Over the years we have all seen families and individuals thrive from crisis, be broken by it, grow from it and become more faithful and godly,or in some unhappy instances, completely lose their faith in God.
Very few people care about Anselm of Canterbury’s “proofs” for God’s existence. Very few people care about how many angels “can dance on the head of a pin.” Most people don’t know who Karl Barth is, or Emil Bruner. Many people can’t quote scripture, but they care about what’s in the Book (the Bible). What matters to them is their family, their jobs, their community and their friends. We are invested in our children, grandchildren, neighbor kids, grandparents, elderly folk in our neighborhood or care facilities. And, yes, we read about national economics, presidential decisions whether we like them or not, and about how the DOW is doing.
But, there will come a day when we will lay all of this down, leave it and our loved ones behind, and go to Jesus. Please don’t think that this is a downer. It isn’t. But, as we sum up our lives and look and see what really mattered, it won’t be our stocks and bonds, or c.d’s, or other investments that matter. It won’t be the value of the house we lived in. It won’t matter what kind of cars we had, if we had them. And, where we went on vacation won’t matter as much as what kind of vacation experience we had with our families. All of this has to do with the quality of our lives.
I came across this scripture, which is an old friend to me, written by the Apostle Paul to Timothy. It is a prison letter. And it contains very personal information. There is no great doctrine found, like in Galatians, Romans or the Corinthian letters. Instead, at the end of Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy, Paul focuses on things which all of us one day will focus on as well: Please read on!
2 Timothy 4
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Personal Instructions
9 Do your best to come to me soon, 10 for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful in my ministry. 12 I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will pay him back for his deeds. 15 You also must beware of him, for he strongly opposed our message.
16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Final Greetings and Benediction
19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus remained in Corinth; Trophimus I left ill in Miletus. 21 Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers and sisters.
22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.
This can be called a summation of Paul’s life. Its about what he stood for and how he lived. Its about the people who meant the most to him as he carried out his witness for Christ. This scripture is about friends! These friends are people with whom Paul faced all kinds of trials, laughed long and hard with, shed tears with, and prayed for. Do you have such people in your lives? I pray you do. If you do, let them know how much they mean to you. This faith walk of ours is too difficult to go alone. Its good knowing that we can make phone calls or email or send “snail mail” to friends who matter to us. And, by the way, October is Pastor Appreciation Month. I hope you let your pastor(s) and other church staff just how much they mean to you as they serve Christ and serve with you and among you! Its not too late for Staff-Parish Relations Committees to buy a card and sign it in support of their pastor(s). Hey! Be creative. Let your love show. Because like Paul, your pastors love you.
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1″Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NRSV
28″Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” John 6:28-29 NRSV
In both of these brief passages, the writers speak of “belief” (found in John’s Gospel) and “faith” (found in the letter to the Hebrews). In the first instance (faith, in Hebrews) the author calls his readers to remember holy stories from the past and men and women who “put their faith” in God, even if current events seemed virtually impossible, such as Abraham (and Sarah) who welcomed their firstborn, Isaac, into the world when Abraham and Sarah were at advanced ages. Thus began a movement, culminating for the Church of Jesus Christ, and yet only to be fulfilled in the coming of the New Jerusalem (The City of God) at a future and undetermined date.
In John’s gospel, the word “believe” occurs 96 times. And if one has read through that gospel, there is a stark contrast between “works” which demonstrate one’s faith, and the act of “placing faith” in a person, which is not a matter of external acts, but rather a matter of a deeply internal trust and a relationship with the one in whom one “faiths.”
Are there differences between these two uses of a word from the same Greek root pisteuo? And if so, what are they? All scripture is rooted in some kind of historical context whereby a person or persons encountered the Living God in one way or another, and in those contacts, their lives were transformed, and they could not look at themselves, their circumstances or life in general in the same way ever.
The Letter to the Hebrews, which is really not a “letter” if one compares it to, oh, say, 1 Thessalonians, but rather a theological treatise, establishing the superiority of Jesus to angels, the patriarchs, and those who came before him as “faithers.” John’s gospel, which is virtually 90% unique, with only 10% of it found in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) has a viewpoint so unique in the gospels that is has been called “the spiritual gospel,” or “the philosophical gospel,” as opposed to the other three, which convey different subtleties about the life and teachings of Jesus. In the brief passage quoted above a debate had broken out between doing “works” as a sign of faith and “belief” itself, which has no sign, but is carried out in actions rooted in that belief.
