Little Man, Generous Heart

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In today's lesson Jesus is traveling.  He is making a purposeful move from the area of Galilee to Jerusalem.  He has a date with destiny.  He has come down the Jordan river valley – a wide valley with cliffs on the western side.  Our text says he entered Jericho and was passing through.  The way it is written indicates that Jesus was not intending to stop in Jericho.

The entourage that followed him was greatly enlarged as the town folk wrestled for an opportunity to see this miracle worker.  You may have noticed that healings do not play a prominent role in the lessons we’ve had the past couple of months.  The focus here is on his teaching.  Jesus is trying to leave his disciples with a firm foundation, for the time is quickly approaching when they will no longer have him with them.  And a lot of his teaching is done by example.  Today is one of those days.  

During his trip, there have been two things that have been prominent in his teachings – wealth and relationship.  The point Jesus has been making about wealth is not that the rich are condemned, but that what you do with what you have is more important than how much you have.  He is concerned about having a right attitude toward both your money and your possessions – not holding on with a closed fist, but ready to use it where and when it is needed.

And the point about relationship is that there are things more important than who you are and what position you hold.  What he offers to Zacchaeus – in way of example to his disciples – is a no-strings attached relationship.  One of the things that Jesus says is that he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel – and Zacchaeus is one of those lost sheep.  Zacchaeus is a big man if we count his worth in riches, power and position – but he is small in stature, and he is small in the eyes of his fellow Jews.

What is so unusual in this story is that when Zacchaeus could over the crowd, he “ran ahead and climbed a tree” in order to see Jesus.  Those are two things that no self-respecting male would do in that society.  This tells us how very important it was to Zacchaeus that he be able to see Jesus – to step out of character so far.

It would be wonderful if each one of us could be that desperate to see Jesus as he draws near to our lives.  One of the things that I fully believe is that God will draw us to that place or event where we can see Jesus.  He will draw us to the place we need to be in order to receive God’s word or his healing.

I remember back in the mid-eighties there was going to be a spiritual formation workshop at Camp Allen.  It was during the summer and Fr. Fred encouraged me to go, but I didn’t really feel like I could leave my family for a whole week during the summer to attend.

But each time I passed the poster on the church bulletin board it called out to me.  One of the two presenters was a Sister Barbara – a former Roman Catholic nun turned Episcopalian – and every time I saw her name, I felt a deep, deep longing.  It was a pulling of the Holy Spirit – to put me in a place where I could receive healing.

I finally couldn’t stand it any longer – I signed up to go.  And that week brought, not only a deepening spirituality, but also the beginning of a healing process for me.  Another thing that happened that week was a vision (one that I refused to openly acknowledge until 15 years later) - of me, at an altar, celebrating the Eucharist.

I think that Zacchaeus must have had an experience not unlike mine – a deep longing, not even sure why or what it was for – but knowing that this was something he had to do – to see Jesus.  It was an urging of the Holy Spirit.  And Jesus sees him in the tree – and Jesus knows in an instant that he will be making another stop on his journey. “Zacchaeus, come down – I want to go to your house.”

That provided instant elevation for Zacchaeus – made him someone special – because this Jesus not only knew his name, but wanted to go to his house.  Jesus doesn’t use any of the formulas that he has used in the past – “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Go and sell all your possessions,” or “Go and sin no more…”  No, he simply says, “I want to stay with you.”  -  I want to be in relationship with you.  I will be your friend, no strings attached.

And Jesus says that same thing to each one of us.  He wants to stay with us.  He wants to be in relationship with us.  No strings attached - even if we do nothing, the relationship is there for our pleasure, for our benefit.  We can live into it or not.

Perfect love will eventually bring about perfect response.  When Zacchaeus heard his neighbors grumbling – he voluntarily offered to give up half his possessions.  It was not something he was coerced into doing.  It was not a requirement to relationship.  It was a gift freely offered – in response to the pure love of God through Jesus Christ.  And with it, not only did Zacchaeus received vindication, but his whole household with him.

We don’t know what kind of healing Zacchaeus might have received from this experience – but we do know his response to it.  He did not give away everything he had – he did not sell all his possessions – but he exemplified a right attitude toward all he had amassed.  And in response, Jesus declares that he had received salvation and that he, too, was restored as a son of Abraham.

