11 Pentecost 2007 Zion, Washington

By and large, we Episcopalians don't talk very much about our faith in God. We proclaim it in the words of the Nicene Creed at the Eucharist and the Apostles' Creed at Baptisms and in the Daily Offices. But when it comes to expanding on the creeds, either theologically or personally, we'd just as soon go on over to Coffee Hour.

Some of us have heard enough testimonies that were "not inspiring" that the idea of talking about our faith publicly is really unattractive. Some of us understand our relationship with God to be so personal, so private, so holy, that to even entertain the thought of speaking about it is unthinkable. Some of us have never really thought much about it. Our faith in God is something that we've always had, and we've never seen the need to question it or explore it or investigate just what it is that we believe beyond what we say Sunday by Sunday at the Eucharist or day by day in the Daily Offices. Some of us have no faith. We go through the motions and leave it at that. For whatever reasons, our hearts are cold toward God and cold toward almost everything else. Our passions are reserved for our own preservation. Essentially, inside, we are alone.

Happily, there are enough of us who are so willing and enthusiastic to talk about our faith in God that great books are written and great speeches are delivered and heart-warming, inspiring private conversations are held that draw other people into a deeper, more vigorous relationship with God. These are the people to whom it would never occur to make any kind of maudlin "show" of their faith; nor treat "faith in God" lightly; but rather are delighted to explore the implications of their faith in God.

Consider today's Second Reading. It's just such a book! No one knows who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews. In an earlier day, and as much to wrap the Bible up as a neat package, St. Paul was said to be the author. Unfortunately, the Letter to the Hebrews doesn't use St. Paul's vocabulary, syntax, or main ideas. Outside of that, it's a perfect fit. But, ultimately, it doesn't matter who wrote it. God inspired it. Someone did write it, and it is a treasure of good and holy things about God and our distinctive relationship with God as Christians.

Go back over this reading, sentence by sentence, and you'll discover some of the basic beliefs of Holy Christianity; things that we either take for granted or have never really thought about. For example, "By faith we understand that the world was made by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear."

Yes. The creation story is the very first thing in the Book of Genesis. And yes. "God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light". But we don't pay much attention to the Word of God in creation until we go on to the Prologue to St. John's Gospel in the New Testament and read that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father."

Here, within a very unassuming passage in the Letter to the Hebrews, we remember that, for Christians, the Word of God is more a Person than a Book, and that person is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who "became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father." And although the Book is inspired by God and contains all things necessary to salvation, it is not God. The Word of God whom we Christians worship is nothing less than God the Son.

It's a distinction with a difference. One of my seminary professors used to say that "It's difference between reading about ice cream and eating ice cream." He went on to say, "We eat ice cream." And our ice cream is the Person of the Word of God, by whom all things were created out of nothing. The important implication being that everything is created by God, even the stuff out of which all creation was made and which, at creation, God proclaimed "Good". Therefore, there is the idea that there is a holiness to all created existence that will find its consummation when "Christ is all in all" (to quote last Sunday's Second Reading from St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians).

Essential to our Christian understanding of the universe is the idea that all life is holy and all life is one, because everything was created by God alone, in whom the whole universe "lives, and moves and has its being" and God has proclaimed it "Good".

That's not to say that life, here on earth, isn't complex and filled with changes and chances that crisscross in ways we can't always predict. That's not to say that God hasn't allowed Satan the Accuser to bring all sorts of evil and harm into the world. That's not to say that there's no mistaking: earth isn't heaven.

It's to say that we have faith in God that "all things work to the good". It's to say that our "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it men and women of old received divine approval." It's to say that we believe that when we really do put our faith in God and rely on God, that our faith in God is the foundation of our righteous relationship with God; our correct, right relationship with God, upon which all the other parts of our life find direction, meaning and purpose; and realize their fulfillment in loving God and being good to each other.

Faith in God pulls us out beyond ourselves; out of our natural self-absorption and pre-occupations, up to an elevation from which we can get a broader perspective on things; a perspective from which we can see that the things that were apparently absurd from within our protective, safe shell are, in fact, the very things that give us a balanced life, and deep happiness, abiding serenity, and true fulfillment.

It seemed absurd to Noah to build that ark; and yet, by faith, he and his family survived that Great Flood. It seemed absurd to Abram to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldees and travel to a new and holy Land, and to believe that he would have more descendants than there are stars in the heavens; and yet, by faith, Abram, which means "exalted father" became Abraham, which means, "the father of a multitude".

It seems absurd to hear the Word of God Incarnate admonish us to sell our possessions and give money to the poor, and provide ourselves with purses that won't grow old. In many ways, we are defined by what we own. Our God-given gifts and talents often show themselves in what we have bought and what we prize among our possessions. In fact, St. Paul's missionary trips would have been a lot less successful if it hadn't been for all those rich men and women who footed the bills for the establishment of those first churches outside of Jerusalem and on around the Mediterranean basin, because they prized the Good News of God in Christ through the Church.

My own religious order would be in "a world of hurt" in this country, right now, if it weren't for generous friends of the order who are giving the money necessary to meet the expenses of maintaining an elegant and wonderful monastery that is starting to need to fundamental repairs.

This is less about voluntarily plunging ourselves into poverty and more about not letting our possessions possess us or define us or dominate us. How many people do you know who are, as the British say, "Penny wise and pound foolish"; people whom we Americans would describe as "having more dollars than sense"?

It doesn't take a very wise person to see that the old phrase, "He who dies with the most toys wins" is stupid in the extreme. Nor does it take a very wise person to see the foolishness in being stingy toward others and overindulgent toward oneself. Our hearts are where our treasures are; and therefore, we hold a goodly portion of our fate in our own hands and in the decisions we make regarding what and whom we treasure.

God in Christ calls us to a balance between Sabbath rest and the work of the Kingdom of God; a balance between playing and serving; a life in which we have a time for refreshment and renewal, which empowers us to do good and to be generous.

We don't have to look any further than the endless stream of celebrities who are marching in and out of treatment centers to understand that "Cocaine is God's way of telling you that you have too much money." Clearly, self-indulgence is not the key to happiness or serenity or true fulfillment. Like butterflies, those good things come and sit softly on our shoulders when we turn our attention to other things and other people.

Our faith in God pulls us out beyond ourselves; to recognize what really is important and what is not. Our faith in God gives us the perspective to recognize those distinctions in other people, if not in ourselves - and in seeing them in other people, being more able to recognize them in ourselves. We really do need each other in order to be holy and healthy.

(An old counseling trick is to get a group of people to look around the room, and make a list of the things they really don't like about the other people in the room... and then have them look at that list and understand that what they don't like in other people, they don't like in themselves.)

By virtue of our life together, we can gain insights into ourselves that have the potential of making us more holy and healthier; so that we can, from time to time, take in those deep breaths and let them out again, and welcome the words of Jesus when He says things like, "Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

 Only our faith in God opens the way through all the changes and chances, all the trials and tribulations, all the distractions and follies of this life, so that we can sort out our priorities correctly and live more and more rightly (righteously, if you will), to the glory of God and for the common good; thinking and doing always those things that are right and living according to God's will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.