DIncrease Our Faith Luke 17:5-10 October 3, 2004, 18th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, Proper 22 The Rev. William V. Livingston, Rector Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi "Increase our faith!" Most of us have made this plea in one way or another. Increase my faith to that level that assures my terminally ill spouse will live. Increase my faith to survive my divorce or death of a loved one. Increase my faith that my life does not end in failure. Increase my faith to strap another day on my back and haul it around til bedtime. What is this faith? Let us begin with what faith is not. Faith is not assent to doctrines about God, creation, Jesus Christ, etc. Neither of the two most important historic creeds of the church (Apostles and Nicene) begins, "I believe that God is the Father Almighty;" they begin, "I believe in God." Faith is not accepting 'on authority' - of the church, the tradition, the Bible, parents and teachers, etc. - what one cannot personally experience or feel to be true. Faith is not a vague spirituality, an emotion, a positive outlook, a belief-ful attitude towards life. Faith is not about spectacular tricks nor a litmus test that determines whether our personal wishes get granted. Do not get me going about the people I see on TV after events such as the recent hurricanes in which some guy stands in front of his home and says, "Yea, I had faith God was not going to blow me away." Is he saying he had more faith than the poor folks whose homes disintegrated or who lost their lives? If this were faith, I can manipulate God because if I have enough faith, then God has to do what I want God to do! In today's Lukan reading we encounter one of those times a text is incomprehensible as it has been divided for the Sunday lectionary. In the text Jesus admonishes his disciples for asking him to increase their faith and then tells the parable of the poor slave who has to work in the fields all day and then must serve his master his meal - without any expectation of a "thank you." For this to make any sense to me, we must hear the four verses that precede today's text and to understand the request to increase their faith comes in response to Jesus' admonition to live by a kingdom ethic which requires that we forgive another's sins as many as seven times a day. The disciples recognize the difficulty of this expectation and plea, "But this is too hard for us to do! Increase our faith!" They assume they have faith but need more to be so forgiving. Their plea recognizes we grow in faith but also that faith is not just a matter of our own strength. They ask for more insight, more understanding, more depth of belief. But Jesus pushes in a different direction implying they have no understanding of the nature of genuine faith. It's not that you need more faith, you need ANY faith. There is no such thing as a little faith. They don't need more faith, they need to understand that faith enables God to work in a person's life in ways that defy ordinary human experience. Like most of the primary concepts of biblical religion (love, hope, grace, compassion, forgiveness, wrath, repentance) faith is response in relationship and presupposes an ongoing relationship with God. In faith God has become present to one in such a way, as in any relationship, that trust exists. In the act of trusting someone, you go beyond what you know of him or her. Trust involves doubt, decision and risk. You can never say that you 'have it' as if it were a possession; it has to be renewed regularly if it is to be authentic. Only through such a relationship with God in which we are aware of the forgiveness we constantly receive and are equally aware of our constant need for it, could the disciples - can we - forgive another person seven times a day. With just a little faith one can live by Jesus' teachings on discipleship. It is only in context of the task of forgiving another seven times a day that we can make sense of the parable of the poor slave who must tend sheep and plow fields by day only to come home and before he can eat or drink must serve his master's meal. As I reflected on this parable, I had a flashback to my previous career and a conversation with one of our office receptionists. Because she had been passed over for a job in our financial department, she had filed a formal complaint indicating she was more qualified for the job. In theory she was correct. She had an MBA, and the person we had hired had only two years of college. In response to her complaint, I reminded her, "Rita, we have disciplined you because you are frequently late for work and frequently make errors in balancing the patient fee collections, and we have received complaints about your rudeness to patients. Even with your credentials, I cannot justify promoting you based on your work performance." What I remember most was how matter-of-fact she was as she responded, "You don't pay me enough to do a good job." The effect of the parable on most hearers of the day - or my conversation with Rita - would have been to win wholehearted agreement especially among those who had power or who saw having power and control over others as a goal, even if they couldn't achieve it. By the time hearers had heard what had been said they were well into the comfort zone of finding their own prejudices affirmed and ready to sigh: "Yea, that's how the world operates!" But, you know Jesus never let's us off so easy and then comes the so you. So you, when you claim your church attendance, your pledging what you think is your fair share of the parish budget, your volunteer time with a worthy charity, your being a faithful spouse and loving parent, be careful of expecting special treatment. You have done only what ought to have been expected of you. It debunks the idea that we achieve value by achieving the good, as though we deserve a bonus for being decent, caring human beings. It does not let us play the game. We can't claim: "God has to love me, because look at how good I am! Look at what I have done!" Regardless of how much we do, we cannot do more than is expected of us. Misguided religious folk too often offer bland and shallow assurances meant to make us feel foolish for ever doubting. How many of us have heard a funeral eulogy that claims a child died because God wanted her more? Who could love such a God? Who has not heard that God doesn't give us more than we can handle? To which a friend of mine in days of severe suffering responded, "I wish God didn't hold me in such high regard!" Faith is tougher than that. Faith is deeper. Faith sees the hurricane coming and says, "If I suffer tonight, let me see the hand of my neighbor who comes to help, and if I am left safe, let me be that neighbor to another." Faith exists in a relationship with God without proofs, without answers, without assurances, without completed transactions. Faith is about writing new songs for our souls, leading us to new sight, turning our hearts to the wounded, giving us strength to endure and to serve. This idea of serving without expecting to be thanked is not a very good church marketing message. But then, Christian discipleship has never been for the faint-hearted. It all boils down to this, you and I, my brothers and sisters, are called to have faith, not to get God to love us but are called to have faith because God loves us. Our faith simply needs to respond to what God has given us. So the next time you are concerned about whether you have enough faith, stop and get in touch with God's love for you. Remember that Christ's life, death and resurrection already has made eternal life available to you. Become aware of all the gifts God has given you. And know that you are infinitely loved. Respond to God's love with thankfulness and love in return. That is your faith. And that faith, even if it were as small as the tiniest mustard seed - that faith can transform you and the world. For God, working through you can do more than you can ever ask or imagine.