Sermon: The Journey of Faith (2016)

Delivered at Travelers Rest United Methodist Church in Travelers Rest, South Carolina on August 7, 2016

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The Journey of Faith

Audio Version

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.  By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.  They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-10, 13-16; 12:1-2 (NRSV)

You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep my faith will stand

From "Oceans" by Hillsong United

When I was in college, I was involved with the Wesley Fellowship, a United Methodist collegiate ministry.  During the fall semester after I graduated, I had the opportunity to join the group for a weekend getaway at Asbury Hills.  This camp, like many retreat locations, has ropes courses, which are structured to build trust and teamwork within groups of friends or colleagues.  The low ropes course we tackled that weekend included a trust fall.  In a trust fall, a participant will climb to a height of at least six feet and then fall backward so that his friends can catch him.  That day, for some reason, I volunteered to be the first in my group to attempt the trust fall.  I climbed up to the platform, crossed my arms over my chest, gave the signal that I was ready, and then fell backward into the waiting arms of my friends.

I had no way of knowing for certain that my friends would catch me that day.  After all, I was the first person in my group to attempt the trust fall, so I had no evidence with which to judge whether or not they were up to the task.  The reason I participated in the trust fall was that I had faith that my friends would actually catch me.

In the Bible there is a document, the title of which is literally translated, "To the Hebrews."  The authorship of this document is unknown, but some speculate that the author was an associate of Paul, maybe Barnabas, Apollos, Luke, or Priscilla.  Some argue that it was written by a woman, reasoning that, if it had been written by a man, we would probably know who wrote it.  Though we typically refer to this document as the Epistle to the Hebrews, scholars generally consider this work to be more of a sermon than a letter.¹  A major theme of this work is Christology.  The author paints a picture of Christ as an empathetic high priest who mediates between God and humanity in a way that no other priest ever could.  The author calls his or her readers, who are apparently facing increasing harassment from the world around them, to remain faithful to Christ and to the life to which He has called them.  In the midst of these exhortations, the author launches into a beautiful discourse on faith.

So what exactly is faith?  The Mirriam-Webster online dictionary offers a number of definitions of faith, many of which concern a person's beliefs:

• belief and trust in and loyalty to God
• belief in the traditional doctrines of religion
• a system of religious beliefs
• something that is believed especially with strong conviction
• firm belief for which there is no proof

Other definitions pertain to a person's character:

• allegiance to duty or a person
• fidelity to one's promises
• sincerity of intentions²

The author of Hebrews defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for" and "the conviction of things not seen."  These definitions are a bit different from the ones we find in the dictionary.  If you feel as though these almost poetic descriptions of faith leave something to be desired, I would suggest that maybe what the author calls faith is something that cannot be easily defined.  Perhaps faith, like love, cannot truly be defined; perhaps it can only be experienced and described.

The author's definitions suggest that faith concerns our hopes as opposed to certainties and things that cannot be observed as opposed to things that are observable.  The author writes that it is by faith that we proclaim that the universe we observe all around us was created by God, One who is not observed with our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste.  Faith is that which enables us to trust and to even experience what cannot be observed or proven.

One of my favorite hymns, "O Love that Will Not Let Me Go," was written in 1882 by George Matheson on the evening of his sister's wedding.  His sister, who had always looked after him, had left to start a family, and the wedding had undoubtedly triggered some painful memories of his own broken engagement years earlier.  In the midst of great loneliness, the words of comfort that became the beloved song came to him.  The most poignant part of the hymn, in my opinion, is the third verse:

O Joy that seekest me through pain

I cannot close my heart to Thee

I trace the rainbow through the rain

And feel the promise is not vain

That morn shall tearless be

What I have not told you about this story is that Matheson had lost his sight years earlier.³ Though he could not see the rain, he could still hear, feel, taste, and smell it.  A rainbow, on the other hand, is a phenomenon that can only be seen, yet Matheson speaks of tracing a rainbow through the rain in the present tense.  Without the sense of sight, the only way he could possibly experience a rainbow is by having faith that one would indeed emerge after the rain stopped.

