Sermon - The Ven. Pat Zifcak - October 2nd, 2022
I am happy to be wearing this stole this morning in celebration of St.Francis and the blessing of animals which we will do after the service and in remembrance of the church’s season of Creation Care which is coming to an end. As we give thanks for the faithfulness of family pets and the beauty of the earth, let us also give thanks to God for all the many ways that God surrounds us in love and surprises us with joy!
We have reasons to give thanks today; we have reasons to celebrate life. We have been given a divine gift, a treasure we have not earned by our own merits but one that has been handed down, inherited from all those who have come before us, who have known and loved God, who have believed and lived by their beliefs, who have trusted God’s saving grace even against the most overwhelming odds.
Poem
Faith is the divine treasure and it comes to us as tradition. We read the stories of our ancestors in scripture and know that their faith is alive, is the force that grounds them, is the source of their courage and endurance, is the fire that kindles love for God and one another.
As one commentator suggests, “faith informs and forms.” When we hear scripture, when we go to Church School or Adult Formation, when we join a committee, when we march for justice, our faithful participation informs us about the work of the church, the love of God and Christ, the importance of community, and the power of faith. When we pray, when we participate in baptism and confirmation, when we come to the table for Eucharist, we are being formed in the Christian life. We want our formation to make us more faithful, our knowledge of the Church to make our lives more meaningful. When we pray and God does not seem to answer, when we act and the world doesn’t change, when we are faithful to the commitments we make, and steadfast in our relationship to God, we want to know that our faithfulness, our loyalty matter. The prophet cries out to God and vows to take his stand to watch and wait for an answer. Even in his anger and frustration he is faithful and steadfast. Even as he waits, he remembers the faithfulness of those who came before him, he believes that God is just, he knows that his very life is the sign of God’s presence in the world.
We expect an understandable relationship between actions and results, deeds and consequences. When the world does not conform to our expectations, we are quick to blame, to give up, to forget that God is at work in the world and can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Knowing and remembering that, is the divine gift of faith. The prophet took his stand and waited patiently for God. We take our stand together here as we live into the ancient traditions of our faith, as we recite the words of ancient creeds, hear the good news of the Gospel, pray for the church and for the world, and remember at the Eucharist the death and resurrection of Christ- the center of our faith, the divine gift. Practice shapes our belief. So, when we doubt, we practice. God is faithful; God is constant. When we turn away because of any of our human limitations, God vows to wait patiently for our return.
One of the most wonderful things about scripture is it’s ability to respond to us where we are. The parable of the mustard seed is so familiar to us. We know it is a story of faith but is it a chastisement of Jesus’ disciples-you don’t even have faith the size of a mustard seed- or is it a story of encouragement? Today, I think Jesus is affirming the faith of his disciples saying, no matter how tiny the seed of your faith is, it is enough. This divine gift of faith makes it possible for us to trust every new day to God and to live abundantly in God’s grace, knowing that tomorrow will bring its own gifts of faith and grace and that we, trusting God, will use what we have been given to write a new vision for the world that begins where our faith resides.