We are all children of God, regardless of who we are or what we believe.  Being made in his image, all people can claim that relationship.  But many people don’t – God calls, we respond.  Zacchaeus didn’t have to come down and take Jesus home, but he answered the call of God.  We are all called in the same way – and Jesus wants to come be a guest in our house.  He wants to come live, not only in our house, but in our whole life, and he calls, "Come down for I want to stay with you."

It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you have done – Jesus calls out – come down, I must come to your house.  No one is so far above his call that they don’t need Jesus.  No one is so far below his call that they cannot receive him.

When we answer his call, there is a response that we have to make to Jesus.  Just as Zacchaeus turned his life around, we often have to make adjustments in our own lives.  Jesus will be our guide.  Consider this as you fill out your pledge card, if you haven't already done so.  Think about what Jesus would have you do in response to your relationship with him.  If he is going to live in you, how do you go about living in him?


Let us pray:  Lord, when you send your son, Jesus, to live in our hearts and minds, -  guide us, we pray, to understand the response you would have us make to honor that relationship.  Make us faithful stewards of time, talent and treasure in all we do or undertake.  Amen.

Finding Our Own Path

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A number of years ago a science fiction movie came out called "2001," based on a novel of the same name by Arthur Clarke.  In this movie there is a computer whose name is Hal.  Hal talks and reasons and eventually decided to take over from his human operator.  Even before that book, Robert Heinlein wrote a novel called “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”  In this novel a super computer was put together to connect all the colonies of the moon.

Parts and links had been added until the computer finally grew intricate enough to become self aware – and it developed a sense of humor.  As a joke it printed a check to pay a worker his normal salary plus 10 million dollars.  This meant the technician (Manny) had to come fix the computer.  Fixing the computer in this case meant sitting down and talking to it - reasoning with it.  Max, the computer, was trying to learn what made a joke funny and the difference between when a joke was funny always and when it would only be funny once.

You see, I’m still convinced that Jesus is telling jokes – you know, two cowboys walked into a bar,.. Two people died and went to heaven…  Two men went into the temple to pray…. And every time, he attacks the current value system with his punch line.  What makes a joke funny?  It’s turning the table upside down.  It's the unexpected that makes a joke funny.  I also am convinced that we don't really know what's going on until we understand something about the culture during the time of Jesus.  So, with that in mind – let’s look at this joke – sorry - parable.

Two men went to the temple to pray – a Pharisee and a tax collector.  Unfortunately, we have been preconditioned to see the Pharisee as the evil person and the tax collector as the good person.  But that is not the way a Jew in Jesus' time would have understood this.

We have to understand – both men are Jews – only Jews were allowed inside the temple.  The Pharisee and the tax collector are about as far apart on the social ladder as you can get in the Jewish world.

The Pharisee is the leader who is looked up to – the perfect example of what it means to revere and follow their God whom they call Adonai.  They are the teachers of religion and the law.  They spend their whole life studying the scriptures and discussing the things of God.  They pray, they tithe, they fast – and they did this so as to cover the sins of the ordinary people - so that the Jewish people (as a whole) would be found acceptable before their God.  The Pharisees, along with the priests and Sadducees were the ones who stood in the gap to mediate between God and man – they were the heroes of the faith.

The tax collector on the other hand is seen as a traitor – the lowest of the low.  The tax collector had to be rich enough to buy his position.  They have consorted with the occupying forces and have gone over to the enemy.  They collect the taxes from their own people for the Romans, and most of them collected more than is owed to the governors.  If they could collect more, they got to keep the difference.  Some of them got even richer that way, and they were all despised by their fellow Jews.

So the listening crowd would be thinking “yea Pharisees!” - “boo tax collectors!”  And the Pharisee stands up and prays a typical formula prayer.  “God, I thank you that I am not like other people; thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”  Yep, he’s saying, “Hey God, look at me - I’m better than all these low-lifes."

Then he recites a list of all the things that he does – he fasts twice a week – that’s more often than is required by the law or tradition.  He gives a tithe of all his income, not just the required portions. In other words, he goes the extra mile – he does more than he is required to do.  This is no more than is expected by the people hearing the story, but he is also boastful, prideful and to make sure God understands, he compares himself to someone he considers less worthy.

Then we see the tax collector – he doesn’t even approach God closely…  He stands apart – far off – and he doesn’t really know how to pray.  He doesn’t dare to lift his eyes to heaven, but beats his breast as he prays.  This prayer is a simple plea for God to have mercy on him – and Jesus says, “and he went home justified rather than the other.”  This was a man who knew his sin, and who was humble before God.

