Faith as a gift

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON OCTOBER 7th, 2007

Luke 17: 5 "Lord, increase our Faith."

A week ago I was in Australia. On the Saturday I attended the Australian Football Final - the equivalent to our Super Bowl. My team, Port Adelaide, was playing in it - which was very exciting! I went to the game with great hope and faith that my team would be triumphant. As some members of the congregation know, I was severely disappointed! In fact my team Port Adelaide played so terribly, they lost by the greatest losing margin in the 111 years of the Australian football final being played.

So I now know exactly what it's like to follow the Chargers and the Padres!

As I looked at today's Gospel reading, I saw a parallel to football of whatever version - Australian or American. The week before the Grand Final, when I was in Port Adelaide where I grew up, I went to their home ground with ten thousand other people to watch the players train and prepare for the big match. I was full of optimism. I hoped that my team would win, along with everyone else. We had faith in the team, we had faith that they would do well. But alas, by half time of the game, to use an Old Testament analogy, the writing was on the wall, and my faith was wearing thin. I still had faith - like we all do at half-time - that they might come out and reverse the trend. But it was not to be.

I wonder if that's the sort of faith the Apostles were talking about in today's Gospel, when they said "Lord, increase our faith"? The sort of faith that we describe as hope? It is the hope that all will be well, that we will come through, that we will turn around a difficult situation. That is one definition of the word "faith". I am sure all of us have been in that situation where our faith was hoping that things would get better. We believe in a cause and we trust it will triumph. And this is not a Christian thing - all human beings have that sort of faith.

It seems to be what the Apostles are referring to this morning, for before this incident, and in the previous chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, Jesus has been warning them about the requirements of discipleship. He is telling them that it is tough and that they need strength to follow the Christian way - and it may even lead to the test of martyrdom. So it seems that having heard this the Apostles are making a cry from the heart: "Lord, make us strong - increase our faith". Or maybe, it was the other sort of faith - faith in the facts of the Gospel? Maybe they were asking the Lord to increase their faith in him as the unique Son of God?

Perhaps it was also a cry for something tangible. They had given up everything to follow Jesus - perhaps they expected some reward, like a stronger faith. Perhaps we sometimes feel like that too? Because we follow Jesus we want everything to be smooth sailing, we want to always have strong faith. This seems to be the point of the conversation that follows. Jesus implies that even the smallest faith can lift up a tree and send it through the air.

But then we come to a different tact. Jesus tells a parable that suggests that we should not expect any gifts of rewards - we are just called to be servants. This was directed to the Apostles, of course, who were called to a special ministry close to Jesus. So he reminds them that there is no special reward or bonus for being an Apostle - you are just called to more service. In fact all you can say is that you have done your duty.

This is shown also in the second letter of St Paul to Timothy. St Paul reminds Timothy, that when he was ordained, through the laying on of hands he received the gift of the Holy Spirit to be an Apostle. Paul is urging Timothy to stir that gift up - to use it, and not just sit back and be comfortable. In fact, he needs to remember that the gift within him might even lead, like the Apostles, to martyrdom. This is a solitary warning to all ordained ministers in the Church. How appropriate that the end of the Epistle today, St Paul says to Timothy: “Guard the truth that has been entrusted to you". I wish our bishops were more concerned about guarding the truth, than having beautiful miters and the gift of power thrust upon them!

Paul's injunction to Timothy is valid also for Baptism. Just as in ordination, bishops and priests have the gift of the Holy Spirit poured upon them, so at baptism, the first sacrament that we receive, the Holy Spirit is poured upon us. In the case of baptism, it is for the first time - so that as we grow as people we might grow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. From then on, all we need to do is to stir up that gift within us, as St Paul exhorts Timothy. Baptism is the primary sacrament which joins us to Christ through his body the Church, and the gift of faith is first received by us at baptism. It is the starting point of the Christian life, and faith grows within us as we grow as people.

Ultimately, as the prophet Habakkuk reminds us, we live by this faith. It is not just so that we might be stirred up, but that we might live spiritually as part of Christ's body. As we grow from our baptism there comes a time when the simple faith and trust we have in God is able to be expressed in the truths that Jesus taught us, and an understanding of the uniqueness of Jesus as the Son of God. Then our faith becomes tangible beliefs that give form and logic to our faith. We express these in the creeds. So in the rite of baptism we acknowledge in the words of the Apostles' Creed the faith of the Church.

Now of course the faith of the Church is broad, big and deep, and many of us cannot fully comprehend or understand every detail of doctrine. However I would not encourage you when you say the creed (as some Episcopal bishops) to cross your fingers at the parts you don't quite yet understand. It is the faith of the Church - and that faith will carry us through. Eventually through God's grace and the gift of the spirit within us, we will understand why we believe some of these wonderful things that we cannot fully comprehend. The faith of the Church carries us along in times of doubt, uncertainty and weakness. In the creed we say "We believe the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church". We don't just believe it exists - we believe that what the Church has always taught us is for our benefit and our eternal salvation.

The blessings of that faith exceed anything that the world can offer.

Faith is a gift and well might we say with the Apostles: Lord, increase our faith.