"Faithful or Foolish?"
Sermon Presented June 5, 2005
Romans 4:13-25
When I was in seminary, I read and then saved an article from the Kansas City Star that was written by a proud Jewish father on the occasion of his son's bar mitzvah. He said that today's families are in danger because religion no longer plays a vital role in helping youth form their identities and cement their families. His insight was that youth need faith narratives to understand their origins, but these narratives are difficult to sustain in our pluralistic society.
Many people today spend a great deal of time and money tracing their biological roots but don't delve into the stories of their biblical and family faith roots, thus failing to give young people a sense of their faith heritage. This may be because today we question things that were not questioned by earlier generations and thus our own faith doesn't appear to be as firm as theirs.
For most of us, our faith fluctuates! One moment we trust a firmly held belief and the next we question its truth. When I was on retreat at St. Joseph's, I walked the labyrinth. A labyrinth looks like a maze but is designed to end at the center. (There is no way a person can get lost!) Walking the labyrinth takes the form of prayer. As I walked, I thought that my faith in God is greater than it has ever been. However, I have no faith in any understanding of God because those understandings are in flux.
Our text this morning is from the 4th chapter of Paul's letter to the Church at Rome, and it relates the ancient faith narrative of Abraham, the one considered to be the father of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, to first century Christianity. Before I read it, let me give you a little background on the text. In the Church at Rome, there was conflict over whether Gentile Christian men should be circumcised in order to become Christians. Those who supported the idea of circumcision for the Gentiles pointed to Abraham, who at God's instruction initiated the act of circumcision. Since Abraham was deemed righteous by God, all men should be circumcised. Paul points out that Abraham was deemed righteous before the act of circumcision was ever introduced. It wasn't by following the Jewish law of circumcision that made him righteous but it was his faith. If a person can be righteous by following laws, then faith doesn't matter.
Romans 4:13-25 (Read text)
Now let's look at Abraham's faith - a faith that Paul commends! This story is part of our faith story and thankfully, it does include doubts. Even though Abraham sometimes doubted the promise, he was still considered faithful! To me, this is extremely important. Let's look at the story beginning with Genesis 12.
At the age of 75, God told Abraham to leave his country and his father's family and go to an unknown land. In this new place, God would make of Abraham's descendents a great nation. So Abraham left Haran and set out for the land of Canaan. He lived in tents - never acquiring a permanent residence. That's camping to the extreme!
In the 15th chapter of Genesis, Abraham complains to God that he still has no heirs and God reaffirms the covenant with Abraham by telling him in a vision that he will have heirs in great numbers. Abraham believes God.
But as time passes, both Abraham and his wife Sarah question the promise, and so Abraham - at Sarah's insistence - has sexual relations with Sarah's slave girl Hagar, who conceives and births Ishmael. Here is a child from Abraham, but not from his wife Sarah. Abraham is now 86 years old.
When Abraham is 99 years old, God again tells him that he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations and that his wife Sarah will give him a son. Hearing this, Abraham falls on his face in laughter! (This doesn't sound like great faith as we usually understand it.) He questions whether a 100 year old man and a 90 year old woman can have a child! Who among us wouldn't question and laugh at that statement - even if it did come from God? This promise came before circumcision was introduced into the story.
The next time Abraham hears the promise, it comes from three of God's messengers. When Sarah hears it, she laughs herself silly. This is an impossible, illogical thought. But in the 21st chapter, we read that Sarah has a child named Isaac! Both Abraham and Sarah had to lose some rationality to gain a semblance of faith. Paul says that Abraham's faith was considered as righteousness - as is the faith of the early Christians in Rome who are proclaiming a Savior who died, was in the tomb - and yet God raised him from the dead. As with Abraham, people are asked to believe that God acts beyond the bounds of rationality. Our faith is considered as righteousness when we can stretch it beyond rationality to the truth God wants to impart.
Okay, we've heard that being legalistic, (i. e. circumcision) isn't the answer, but faith in God is. Then how do these stories of Abraham and the early Church challenge us today? What does it say to us on June 5, 2005 here at Roundy? How do we hold onto our faith in God - "hoping against hope" as did Abraham? How do we look toward a hopeful future when in a single week we learn that three people whom we love are leaving this small congregation?
As I mentioned earlier, my faith in God is probably the greatest it has ever been, but my understanding of God and how God works changes. So right now I am holding onto my faith in God to give Roundy the vision and the knowledge of what we should do, but I don't know what that vision will look like - or how it will play out!
We have a faithful and visionary team that is working to discern the vision. We are prayerfully considering many ideas and submitting them to God and to one another. When Paul said of Abraham (v. 20) that no distrust made him waver, I say "Oh, yeah?" Abraham and Sarah both wavered because they were human. Abraham fathered a child by Sarah's slave girl to insure an heir, and both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the prospect of Sarah having a child. As human instruments, we won't necessarily be righteous and full of faith all the time.
Early Friday morning I had a dream. In the past, my dreams have revealed important understandings of myself, but I haven't had such a dream in a long time. Friday's dream was unexpected and I might not have considered it had I not read that morning the suggestion that the reader pray for a dream from God. I thought: "Why pray for a dream when I just had one that I need to consider?" I then began writing the dream.
In my dream I was preparing to attend a meeting - followed by a concert. I was taking with me my baby and a young child of about 10 - whom I assume was also my child. As we walked to the meeting, someone on the road noticed a monster cloud of black smoke rising in the opposite direction from which we were walking. As I turned toward the cloud of smoke, I saw a man in military dress waving his gun and dancing for joy.
We continued on to the meeting and waited in the lobby for the previous event to dismiss and the auditorium to clear. While I was standing there, fear began to overtake me because of the perceived imminent danger. I asked new arrivals for a report on the pillar of smoke. My 10-year-old began changing the baby's diaper beside the wall and after dumping the wet diaper into the trash, realized there was no clean diaper in the bag. We found a sun suit with a plastic liner on the infant seat and put that on the baby.
I couldn't concentrate on the approaching meeting because of my fear of lurking danger. I still wanted to attend the concert later that evening because Les had two solo parts. I decided to leave before the meeting began, walk back home, get the car and then go to the concert. On the way home I kept checking the horizon, asking people for the latest reports on the danger, and planning to pack some essentials for a quick getaway following the concert.
When we arrived home, I had trouble deciding what items to take. Should I take things of the greatest value or things that would be most needed? This is when I awakened.
I realized through the dream that unknown to me, I am afraid and consider myself to be unprepared for what I fear. I'm not usually a fearful person. Here are the questions that came to mind as I thought about Roundy and faith for our future.
- How do we deal with the fear of looming danger?
- Do we allow fear to control our actions or do we allow it to spur us toward action that is calculated?
- What are the most important items we need to take from Roundy's heritage?
- What can we leave behind?
- Do we have a clear identity?
- Do we know where we are going?
Our faith was shaken this past week. But was it our faith in God that was shaken or our faith in what we fear our future to be? I believe that if we can hold onto our faith in God - not our understanding of what we think God is doing - that we will find direction in this crisis. Who knows what may come from this!
I don't believe we have the option to play it safe. To stay in a safe place where we are comfortable is to remain barren. To risk leaving that safety brings hope - and possibly new birth! Maybe we shouldn't ask the question: Will we be faithful or foolish? Maybe the question should be: Do we dare to be both faithful and foolish? Think about it! I know I will!