We will all face times in our lives when we will have trouble seeing a rainbow – a symbol of God's promises – when the dark clouds descend upon us.  We will all face times of doubt and darkness when God seems very far away.  Faith allows us to trust in God's promises even amid the storms of life.  It is this same faith that we read in the words of a young Polish Jew who faced persecution at the hands of the Nazi regime: "I believe in the sun, even if it does not shine.  I believe in love, even if I do not feel it.  I believe in God, even if I do not see Him."

After describing faith, the author of Hebrews calls to mind a number of men and women from the Hebrews' history who lived lives of faith.  Some people call this part of Hebrews the "Hall of Faith."  The author writes of Abel, whose faith led him to offer a sacrifice acceptable to God.  The author writes of Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and through the wilderness to the land God promised their ancestors.  The author writes of Joshua who circled the fortified city of Jericho with his troops for seven days until the walls miraculously fell.  The author writes of Rahab, a resident of Jericho who hid Joshua's reconnaissance team from the local police.  The author reminds us of Gideon, who led three hundred men into battle against an army of soldiers as uncountable as grains of sand on the seashore.  The author reminds us of David, who challenged a fully-armed giant, with nothing but a slingshot and a few stones.  The author mentions other leaders and warriors who defended Israel against insurmountable odds.⁴

Sometimes we mistakenly think that faith is something that happens in our heads, but we must remember that faith is much more than mere belief.  What all of these men and women of faith share in common is that they are known not for what they believed, but for what they did.  Faith is more than what we believe in our minds and hearts: faith is that which puts hands and feet on what we believe.  Faith is that which drives us to act on what we believe, to live for what we believe, and even to risk our lives for what we believe.  Having faith is the spiritual equivalent of "putting one's money where one's mouth is."

I have never been skydiving, nor do I have any desire to ever do so, but I think that living a life of faith is a lot like strapping on a parachute and jumping out of an airplane.  A skydiver must put a lot of faith in her parachute.  A person can stand inside an airplane with a parachute on her back and proclaim, "I believe that this parachute will see me safely to the ground," but she does not demonstrate her faith in her parachute until she actually jumps out of the airplane and pulls the ripcord.  Skydiving is an act of faith even if the skydiver is afraid or has doubts that her parachute will open.  To paraphrase St. Paul, we walk by faith and not by certainty.⁵

In the Jewish Midrash, an ancient collection of often imaginative commentaries on the Scriptures, there is a story that I think illustrates this aspect of faith very well.  When the Israelites flee Egypt, they find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place – the impassable Red Sea in front of them and the Pharaoh's army in hot pursuit behind them.  Moses raises his staff as God commands him, and nothing happens.  While the rest of the Israelites cry out in despair, a man named Nahshon jumps into the water and begins to wade.  Only when he has waded to the depth at which the water is up to his nose – the point at which he is no longer be able to breathe – does the water finally part, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land.⁶  Nahshon had faith that God had indeed called the Israelites out of Egypt and that God would ensure the success of their flight.  He had so much faith that he was ready to cross the Red Sea even before the water parted.  Where the rest of the Israelites saw certain destruction, Nahshon saw possibilities.

The person who is featured most prominently in the "Hall of Faith" is the Jewish Patriarch Abraham who, at seventy-five years of age, was called by God to leave everything familiar to him to travel to an unknown land.  God said to Abraham, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."  God promised Abraham that his offspring would inhabit the land God showed him.⁷  Abraham and his wife Sarah wondered how their progeny would become a "great nation" when they had no children of their own and when Sarah was well beyond childbearing years.  When God promised them that they would have a child together they both laughed.  When they finally did have a child – when Abraham was 100 and when Sarah was 90 – God made them name him Isaac, a name that means "laughter."⁸

We often look to Abraham as an example of someone who had great faith, but faith was something Abraham had to learn.  In his story we read of a number of times when he and Sarah faced difficulty because they took matters into their own hands instead of trusting God to keep God's promises.  When Abraham was afraid that someone would covet his wife Sarah and kill him, he caused trouble by hiding the fact that they were married.⁹  When Abraham and Sarah had trouble believing they would ever have a son together, Abraham fathered a child with Sarah's handmaid, creating jealousy and discord in the household.¹⁰  Like all of us, Abraham had to grow in faith and learn to trust in God.

