August 12^th, 2007, Pentecost 11, All Souls' Episcopal Church

“Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.”
Luke 12:37

     Because I don’t want this to become known as my “I had a Dream” sermon, I’ll begin with that now.  Each of us has our peculiarities, one of my many is that I am prone to liturgical nightmares, dreams where I am in church and everything starts to go wrong.  Last week, as our vacation in Nova Scotia was drawing to a close, I dreamt I was here in church on a Saturday evening before the 5:30 service and realized a few minutes before the service was to begin that I had no sermon prepared.  Just then, Father Petley came by and told me not to worry because somebody named Bob was preaching and that a new law had passed that once a year we had to observe what is known as “Homicide Sunday.”  I woke up before I could find out who Bob was or what was to be said or done on Homicide Sunday.  So, with that said, I’ll begin by quoting our Lord Jesus in today’s Gospel reading.  “Fear not, little flock,” we will not be observing Homicide Sunday any time soon.  And, it’s nice to be back.

      There are three related subjects I would like us to focus on in our readings.  The first of these is faith.  Our Epistle reading begins: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  The reading goes to illustrate the role faith played in the lives of numerous men and women in the Bible.  These were people who, despite their faults and failings, their quirks and wrinkles, their imperfections and defects of character, walked by faith and conquered kingdoms, delivered justice, shut the mouths of lions, and saw their weakness turned to strength.  They sojourned in faith as pilgrims on their way to a better country, that is, a heavenly country; a city whose maker and builder is God.

       When we first meet the Children of Israel in the Bible, they are refugees.  They are forced out of their own home by the ravages of a famine.  They go to Egypt where they are welcomed only because the brother they sold into slavery has forgiven them.  When we meet them four hundred years later, they are slaves, and have been for over two hundred years.  After being slaves for at least seven generations, God’s people are led by Moses out of Egypt and into the desert on their way to a promised land.  This journey, this sojourn and pilgrimage to a land of promise, became the Biblical model for our own walk of faith.

       The people who journeyed to the Promised Land had never seen that land.  Seeing isn’t believing.  Believing is believing.  They had faith, and their faith was the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  They knew that it would be a long journey; a journey some of them might not complete, but that didn’t stop them from taking the first step.  They knew it would be a journey with many hardships and that there would be struggles and battles taking place both outside and inside the camp, but they did not let this stop them from embarking.  They knew that there would be more battles to be fought once they got to the Promised Land, but they went anyway.  They walked by faith.

      Faith is required if we intend to do anything meaningful.  Our plans may not include a forty year sojourn in the desert wilderness.  Our plans may be much simpler than that, but they still require faith.  It is faith which gives us the vision of things unseen.  Getting married, raising children, starting a business, and doing anything worthwhile which takes time requires a vision – faith that you can move to something better.  And, you may not encounter soldiers in chariots trying to force you to return, or Philistines who refuse to let you pass, but you will encounter other obstacles.  There will always be the voices of criticism and negativity which tell you it’s not worth it, that you’re going to fail, that you’re fine just the way you are.  One of the biggest obstacles is fear.

       Fear is a powerful force.  Fear can be a crippling thing. Fear can turn a peaceful and helpful community into an angry mob, which is why fear-mongering and hate-mongering usually go hand in hand.  [ One of the definitions of fear I’ve come across is this: F. E. A. R. – False Expectations Appearing Real.  In this sense, fear, if we give in to it, can keep us from making good and positive and necessary changes in our lives.  As soon as we decide to make those good and positive and necessary changes, fear starts giving us all sorts of wild-eyed scenarios and far-fetched reasons why we’re going to fail or even makes things worse.  For this reason, the Bible, and the New Testament in particular, tells us over and over again not to be afraid, to fear not.  We read this over and over in the Scriptures because God knows how fear can be such a huge obstacle to change.

       Fear is at its most powerful when we are self-centered rather than God-centered.  When self is occupying the throne of our hearts where God should be, is precisely when fear can sway us and motivate towards its own ends.  And so, Jesus says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  It is “the Father’s good pleasure” that you be in His kingdom.  In other words, it is not a matter of your worthiness.  It is a matter of God’s grace; God’s unmerited, enabling love.  In fact, Jesus tells us that when the Lord comes, He will gird himself, make us sit down to dinner, and serve us.  The kingdom is not something you earn, so stop worrying about how you are going to mess it up.  You cannot earn the kingdom.  Instead, the Kingdom is where you learn to be all that God created you to be.  It is God’s kingdom, and so the first thing for you to do is get off His royal throne.  God, not you, is the one who rules in this kingdom, so be not afraid.  Instead, learn to focus less on yourself and more on God and on your brothers and sisters in the kingdom.  And here’s the secret: the more you live a God-centered life in service to others, the happier and less afraid you will become.  You will also become much more truly you – the “you” God made in His image, not the fragile self you’ve created.

       So, the first subject was faith.  The second subject was fear.  The final word will be on the theme of the Gospel reading: waiting upon the Lord.  Living in God’s kingdom, under God’s rule, in a life of charity and service, is always something we do in the present moment.  Past faith and future faith does us absolutely no good.  Faith is always a matter of the present.  The master might come in a thousand years, or tomorrow, or in ten minutes.  This is why the Scriptures repeat that today – this day – is the day of salvation.  This is why our Lord Jesus told us, “Worry not about tomorrow.”  He wasn’t saying don’t plan.  He was telling us to live by faith today.  A spiritual corollary of this would be not to obsess about the past.  There is nothing you can do to change the past.  Today is the day when we must live by faith in God’s kingdom.  And, “blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.”  So let us all be about that faithful watching.