How much of this is human nature – this need to compare ourselves to others?  People do it all the time.  It seems to bear out of our need to have something visible to measure ourselves against – so that we can know how well we are doing.  This is something that we learn early because it’s fostered by our school system.

There is a particular mark that is considered good enough – and if you don’t attain that mark, then you have to repeat that grade until you do.

The minute we attach grades to our learning process and reward those who make better grades, we foster a competitive nature in children.  When we evaluate schools and grade the school according to how well their students do on standardized tests, then we foster competition between institutions – just as if it were a football game.

I have a friend, call her June, who has come to me for counsel from time to time. She was estranged from her spouse and they were rather at odds with each other about any number of things.  She did not respect him because his behavior did not inspire respect.  She would say things like, ‘well, at least I don’t do so-in-so like Jim does.’ and various other statements along the same vein.  My question to her was why are you comparing yourself to someone you don’t respect?

That’s exactly what the Pharisee was doing.  Do people do that (compare themselves to others) because they are insecure and it is the only way they can feel good about themselves?  Most often it doesn’t work – it gives a false sense or illusion about who and what we are.  It is born out of pride – and from any angle – positive or negative - pride is destructive.

One preacher said don’t go out of here glad you aren’t like the Pharisee, because if you do, you’ve just become the Pharisee.  And don’t go out glad you are like the tax collector – same problem, you’ve just compared yourself to someone else – and that is borne out of pride - a desire to be better than someone else.

Each and every one of us has a path to follow – one designed by God.  And each path is as individual as we are – no two are alike.  Our path is tailored for us by God.  We can choose to walk in our own path, or we can try other paths - but other paths will never fit as well.

When I started my journey with the Lord, I had no idea where he would take me.  But I walked out in faith and I told God that I would step through any door he opened.  The flip side of that is – if the door doesn’t open, I can’t force it, and I can't regret it; it is not intended for me.  I am simply called to move on to find the door God does want me to take.  No comparisons – just walking out in faith, to do the job He wants me to do and to be the person He wants me to be.

I would encourage each of you to take a look at the path that God has placed before you and without regret or gloating to fulfill that responsibility.  And without comparing yourself to others, past, present or future, just step out in faith, to be the best person you can be.  That is all God asks of any of us.  Where is God leading you today?

Pray with me:  Lord, increase my faith.  Open my eyes to see the road before me and to walk the path you have chosen for me.  Keep me mindful that I am unique in your eyes and you have created me for your delight.  Remind me that I never have to live up to someone else's idea of who I should be, and I do not have to comparing myself to anyone else.  You alone, Lord, know what it is that you have planned - help me to walk into that your plan for my life.

Amen.

Persistence in prayer

Our lesson from 2 Timothy says, "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful . . .."   Now our lesson from Jeremiah and the Psalm are a part of the sacred writings that Paul was talking about; but the gospels and letters had not been canonized at the time.  Paul says that all scripture is inspired by God and is useful… useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training… And the goal is clearly stated, -- so that everyone who belongs to God may be equipped for every good work.  The problem is figuring out what the good work is that we are to be equipped for.  That's one of the purposes of prayer.

What is life all about?  What are we all about as Christians?  We should be about loving Christ, God, and our neighbor.  About living our life to the best of our ability – about keeping Christ as the focus – the lens through which we see the world.  We are to live out the Christian principles in our everyday lives.

We obviously can’t all do and be the same thing.  We have our different paths – we can’t all be teachers, or cooks, or lawyers, or policemen or farmers or doctors…  We need all these things and more in today’s world.  Individually we can’t be all things to all people, but we can keep Christ at the center of our lives so that we can reach out where we find need; so that we can offer hope (or at least God's presence) in situations that seem hopeless.

Our gospel story encourages us to pray always and to not lose heart - Luke states that is the purpose of this parable.  If at first we don't get what we want, pray and pray again.  But I'm not sure that this is always a good concept to hang on to, because it can so easily make us believe that we can manipulate God.  And what happens if God doesn't answer in the affirmative?  God will listen to our cry - but God sees an overall picture that we don't see, and sometimes the answer to our petition is "no."