According to the great thinker Frederick Buechner, "Faith is not being sure where you're going, but going anyway.  A journey without maps."¹¹  Faith enables us to leave what is familiar and to follow God's call into the unknown because we trust God with the journey.  Faith enables us to embark on a journey we don't know how we'll complete because we trust God with the outcome.

The author of Hebrews suggests that maybe the Promised Land the Jewish Patriarchs desired was not a mere tract of land, but something far greater.  I believe that they sought something that, deep down, we all want.  The author writes that they desired "a better country," "a heavenly one," and a "city... whose architect and builder is God."  I believe that they held on to a hope that we express in prayer every week.  When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He taught them a prayer that includes the words: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."  Though these words might, at first, sound like two different petitions, these words actually express a singular hope.

The Kingdom of God is the place where God's will is done.  It is the place where "justice roll[s] down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."  It is the place where swords are beaten in to plowshares and where the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth "as the waters cover the sea."¹²  The Kingdom of God is a reality that is often described as both "already" and "not yet."  Though we look forward to a time in the future when Christ Himself reigns on earth, the Kingdom of God already exists in the hearts of all people who follow Christ.  The prayer that God's will is done on earth as in heaven is not merely a wish for the future but a way of life for everyone who has decided to follow in Christ's footsteps.  As Christians, we look forward to the day when Christ returns to reign on earth, but, by faith, we live as though that day has already come.

The author of Hebrews writes that the heroes of faith "died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them."  The Jewish Patriarchs lived as foreigners in the land God had promised them.  Moses led the Israelites though the wilderness to a land he would not be able to enter for himself, though he was able to view the land from a mountaintop.  Living a life of faith sometimes means working for a something we might not see in our lifetimes.  A chaplain at my alma mater always closed chapel services with a benediction that contains these words: "May Christ come behind you, completing and fulfilling all of the things you leave undone (and there will be many)."

I am reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had a dream of a world in which all people, regardless of skin color, could "join hands... as sisters and brothers"¹³ and who worked to make such a world a reality.  On April 3, 1968, the day before he was murdered, he delivered a speech in Memphis Tennessee.  In reference to recent threats on his life, he said,
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place.  But I'm not concerned about that now.  I just want to do God's will.  And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain.  And I've looked over.  And I've seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.¹⁴
By faith, King lived and died working to create a more just and Christlike world, not just for himself but for future generations.  Though he did not live to see such a world, by faith, he could see that such a world will someday become a reality.

Faith is a journey, but it is not a journey we were ever meant to take by ourselves.  All journeys have the capacity to become difficult and even treacherous at times, so it is best not to travel alone.  In the words one ancient sage, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help."¹⁵

Drawing imagery from the ancient Olympic Games, the author of Hebrews describes the life of faith as a race we must run with perseverance and without anything that would hold us back.  The author writes that it is as if we are running in a stadium filled with "a great cloud of witnesses," the innumerable men and women of faith who have run the race before us and are now cheering us on from the stands.  As we run, striving to follow Jesus, we can also turn to each other for support, for we are all running this race together.  To borrow a phrase from my congregation's recent conversation with our Muslim neighbors, it is as if we are "competing for the good."¹⁶  We compete, not to try to prove ourselves better than each other, but to bring out the best in each other and in ourselves.

In the Gospels we read a story about a group of men who have a friend who is paralyzed.  When they hear that Jesus is in their town, they make up their minds to do whatever it takes to get their friend to Jesus, hoping that he might be healed.  The men put their friend on a stretcher and carry him to the house where Jesus is teaching, but, when they see the crowd that has gathered, they realize that they won't be able to get their friend anywhere near Jesus.  One of them looks at the roof of the house and has an idea.  The men climb to the roof, tear a hole in it, and lower their friend through the ceiling in front of Jesus.¹⁷  What I always find remarkable about this story is that it is not the faith of the man on the stretcher that motivates Jesus to act, but rather the faith of the friends who brought him.¹⁸  So often we think of faith as a personal matter, but the truth is that we need the faith of other people and that other people need our faith.

