Sermon - Sunday, October 3, 2010

Pentecost 19 - Year C
Luke 17:5-10

Having All That is Needed

Things around here really take a beating the weeks leading up to Homecoming. We started the Habitat house a week ago Wednesday. Since then, I might have been in the office for a total of thirty minutes. The mix-up with the liturgies for this morning was in no small way traceable to my absence. But that is only the start of it. The third time I called back to the house to ask Laura to send me something I had left behind; she enlisted help from Cindy to try and figure out what was wrong with me. On Thursday, I completely forgot the Pre-seminary group meeting.

This is the seventeenth year of building Homecoming Habitat houses. And I would be the first to admit that I have lost more than a few steps since that first year. No arguments from me on that one. However, even though I have aged, lost a lot of hair, and picked up more pounds than I care to admit, the house got finished faster and looks better. It is a stronger effort now than it was before. Stronger, better for one reason and one reason only – a lot more mustard seeds. More folks doing a little something and fewer taking on a heavier load than they should.
This is the perspective taken on today’s Gospel reading by one of my colleagues. He reminded a group of us, that when we hear Jesus’ words about faith the size of a mustard seed, we tend to hear it as a comment to us, individually. “You”, as in “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed,” is heard in the singular. In reality, the original hearers would have been more inclined to understand it as plural. Jesus is speaking of the faith shared among all those to whom he speaks. It is this little bit of faith, shared among the company as a whole, which would make possible the great feats of which Jesus speaks.

We already know this to be true. It is played out in so many differing ways. Those who set out on their own seldom accomplish much. They may have a momentary flash in the pan; they may begin to build an impressive monument to themselves. But rarely do these last. It is that which is shared which has the ability to endure.

No one person can carry the weight. It must be shared. It is shared as we pass it back and forth, one to another. Should we ever be tempted to hold it as if it were our own, it wouldn’t look like much. But when it is shared, we see it as the thing of wonder which it is.

Amid the craziness of these past two weeks, there has been a lot of passing back and forth of this mustard seed of faith. I had the pleasure of observing its movement, seeing its power. Because of my preoccupation with the Habitat house, I observed rather than deceiving myself into thinking that I was in any way responsible for this evidence of the faith we share. It showed itself with regard to deaths in the extended families of the students.

It is difficult to locate a starting point. I guess it would need to be the death of Chris Olsen’s father in mid-March, followed by the death of Maglin & William’s grandfather. But it may have had its beginnings when Lauren’s grandmother died last fall. Ashley’s father died in April. Also in the spring, our student community experienced the deaths of Derek’s Grandfather, David & Andrew’s Grandfather, and Chris’ grandmother. During the summer, Sarah’s brother was killed in an auto accident. Just as the year was starting up, it was the maternal grandfather of Kyle and Matthew who died. Josh’s grandfather was next, followed by Sarah’s grandmother. Most recently, it was the news that Kyle and Matthew had lost their paternal grandfather. This weekend, Caleb headed home in order to tell his grandmother good-bye. They are anticipating death at any moment. (My fear is that I have left someone off the list. For that, I apologize.)

Now, this is a lot of grief to bear. And if any one person thought they were capable of navigating their way through it alone, they would be terribly mistaken. However, by sharing the burden, by sharing the faith which is ours to share, we are making it through.

These past two weeks, as members of the community would come by the Habitat house, they would give me updates. Travis was visiting Kyle when Ben and Anita returned from attending to the affairs of the elder Mr. Edge. He gave me an update. I think it was Josh who saw Sarah’s post about her grandmother and responded. Leslie attended the funeral last Saturday and shared with those of us who could not attend what a celebration of life it was. Each one, passing to another, ever so gently, this tiny little mustard seed we call faith. This thing which seems so small and vulnerable, but has a life and a promise and a power beyond all measure.

Should we ever be tempted to hold it as if it were our own, it wouldn’t look like much. But when it is shared, we see it as the thing of wonder which it is.

When our own faith is too thin, it is the faith of those around us which sustains us. When we are not sure, it is confidence in what other persons of faith are doing that sees us through.

The apostles say to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” They had seen him work countless other miracles; surely, he could handle this one. He hears their request, I am sure that he does, but he doesn’t meet it. He does not “increase” anything in them. Rather, he tells them that what they have is enough. He assures them that even the tiniest kernel of faith will see them through. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea.’ and it would obey you.”

All too often we mishear this and think that Jesus is setting some baseline for faith. We mistakenly think that he is saying, you need to amass enough faith to make trees abandon their God-given location and go to some place where they are no good to anyone and will surely die. Jesus isn’t setting some impenetrable baseline – he is assuring us that what we have is enough. It is plenty.

This Gospel story is in that in-between time. The time between realizing that Jesus’ life will end with rejection and crucifixion and time when they will enter Jerusalem and see all this come to pass. What the apostles are about to face is going to be tough. There will be days, many days, when their faith will seem to be too thin to sustain the life they have taken on. Jesus wants to assure them that their faith isn’t too small, even if it is only the size of a mustard seed. It is enough. It is not the amount of faith which one has which matters; what matters is the One with whom that faith connects us. Our faith connects us to those who, like ourselves, have come to believe and trust. Our faith connects us to the God who assures us that we have been given all we need in order to survive, all we need in order to preserver.

Martin Luther once described the Church as one poor slob in the ditch, trying to help another poor slob out of the ditch. We are in this constant struggle to find the confidence we need. Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about amassing enough to do great things. “The little bit you already have,” he tells us, “is enough. Share it and see how easy the burden becomes.”

Amen.