(I'm going to insert a personal note here, my personal philosophy about prayer is that when anything happens, you pray first - always pray first - then get busy doing the things that need to be done.  And during periods of waiting, or when you don't know what to pray for - or are afraid to pray for what you want, if you have a string of prayer beads to hang on to, then you can hang on for dear life and trust God to do the rest.)

In our gospel story, even though we want to identify with the persistent widow – the truth is that more often we resemble the judge – the judge who does not see the widow, has no regard for her – she doesn’t even come up on his radar screen, until she badgers him.  We generally view God as judge and ourselves as the poor widow who is in need of justice - but maybe not.  One preacher, Bruce McLeod from the United Church of Canada, contends that we are the judge and God is the widow…

Now that’s a reversal from the normal concept.  He contends that when we view ourselves as the widow and God as the judge, then God can only be seen as needing to be worn down when we assume to know how our prayers should be answered.  Or we view God’s reluctance to do what we want as an obstacle to be overcome.

If we reverse that and view ourselves as the one who pays no attention to the widow – be that God in heaven, or God in the person beside us, then maybe we can get a new perspective on this story.  There are times when I can get so wrapped up in what I am doing that I forget to notice things right before my eyes that need my attention – and maybe I neglect to notice what God is placing right in front of me.  And if we view God as the widow who keeps coming to us, to get our attention, then we probably have a closer idea of what is actually going on in us.

We are the ones who need to be constantly reminded, who need to be brought back into focus of what is important in life.  His great love and persistence can indeed wear us down – for only divine love is capable of that much persistence.

Seen this way, maybe prayer is not about getting God to do what we want him to do, but more about being present to God; more about listening to God than speaking to him; more about learning what God wants in our lives and in today’s world.

One of the things we are doing on Wednesday evening is practicing listening to God.  We listen to a small part of God’s word, and then we try to be still and let God be god in us.  Prayer should always be a two-way street – telling God what’s on our hearts and our minds, but then listening to what God is telling us to do about it.

Faith has its work to do in fervent prayer. A part of the Christian obligation is to hold the world in  prayer, or at least some hurting or bruised part of it.  We pray for peace in Jerusalem, but we don’t tell God how to accomplish it.  When we pray for healing in our friend, maybe we shouldn't try to tell God how to do it.  Whether we are the judge or the widow, the result is the same, we meet God continually in prayer.

One example might be... When we moved to Houston, we needed cat food, but just didn’t have time to stop at the store.  In the mail that day we found a package of cat food from Kroger’s, – the same brand we buy – a God send that tied us over until we had time to go shopping.

A friend of mine wrote a setting for a song called, “Faith begins by letting go…” - - -   Faith begins by letting go - letting go of control and allowing God to be God in our life - - - and to allow Him to break through our resistance – with his persistence. Amen.

Giving thanks

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus is on a journey – a purposeful movement toward Jerusalem and his appointment with the cross.  Luke, writing for a mixed audience, both Jew and Gentile, makes a point all through his gospel of telling stories about inclusiveness.  He is the only one who tells the parable of the Prodigal Son, Lazarus and the Rich Man, the Good Samaritan.  He is the only one who reminds the people of God's past inclusiveness using the story of the healing of Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army and the Sidon widow whose son was raised by Elijah.   He is the only one who tells of Jesus healing the ten lepers.

There is an interesting dynamic at work here that I don’t think we, as Gentile Christians, quite understand.  We have been  raised in an age where our parents took great stock in proper manners and most of us are taught at a very early age to say those magic words… “Please” and “Thank you.”  And so with that lens in mind, we listen to the story and we see people who don't appear to be grateful for what God has done for them.  And that might not be true at all.

The key is the fact that it is a Samaritan who comes back, and Jesus makes a point of saying "Was none found to return and praise God except this foreigner?  This is important to the story -   it implies that the other nine were Jews.  So let’s look at the scene.  Ten lepers approach, but keeping their distance they call out, “Have mercy on us!”  Lepers are not allowed to come near well people.  What does it mean to have mercy?  What does mercy look like?  Did they expect healing, food, money, clothing, a place to live?

And how does Jesus respond?  “Hocus pocus, you are well…”  Jesus seldom made a big todo or a splashy healing.  It was always very simple.  And here he says nothing of healing.  Simply, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  Notice they aren’t healed immediately – it is only when they are obedient – when they leave to do his bidding - that they are healed.