I have a long way to go on my own journey of faith, but I feel that I have traveled a long way thus far.  Though there were a few times in my life when I took the initiative to take my next step forward, I understand that I cannot pat myself on the back too much, for I would not be where I am on my journey without the people along the way who believed in me, walked with me, encouraged me, guided me, and even pushed me at times.  Where would I be without my mother and my grandparents who took me to church every week from the time I was very young?  They instilled in me a weekly rhythm that is still a part of me to this day.  Where would I be without the teachers at Hampton Park Christian School?  It is true that they taught me a lot of things I would later have to deconstruct, but, by the time I graduated from high school, I knew my way around the Bible, thanks to them.

Where would I be without my friends from the Furman Wesley Fellowship, whom I mentioned earlier?  When I graduated from high school, I knew that I needed to be a Christian, but I wasn't quite sure I actually wanted to be a Christian.  I didn't think I could be a "real Christian" and actually enjoy my life.  To be honest, when I learned about the Wesley Fellowship, I started attending their gatherings in the hopes of finding a girlfriend.  I did not find a girlfriend in the group, but I did find a community of friends who showed me that one can indeed be a devoted follower of Christ while enjoying life.  I went with them on my first mission trip, and they introduced me to both swing dancing and contra dancing.  It is to this group that I owe my love for the United Methodist Church and for the Wesleyan tradition.

Where would I be without my dear friend Laura, who was also my pastor for six years?  Laura took an interest in my journey and encouraged me to cultivate my spiritual gifts.  It was she who encouraged me to start taking classes with Lay Servant Ministries.  Where would I be without the people of Bethel United Methodist Church, the church I attended for most of my life?  They gave me the space I needed to cultivate my gifts, lending their ears to the youngest member of the congregation when I taught Sunday school and preached on occasion.

Where would I be without my friends from Bring Your Own Bible, a young adult Bible study group that once met at Buncombe Street United Methodist Church?  There have been times in my life when I wanted to root myself where I was, but the journey of faith does not afford anyone such a luxury.  My friends from B.Y.O.B. welcomed me into community with them when I knew that I needed to move on from the Wesley Fellowship.

Where would I be without my friends Jeanne and Steve, who have a knack for getting me into trouble in all the best ways?  A few years ago they invited me to go on a spiritual journey called the Walk to Emmaus, and this ultimately led to a number of opportunities to serve other people on their journeys of faith.  I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Epiphany ministry, which provides a similar spiritual weekend for incarcerated youth.  Believe me when I say that serving at a detention center was not an opportunity I sought out for myself.  It was Steve and Jeanne, who have served in this ministry for a number of years, who invited me to join them.  Sometimes we need people who will get us out of our comfort zones.

Faith is a journey.  It is a journey into the unknown at the call of One whom we cannot see and cannot prove.  It is a journey to places we thought we would never go.  It is a journey to a Promised Land, a Kingdom "not of this world" where Christ reigns.  It is a journey we take in fellowship with each other.  It is a journey people have taken long before we got here and a journey people will continue to take long after we're gone.  So, in the words of the author of Hebrews, "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."

Amen.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: "Epistle to the Hebrews"
2. Mirriam-Webster: "Faith"
3. Richard Niell Donovan.  "Hymn Story: O Love that Will Not Let Me Go."  2008, Lectionary.org
4. Hebrews 11:4, 23-32
5. 2 Corinthians 5:7
6. Wikipedia: "Nahshon"
7. Genesis 12:1-4, 7 (NRSV)
8. Genesis 17:15-22; 18:9-15
9. Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18
10. Genesis 16:1-16; 21:8-21
11. Frederick Buechner.  Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC.  1993, Harper One.  p. 30
12. Imagery taken from Amos 5:24, Isaiah 2:4, and Isaiah 11:9 (NRSV)
13. From King's "I Have a Dream" speech
14. From King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech
15. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
16. Jonathan Tompkins and Akan Malici.  "Competing for the Good: A Congresation with Christian and Muslim Neighbors."  The Travelers Rest United Methodist Church podcast, 04/18/2016.
17. Luke 5:17-26
18. Luke 5:20

The photograph of the trust fall was taken by Flickr user klndonnelly and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.  The photograph of the tandem skydivers is used courtesy of PROskydiving.com.  The photographers are in no way affiliated with this blog.  Abraham's Journey from Ur to Canaan was painted by József Molnár in 1850.  Le paralytique descendu du toit was painted by James Tissot in the late 1800s.