In previous weeks I have spoken about our need to be uncompromising in terms of our wealth and our love such that we do not keep such things for ourselves but give to the other (see Bound by our own wants). This is dependent on the one thing that is fragile in our lives today and that is faith. Oh, it is easy to say "I have faith" "I trust in the Lord" but do we live this to the fullest in our lives or do we allow the other to disturb us and rock us back on to our own resources and our insular lives? Are we truly able to state with total honesty that we have a faith that is encompassed by Abraham's journey (Heb. 11:8-11)? The journey of faith is one of letting go and not allowing ourselves to justify our lack through our liturgies and our attendance at formal worship.
Faith is a fragile commodity in today's world simply because we are so reliant on our own resources and our own abilities that we no longer trust the other or the ultimate other in God. It is not something that is robust anymore. If we consider Abraham's journey we see a way of life that is embedded in everything that he does. There is a certain robustness to his journey with God that is not moved even when he comes to sacrifice his only child. He has an utter understanding of God in his life and is totally dependent on that understanding. In the modern world we do not come even close to that sort of understanding simply because those things that are spiritual in nature are no longer part of our world, at least our normal life world. We no longer depend as fully and as functionally as Abraham on the bedrock of faith but rather on the bedrock of knowing. We depend solely on our ability to know and so when it comes to speaking about God, which we know nothing, we are dependent on what we think rather than what we truly believe as the bedrock of our faith journey.
In the passage from Luke, Christ tells his disciples something so shocking for us today that it is unbelievable "sell everything" (12:33). Even at that time people would probably have just looked at him and thought that is daft. Yet, when all is said and done this is the way of faith. It is the ability to step out into the unknown and journey through life knowing that God will provide. It is not something that we are used to doing nor is it something that we feel comfortable enough in doing in our daily lives. To a large extent we would be laughed out of town and fear of being on the dole or not being able to provide for our families etc. We do not know or at least we do not experience that sort of hardship and ability to trust in something that is so beyond us that it is unfathomable. Yet, as Christians this is what we are asked to do on a routine basis and unfortunately we have lost the habit of doing so, let alone actually listening and discerning where God wants us to be. Just to take an example out of our lives as Anglicans. Synod, in all its forms, is meant to be a place that allows those who are in leadership positions or who have been discerned to have a voice in the church to discern the movement of the Spirit and direction from God. More often then not they are no more then political gatherings that obey the whim of those in power and authority. There is no time spent in discernment rather much is done on the fly or in moments of rhetorical debate that attempts to sway the opposing view.
Even if we take it away from the church we as Christians do not rely on the presence of God to make decisions but often the legacy and tradition of those that have come before. We then make our decisions not with any insight but rather with what we have been told to do, in both the political and social spheres of our lives. Just think about the last time you voted / chose something, was it because you actually made significant investigation and discernment of the choice or because that was always the way you voted /chose. Just think of the Isaiah passage, God is having a distinct problem with tradition and the way 'religion' is being undertaken (1:10-15). We need to discern what God requires (Is 1:16-17) not rely on the past in all that we do. This is what faith requires of us a total giving up of ourselves and our own beliefs as to what we should do so that God can come into our lives and we can shine as Christ's light in the world. I think that Louis Espinal put it well in is posthumously published work Oriaciones a quemarropa as translated:
"Train us, Lord, to fling ourselves upon the impossible, for behind the impossible is your grace and your presence; we cannot fall into emptiness. The future is an enigma, our road is covered by mist, but we want to go on giving ourselves, because you continue hoping amid the night and weeping tears through a thousand human eyes"
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