Proper 14 C Genesis 15:1-6, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, Luke 12:32-40 August 8, 2004 The Rev. J. Brian Ponder, Chaplain Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi In the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I have just returned from a week at Bratton-Green, and if there is one thing you can count on at summer camp, it's to expect anything. There's always another surprise right around the corner … Surprises are usually unexpected. This year was no different. Another season of camp has now ended. Surprises have been suspended for a time, but there will always be surprises. Today's lessons give us some insight into several things - faith, preparedness, surety and even fear. We know from the tradition of our Scriptures that Abram, later Abraham, was blessed richly time and time again, as God's purpose was worked out in the Israel story. Abraham was, for the most part, a good and faithful servant of the Lord. Time and again, his faithful obedience - his righteousness - brought blessings upon him and his household, good surprises, if you will. Abraham's obedience became a sign of God's covenant - an outward and visible sign of relationship in every sense of the word. Rich blessings became the visible and tangible product of the reality of covenant and Abraham's right relationship with God. Abraham's faith was so great that he was blessed abundantly and became father of a great nation even in his old age. Today's Epistle expounds upon just what is faith. It's message is not poetic, nor is it verbose. Rather, the message is to-the-point. Faith, simply put, speaks to relationship - and personal relationship at that. Faith is intrinsically personal, yet it is that which we can and should share with one another. It is that which allows us to find comfort, or solace, or happiness, or love, or surety in times of discomfort, or pain, or frustration or questioning. Faith becomes a stepping stone upon which one's journey towards belief begins, sometimes even a jumping off point. Faith is that which is kindled at the very heart, which is not always well-reasoned or understood. It is that which surpasses all thought, all reason and all knowledge. Faith is conviction and assurance in that which cannot be fully understood or known or seen. This past week's theme at camp was Reality Bites - which sounds a little daunting, and depressing at first. However, in our activities and programming, the staff really challenged campers to think in some new and different ways. Our focus was on turning the spin that our world throws at us each and every day. This is the spin that tells us that our wants far exceed our needs, that looks and appearances are everything, that fear should be our driving force in dealings with others and the obstacles before us, that superficial love can protect us from harm, that there is no such thing as ultimate truth - but many truths that are left to the whim of interpretation. What we came to understand together this past week is that faith speaks volumes to any and all of these topics. Faith in Christ sends a resounding message of hope and love and charity in the midst of fruitlessness and barrenness - even and especially in a world driven by consumerism, ever-growing fear of things like terrorism, by half-truths and uncharitable actions. Faith drives us far beyond these things, preparing us for a time when we not only see and understand what we cannot now, but to prepare ourselves for a time unlike this world has never before seen. The gospel calls us into readiness, preparedness and hopefulness of a time in which all things are revealed, when everything becomes transparent, when the invisible becomes known and when righteousness not only rules our individual hearts but those of all humankind. Faith speaks to the abiding presence of God which permeates every aspect of our individual lives and our common life together into the very soul of our persons and community. Indeed, our faith in God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is invited by words of comfort: "Do not be afraid." This is radically different to what the world around us would say. "Be afraid that you might not measure up." "You never know when they'll strike again." "What if you fail?" "You'll be a fool if you don't …" You fill in the gaps. Jesus comes to us and says "Do not be afraid." Jesus knows our fears … our fears of rejection, of being alone, of not being good enough, of falling short. Jesus comes to us and says: "It's not important. You don't have to be anything that you are not already." Faith is being "okay" with the reality that we are not worthy, that we are not adequate or perfect, that we are not whole singularly - but that with God all things are possible and right. Faith, as Pamela Reeve suggests, is a conviction that "the Promiser keeps his Promises," that we are never alone, that we are always and ever in relationship. This assurance is certainly what got me through seminary on the days I woke up asking, just what have I gotten myself into? Or the same in agreeing to do a summer camp session! Faith is what gets any of us through the dark places of our lives. And it is faith upon which we should rely and rejoice at the highest points too, never forgetting that God is with us always, good surprises or not-so-good ones. Faith warrants conviction, and we have a saying in the church that has some light to shed on the subject. "Lex orandi, lex credendi" has come to mean that what we pray/say is what we believe. This is the idea that our faith is deepened by our common life, by our common witness and learning. Each and every time we come together for prayer and worship we are formed and become more and more in-tune with God's will for us. We become more fully shaped into the reality of belief/faith through our prayer life and activity. This isn't to say that there are not times of questioning or second-guessing. But it means that our lives together are dependent upon each other and the One who binds us together. Our faith deepens in our common reading of Scripture and the prayers and is enhanced by our sharing of this table with one another, having God as our guest. Faith is a recognition of that which is larger than any of us and allows us to put all of our hopes, desires, needs, fears and joys into the surety of God's faithfulness to us. It's reciprocal and relational. Though the world around us might call us nonsensical, because it calls us to put all of our eggs in one basket, faith is that upon which all Christian hope relies. It is the foundational block for all Scriptural theology. Faith is that upon which hope and love rest, and it is the undergirding and invisible support system for all that we are called to do, preach, say and pray, especially in a world that would have us live in a mindset of scarcity rather than abundance. It is through faith that we, too, find ourselves richly blessed, as did Abraham. Our gospel message calls us out of complacency and surety of things present and fading. It calls us into a deeper knowledge of the love of God which is not simply a message that is for us gathered here today, nor just for campers at Bratton-Green, nor any Christian harbored within the safety of Church. God's message of love, expressed by our hopefulness and faithfulness, is one that should and shall be shouted from the rafters and the moutaintops. It is a message that is intrinsically counter-cultural and has been since the time of Christ, because that is at the heart of its nature. Faith is that which moves us week-to-week out of this place into the world and towards every place in need of this message, proclaiming God not as our own, but for all. May we ever proclaim God for all. In Christ's holy name. Amen.