And for the nine Jews, even when they discover that they are healed, they still can’t come near people until they have been pronounced clean by a priest.  So they are doing exactly what Jesus told them to do – they are obeying the law - going to the temple or the local synagogue to be pronounced clean by the priest.  It is only the Samaritan, who is not so strictly bound by the purity and cleanliness laws, who comes back to give thanks.

A number of years ago, I read a wonderful little book called “The Way of the Wolf:" subtitled "The Gospel in New Images” by Episcopal priest, Martin Bell.  One of the stories was called, “Where are the nine?”  In story form, Bell chronicles each of the nine and their reasons for not going back.  They ranged from not wanting the healing, to the man who was so overjoyed, he couldn’t wait to go home and hold his children for the first time in years.

I want you to also be aware that just because the nine didn’t come back, their healing was not taken away from them.  It was their obedience that provided their physical healing.  For the Samaritan, he was already healed, but Jesus tells him that his faith has made him well.  The same word that is translated "healed" or "well" can also be translated "saved."

Jews did not consider Samaritans to be part of the “saved” race, so Jesus is accepting him into the family – so to speak.  In other words, he has opened up a new relationship with this Samaritan.  The outcast has now become part of the family.  There is now a new relationship between the outcast and the elect.

The Samaritan reacted differently to the healing than the Jews because of his different world view, his different understanding, his different upbringing.  I think we must all remember that we are not the same.  We don’t all approach the gospel from the same viewpoint.

In this current story, Luke is showing that even the Samaritan is included in the healing.  That healing is for all who believe, not just for the chosen – the insiders.  The idea is that God’s grace spills out on everyone who is around.

From our Jeremiah reading  -  We learn that like the lepers, we can't always control the circumstances around us, but we can control our reaction and response to those circumstances.  We've all heard that saying, "WWJD - What Would Jesus Do?"  My standard reaction is, "Jesus wouldn't be in this situation because he wouldn't do the stupid things I did to get me here...". So, a better question here is," what would God have me do under these circumstances/conditions?"  I find it interesting that God's answer to Jeremiah is to go ahead and live your lives as you normally would.  Even in exile, they were to be productive members of their society and to flourish in that place.   This tells us that we, too, are called to work and succeed where ever we find ourselves.

Our collect says, “May your grace always precede and follow us that we may be given to good works…”  God’s grace pours out and overflows on all people.  We can accept it and go on our way, just as the nine lepers did; or we can rejoice and praise God with the Samaritan – but the grace is there whether we acknowledged or not.  It’s really important that we acknowledge and welcome the outsider into our midst - the visitors to our congregation.  Jesus indicated this over and over - each and every time a Gentile or Samaritan is included in lessons.    We are to be conduits of God’s grace where ever we go.  We receive and pass on God's grace, through obedience and through faith.  Amen.

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Increasing Faith

In our first lesson, Habakkuk is not satisfied with his life or the world around him - and he doesn't hesitate to let God know about it.  It sounds a little strange to our ears because he argues with God and he questions God.  And if you have been raised like me, it was considered poor taste to question God in prayer. But Habakkuk just goes right ahead and says, “O Lord, how long...". Now let me ask you, if you were praying this prayer, how would you finish this question to God?  What is it that you would ask of God, “O Lord, how long…”  This can be a faithful expression of prayer to God.  If we are being honest with God and with ourselves, then this prayer can be the beginning of an honest conversation with God about the things that really matter to us.

Example,  You might pray, “O Lord, how long is it going to be until I find the job that I need…”  You might pray, “O Lord, how long must my friend suffer from this terrible disease…”  “O Lord, how long must I put up with this coworker who is driving me nuts…”   “O Lord, how long until my son comes to his senses and quits doing the things that are destroying his life…”

God wants honest conversation with each and every one of us.  He wants that line of communication open so that he can get all the way into our heart.  But we need to remember that conversation is two-way and we have to listen to what God has to say to us.  That’s what the second half of this lesson is about – listening for an answer. Habakkuk stands on the rampart at his watchpost to see what God is going to say.  God encourages him in the waiting, “If it tarries, wait for it.”  The idea of waiting in Biblical times is not a passive or forgetful thing.  Waiting is active, it’s eager, yearning, engaged.

