The Passionate Faith: A Response
Sunday June, 29 2008
Rev Dr. Ken McKenzie
This is the third in our series of sermons on "The Passionate Faith." Over the last two weeks we have examined faith as a gift and a call from God. It is a gift which is already imbedded in us. It is a call which conies to us by way of where God has placed us, the abilities God has given us, and our sensitivity to His Spirit.
Now the rubber hits the road. What are we going to do with this gift and this calling? We answer that question with our response. Now, response is not just a verbal assent; it is a response of the heart, mind, soul, hands and feet. Sometimes, that response becomes a lifestyle in and of itself.
Abraham has been a frequent visitor to this sermon series. We have seen each week how he received the gift and the call from God, and then went about the task of response. In Scripture, he never asks any questions, though I suppose in actuality he asked Sarai and she asked him quite a few. Still, the important thing is that they packed the family van, invited their nephew Lot along for the ride, and off they rode into the pages of sacred history.
It is important to note that his response, and ours for that matter, did not result in day after day of peace, blessedness, and joy. In feet, there were many days when exactly the opposite came his way.
The first thing that happened was that his nephew took over the rich bottomland and Abraham was left with the scrub county around Dead Man's Gulch. Next, he found out that his wife couldn't have babies. And then when, as a special present for her 100th birthday, God arranged for Sarai to have a son anyway, it wasn't long before he told Abraham to go up into the hills and sacrifice him. Sure, its true that at the last minute God stepped in and said He'd only wanted to see if the old man's money was where his mouth was, but from that day on Abraham had an odd habit of breaking into tears at the drop of a hat and his relationship with Isaac was never close.
In spite of all of this, however, he never gave up on God's promise that he was going to be the father of a mighty nation. Night after night, it was the dream he rode to sleep on: the sight of glittering cities on the hills, up-to-date armies and curly-bearded kings. The promise that kept him going during his waking hours when the desperation and disappointment of it all seemed to steal his last bit of energy and enthusiasm.
Deep down, beneath it all, he knew that God keeps His promises, but on His schedule, not ours.
Some folk like to think of Abraham as a bit of a spiritual role model. A shining beacon of faithfulness which all too often we don't think that we can even come close to approaching, let alone imitate.
But wait a minute! If God wanted you to be Abraham, you wouldn't have the name you have now and you would also be lying in your grave for about 5,000 years. No, God calls you to respond to your unique time and place in His creation. Beyond this, God never calls us to respond by trying to live up to somebody else's ideas of who we should be and what we should do.
The first step in responding faithfully to God is to be honest with Him and you about who and what you are. Not who you wish you were, not who you would like to be. Not what others think you are or what you hope to be. God calls you here and now, as you are and sets you to a task which is tailor made for you, with all your abilities and your disabilities.
In all of the recovery groups I know of, one of the most important steps is, "to make a fearless moral inventory." That means to come to know yourself inside and out. That is pretty good advice for all of us. There are some things that I know I don't have. I don't have Albert Schweitzer's five doctorate abilities, I don't have Mother Teresa's compassion, I don't have Job's patience, and I don't have Bill Gates' money.
But there are some things I do have and, by the power of God, that makes me who I am and enables me to respond as I believe God wishes me to respond... most of the time.
I have a loving family, a great congregation, a growing community, a decent education and a warped sense of humor. I'm in pretty good health for the condition I'm in and have a long time before retirement. All in all, I think
I'm a pretty good tool in God's workshop. I know for a fact that when I am responding as He wants me to, I have a certain peace of soul which transcends all of the cussedness, confusion, confrontation and disaster which tends to surround me and threaten to eat at my soul.
I mink St. Paul had a grasp of that truth. When we are responding as God calls us, we can begin to take on those qualities which are enumerated in Chapter Twelve of his letter to the Romans. You heard them in our Epistle Lesson for today: "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."
