more faith?  They had enough faith and needed to use it.  Even a little faith goes a long way.  When the time came that the disciples needed more faith, they received more.  It was the time when Jesus was no longer with them.  They needed faith to understand the significance of Jesus’ life, of his abiding presence.  Their additional faith came in the tangible form of the Holy Spirit.  They needed faith to endure persecution and the vast theological differences between themselves in order to shape the future of Christ’s church.

            What about us?  Is it okay to ask for more faith?  Can we ask God for faith to meet the challenges we face, to keep on track?  Is it okay to ask for faith to ask hard questions, to keep on believing, and keep on living?  Of course it is.  This passage is not a warning against seeking deeper faith.  Faith is a gift.  God’s love and God’s grace are never earned.  They are always given freely before we even ask.

But watch out!  Hiding behind a request for more faith may be just anxiety, fear that we are not yet ready to step out and initiate action in our lives, not quite ready to embrace a ministry we desperately want to give.  “Just give me more faith, God, and then I’ll feel ready; then I’ll be ready.  More faith!  More!  Gimme!  Gimme!

I believe you are ready, at least for the first step, or the next step, or the step after that.  Step up to ministry.  Step up to love.  Step up to active membership in this congregation.  Step up to owning your own decision-making, your own direction-taking.  You are ready to step up, at least the first step.

We as a congregation are ready a.            at least for the first step, or the next step, or the step after that.  I am not often quoted in public forum, so I’d like to take this opportunity to quote some of what I have written in the most recent Crossroads newsletter:

The future is bright for us as a church and will remain so as long as we keep focused on the vision that has guided this body since its birth.  Our vision includes ministry with others who have experience pain and grief in relationship with the Church – from issues with theology, sexual orientation, poverty, and injustice.  It includes ministry with young people of every age who are open to exploring faith, to living faith honestly, to asking hard questions, and to living into the answers.  We need to keep exercising our giftedness through enthusiastic worship, joy-filled spiritual practices, committed community, and theological exploration.  We need to keep stepping up to important decisions and choices regarding a church house, finances, and the need to reach out and welcome new members in.

The Spirit has already prepared us to make these decisions, prepared us by our experiences, by who we are, and by what we see.  The Spirit has already prepared each of us at least for the next step in our lives.  Arriving there, we will be ready for the next step. 

The German poet Goethe writes:

Unless one is committed, there is a hesitancy; the chance to draw back; always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative and creation.  There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:  that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.  All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents  and meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would come his way.  What you can do, or dream you can begin it:  boldness has genius, power and magic in it.  Begin it now.

You are ready. You are there.  We are ready.  We are there.  Let’s step out.  This is faith, God’s gift to us already given.