A faith like Abraham

The Rev. Dan Rondeau

Genesis 15:1-6 | Psalm 33:1-15, 18-22 | Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16 | Luke 12:32-40

 

Let your loving-kindness, O LORD, be upon us, * as we have put our trust in you. (Psalm 33:22)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

It was a dark night in the winter of 1940. London was again under attack, bombs were falling, then came the explosions, and then the fires lighting the ground for further attacks from the night sky.

While the bombs were falling, with fire and destruction all around, a mother runs from a building just struck by a bomb, frantically searching for a safe place for her and her child. Seeing a newly formed crater that will provide as good a shelter as any, she grabs her child's hand and runs. Letting go, she leaps into the darkened hole and disappears from his sight. Calling to him she says "Jump son, jump!" Frightened, he screams back, "But mom, I can't see you!" And now with all the assurance and comfort she can put into her voice she calls back "But I can see you. Jump!" And he does. Caught in his mother's arm he is quickly hugged to her breast and comforted.¹

This is the picture, this is the image I have when I hear the words from the Letter to the Hebrews: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) Even with darkness and terror all around the jump is risked because the one who calls can be trusted.

The great preacher, William Sloane Coffin, puts it this way: "It is terribly important to realize that the leap of faith is not so much a leap of thought as of action. For while in many matters it is first we must see, then we will act, in matters of faith it is first we must do, then we will know, first we will be and then we will see. One must, in short, dare to act wholeheartedly without absolute certainty."²

The rabbis use Moses and the Exodus to tell the same truth. The story is told that as Moses reached the water of the [Red] Sea he called on God to open a way through it, but nothing happened. And all the while Pharaoh's chariots were closing in on them. Pray and cry as he did, Moses' words had no effect. So Moses did a very brave thing. In desperation (or was it with conviction?) he stepped into the Sea anyway. Then, and only then, when his big toe touched the water, did the Sea make way for the Hebrews to cross.³

"...faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Abraham and Sarah were called to leave homeland and family. They were promised an heir and beyond that descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Moses was called to lead God's people from slavery to freedom, from subsistence to abundant life. Mary was asked to bear a child. Joseph was asked to wed and provide a home for Mary and her child. Peter, James and John were asked to leave everything and follow. Saul of Tarsus was asked to let go of his hard won knowledge and singular dedication to fulfilling the law in order to receive the gift of grace. Their example inspires and informs us still.

Their example inspires us, not their brilliant exposition of the ineffable qualities of God. Their actions, not their brilliant essays and not their credal statements, their actions, recorded in the scriptures and handed on to us, inform our actions.

If I have any faith at all it is, like my very life, a gift of God first and foremost; but, living with you, worshipping with you, working side by side with you, men and women of faith, strengthens my faith, inspires my faith.

We may never be called to the same heroic faith as those men and women of faith honored in the letter to the Hebrews. We may never be called to the heroic faith honored in our remembrance of saints in our church calendar; remembrances of men and women who acted and in their action discovered more and more their deep connection to God. Yet we will be called, in our small way, in a hundred small ways to act, to leap into the arms of God because we trust, and in so doing profoundly affect those who know us; we will share our faith not so much by what we say and not so much by impeccable logic and overwhelming clarity of thought, but by how we live our faith.

I began to list the actions of others that inspire my faith. I began to list the numerous ways you act in assurance of things hoped for and with conviction about things unseen. I was amazed by the variety and complexity of the actions that reveal faith. I encourage you this week to pause and reflect on the many ways faith is revealed in the lives of those around you. I encourage you to peek at your own life and find how many ways you act with faith, even when you don't feel like a paragon of faith.

Daily I witness courageous and generous actions in the face of illnesses including life threatening illnesses, because those who are ill and those who care for them, have discovered in their prayers and daily activity, the loving and comforting presence of the Creator and Healer of all things. Daily, with the Peace that only God can give, these men and women, and children, live in the knowledge that nothing can separate them from the love God desires to share. And they live large in my heart.

I have listened and prayed with those who have faced life-changing decisions with respect to jobs, careers, and homes. Again, I have been privileged to see the faith of Abraham and Sarah, the faith of Mary or of Peter or of Paul in action here and now. The broad sweep of salvation history may not be changed, but tens of lives, hundreds of lives, are affected by your actions born of assurance and conviction that the one who calls "jump" will be steadfast and will catch you.

In June we celebrated the graduation of our high school seniors. Now they are off to schools far from home. It may not be the journey of Abraham and Sarah, but it calls forth the same trusting action of leaving the familiar, leaving family for a time, and leaving home; as that journey unfolds for our high school seniors, now college freshmen, I am sure they will encounter the God of Abraham and Sarah and so enter more deeply into that relationship. As they leap they will be caught by the same strong arms, the same strong love, as we have experienced.

Today, we celebrate the Baptism of Michelle LaTourette. Her parents have made that leap of faith; caught and comforted by the loving-kindness of our God they choose to share their faith with their daughter. We stand with them, an action of solidarity that says we, too, know the love of this God because we have made that leap and we have been caught and comforted by the loving embrace of this God.

The truth I have learned from my experiences and from you is this: the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Moses, the God of Mary, the God of Peter and Paul, was present with me and for me yesterday; this same loving God is present here and now; and no matter what tomorrow may bring, this same God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, will be present with me and for me, and so I jump, knowing that God can see me (even if I can't always see God).

Let your loving-kindness, O LORD, be upon us, * as we have put our trust in you. Amen.

¹ Story from Don Shelby quoted by Brad Hall in a Sermon on May 11, 1997

² Credo (Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) quoted in Synthesis, August 8, 2004

³ Midrash quoted by The Rev. Brad Hall in a sermon at St. Margaret's on Moses preached March 6, 1988.