And, of course, the converse is true when you are not responding to God's call as He wishes. To turn the voice of St. Paul around, you would hear something like, "Let love be shallow and saccharine, tolerate and even multiply evil, denigrate the good and love one another when it is convenient and useful for you to do so. Let others pay you honor before considering showing them any kind of preferential treatment. Remember, zeal is the sure hallmark of fanaticism and any demonstration of spiritual maturity will surely bring ridicule upon you and your household. Serve the Lord when is prospers you to do so. Rejoicing in your hope only makes you look like a sentimental fool. Find the quickest way to get out of tribulation, regardless of the consequences to others. When all else fails, pray, but for God's sake, don't let anyone know that you are doing it
Now, I think that it is pretty safe to say that all of us have been on both sides of that equation. I think that it is also safe to say that we are aware of it when we are on either side.
The Passionate Faith recognizes that there will be times when we are not exactly on the beam. The proper response to that condition is not to beat ourselves up, but, rather, to adjust ourselves to the proper course and calling. One of the few lessons I learned about sailing is that you can never get from point A to point B without making some mid-course corrections. They are the standard fere of maritime navigation. Even with the powerful ships today, computers are always making minute mid-course corrections based on satellite technology, ocean currents, winds and a thousand other factors.
We all get blown off course. The trick lies in getting back on course as soon as possible without sitting down and whining that the world is making life hard for us.
Finally, the Response of the Passionate Faith is to be available and prepared to do what God calls us to do when God calls us to do it.
Our Gospel Lesson for today is not exactly a feel-good, warm and fuzzy passage. Jesus tells the tale of a ruler who invited his supposed friends to come to a marriage feast. You remember what happened. They were not available. The abused and killed the messengers, probably hoping to be able to say that they knew nothing of the invitation.
Have you ever had people do that to you? You invite them to an event or ask them to help out with a project and they reply, "Oh, I never heard about it. The invitation must have gotten lost in the mail." Or, "I'm sorry, I didn't get that voice mail. Come to think of it, the dog ate the tape out of the answering machine last week." Or, "No, I didn't see that e-mail. Of course, I generally only check my e-mail once or twice a month..." The list goes on.
One of my early frustrations with ministry was coming to terms with the feet that there really are some folk who will commit to doing anything at all around the church house as long as a better offer doesn't come along.
The Passionate Faith Response calls us to be available to do the King's bidding whenever the King bids. You saw what happened to those who ignored the call.
One thing is for sure, God will have His will done and he is no respecter of brand loyalty. If we don't do it, He will have absolutely no qualms about giving the task to someone else. And we will be the poorer for it.
Beyond that, though, it is just as important to be prepared to respond to God's call as it is to be available to it. Further along in our Gospel Lesson, a guest at the feast shows up without his wedding garment. For years, I thought that the King's treatment of this hapless guest was terrible. What if he was a poor man and couldn't afford a wedding garment? What if his wedding garment was being cleaned and he didn't want to offend the King by showing up in a shoddy garment? The questions just came and came.
Then I did a little studying. It was customary in those days for the wealthy hosts and hostesses to not only provide the food, drink and entertainment for the party; they were also expected to provide wedding garments for their guests, perfectly tailored so that everyone looked their absolute best without anyone "outshining" the wedding party or each other. Kind of a social equalizer, if you will.
So here is this guest who has presumably received a wedding garment made to fit his exact specifications. But he has chosen not to wear it.
Again, that is just like some folk I know. They have been given everything they need by God to fit them perfectly and allow them to respond to him faithfully. But while they want to come to the party, they don't want to prepare themselves for their part in it.
Such a tragic loss!
Responding to God's call according to God's will is the highest purpose and privilege of human life. Like Abraham, we give ourselves to God's dream and begin to pilgrimage to only God knows where. On the way, we learn to live with God and each other in a way which is laudatory, peaceful and constructive. When we fail, and we often will, God enables and encourages us to get up and get moving again. But in all of this, we must constantly be available and prepared to meet Him where He already is.
So, there we have it. The Passionate Faith is a gift, a call and a response. And all along the way we will have God's promises. And what promises are those?
Well, to find out the answer to that one, you'll just have to come back next week.