I have experienced a number of periods of waiting in my life.  Sometimes we are just waiting for God to prepare the next thing he has for us.  Right now I am active in ministry here - but for a number of months previous to my coming to Grace, I was in a holding pattern.  My hours at Good Shepherd had been reduced and I was waiting for what it was that God was preparing for me.  I kept busy by supplying for a number of churches in the area and led several workshops until he called me here.   For me it is mostly a question of what area of ministry God wants me active in at a particular time.   I see my ministry now as being "seasonal," not according to the calendar, but according to the needs that are made known in the body of Christ.

God tells Habakkuk, “If it seems to terry, wait for it, it will surely come –“  (one of the things I have had to learn in ministry is patience.)   And the passage ends with God saying, “The righteous live by their faith.”   Faith seems to be the theme of the lessons for today.

In our Gospel lesson, the disciples demand, “Increase our faith.”  This seems to simply come out of the blue, and I forgot for a moment when reading that opening sentence, that everything has a context.  Our lesson starts five verses into the chapter – and so to find out what is going on here, we go back to the beginning of Chapter 17.  Jesus is telling the disciples what is expected of them.  He tells them that they are going to stumble – but don’t be the one who causes someone else to stumble.  He tells them that if someone else sins against them and repents, that they must forgive that person.  Even if the same person does the same thing 7 times a day, they still must forgive.  And that’s when they say, “Oh Lord, give us strength ---  faith.”

And Jesus’ answer is interesting.  We have a tendency to think in ‘degrees of faith’, but Jesus says that the amount of faith doesn’t matter.  Even the smallest amount of faith is enough.  Do you remember the story of the man who says to Jesus, “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”  I believe that it’s that doubt that begins to creep in when things don’t go the way we think they should.  It’s the doubt that eats away at us.  It undermines our faith, and makes it hard for us to tap our reserve of faith.

But Paul’s letter to Timothy can help us. Paul writes: “I am reminded of your sincere faith. . . “Rekindle the gift of God that is within you.”  I just want to point out, it’s great to come from parents and grandparents of faith – but each of us has to develop our own faith apart from that of our parents.

The gift that God gives us is faith.  But when faith wanes, we find a spirit of cowardice coming to take over.  That spirit can take various forms, but they all serve to draw us even further from God and God’s purpose for our lives.  Fear and doubt can be devastating but Paul suggests three ways to fan that flame of faith and to rekindle that fire.

God has given us a spirit of power to keep our faith from dying.  Through prayer we ask God's Spirit to keep our faith alive. We need the fresh breath of God's Spirit to be the oxygen to keep the fire going. We don’t have to sequester ourselves apart from the world.  Maybe we just need to take small moments throughout the day to remind ourselves of God’s love for us. Remember when you bathe/shower that the water of baptism brought you forgiveness and made you a child of God.  At mealtime remember that God created all things and gives us good things to eat.   At sunrise or sunset, remember that God gives us the sun to warm the earth and let the sight of a flower or bird or butterfly remind you of the beauty with which God surrounds us.

God has given us a spirit of love.  That is the spirit that keeps us outside of ourselves.  That spirit of love is compassionate and seeks to bolster those we care for; that spirit that leads us to reach out to others.  That is the spirit that operates on both a corporate and an individual level to help those who are less fortunate – or who just need to hear about the love of God.

God has given us a spirit of self-discipline.  The self-discipline of tending to our faith daily and stirring its flames with careful and thoughtful Bible study. Tending the fire of our faith in such a way will help us to become more Christ-like as the days go by.  German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer claims that we should always read scripture as if it has something utterly personal to say to us.
 
We know that faith is indeed the clue to living and surviving day by day. But our sense is that our faith is too fragile, too frail. Each of us is striving to live courageously while anxieties about job, family, finances, health, and personal self-worth crowd in upon us. So this is good to know - Faith is not simply “believing that God exists.”  According to Brother David Vryhof from the Society of St. John the Evangelist, "Faith is not believing that certain claims or statements about God are true. Genuine faith presumes a relationship with God."   Faith is believing that God will be God and do the things that God said he would do.  Brother David goes on to say, "It implies a radical trust in God, faithfulness in one’s relationship with God, and a way of seeing the world as life-giving and nourishing rather than as hostile and threatening."

 When we have faith in God, it isn't a question of how big our faith is, it is a question of how powerful our God is, and with God all things are possible!  It is God's faithfulness to love us and to always have our best interests at heart.

Let us pray:  Father, we don't ask you to give us more faith. We simply ask that you help us to use the faith that we have and trust you to do the rest. Amen.