Perhaps we are splitting theological hairs here. But in both the Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 11, and in John’s gospel, when the authors call for us to “believe” or “have faith” we are called to 1. orient our lives and purpose to the One in whom we believe, 2. place our sacred trust in that One and in that One’s purposes, worked out both in our living and in the living of other faithful persons, and 3. Trust that somehow God, the One in whom we believe, as incarnationally represented in Jesus whom we call Christ (Messiah) has an even greater purpose which transcends our own small scale lives (maybe not so small scale to us), but drawing us all together in God’s great purpose, which is the salvation of the world, and the coming of God’s reign, and what we might call “a new heaven and a new earth,” (Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21).
So much has been written about this new heaven and new earth. An awful lot of speculation has been put in place about “end times” and when God will bring about the Kingdom. Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Robert Mounce, Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, Bruce Metzger, Billy Graham, John Hagee, Justo Gonzalez, and too many names to mention have written about “faith” in the context of the future. And most of the above mentioned authors are not major biblical scholars, excepting Robert Mounce, Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, Bruce Metzger, and Justo Gonzales.
When we say we “believe” in Jesus Christ, or that we have “faith” in Jesus Christ this “faith statement” reveals where our immediate and ultimate allegiances are. When we profess “faith” in Christ, we make it clear that we belong to him, that we are in Christ’s “program,” that we are living according to his “way,” and that we are building our life on not a historical character, but on a living Lord. And once we confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we have reached a crucial turning point in our lives. And though we may look back at previous days to that moment, even those old days are now colored by our new faith.
All of us have had experiences that were not in line with Christ’s way or program of discipleship. And when we compare our lives now to those days, we are often not proud of things we said or did in those days. And, truthfully, even as men and women who are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, we still fall short, back slide, have failures–but with the possibility with God’s forgiveness and grace, we can try yet again.
Right now, as we are emerging from a recession (at least according to some economists) and our world is not as stable as we would like it to be, and perhaps our own homelife is not as stable either, there is One to whom we can cling: Jesus Himself. He will not fail us or forsake us, and his program will take all of us to the future. The “end game” has been written. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. Evil will be vanquished. The faithful will triumph with God and Christ, and along the way as we “faith” or “believe” new possibilities will become real and new friends will join us in our pilgrimage to the City of God, the New Jerusalem. I write this as one who has not arrived, but who believes in the One who has made the Promises contained in the Scriptures.
So, let me ask you: “What is it which sustains you in trying times, when your faith is put to the test?”
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Years ago a spaghetti sauce company ran a commercial that compared their product to home-made spaghetti sauce. The announcer said, “Tomatoes?” The answer was, “Its in there.” “Garlic?” “Its in there.” “Tomato Paste?” “Its in there.” “Basil?” “Its in there.” Obviously, only the very best ingredients were in the commercially made spaghetti sauce. When we reflect on our lives, with all of the emotional qualities which comprise them, joy, sadness, surprise, hurt, anger, fear, and other emotional states which make up the human condition, the psalms contain them all. Whether the psalm was written by David, or Asaph or another, the honesty, and the transparency of the writers “is in there.” And, the beauty of scripture, and of the psalms themselves, reveals itself not just in the pages of scripture but in our own lives. This is so because the writers are “every man” or “every woman.”
A month after CPE I find myself lonely, intensely in need of finding a way to give the gifts which God has given to me. While some of my colleagues have said that they envy me with the extra time I have for prayer and meditation, being with my family, and singing with St. Matthew UMC’s Praise Team (and playing violin with them, too), there is a deep yearning in my soul, as if the dryness which has been part of my life, is being “exhaled” to you, O God. And, I pray that as I sit at my desk, with the prayer shawl given to me by beloved parishioners from Otterbein UMC, with the Lord’s Prayer on it in Hebrew, wrapped around my neck, that as I pray the ancient psalms, the first “hymn book” of the exiled community of faith in Babylon, that somehow, dear God, I will hear what you have to say to me today.
Psalm 63 has been my prayer for two weeks, now. It is not new to me. But, it speaks to me of exile, of hurt, of anger, and in a darker vein, the desire for revenge. David was honest enough to include this darkness. But, as a counterpoint, the desire for revenge disappears when we realize the common sinfulness, frailties, and sheer humanity which all of us share together. We are really a needy bunch, aren’t we?
A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE WAS IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDAH.
1 O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name. אמן
Psalm 63:1-4 NRSV
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