Faith With Skin

Proper 14, Year C

Isaiah 1: 1, 10 – 2; Psalm 33: 12 – 22; Hebrews 11: 1- 3, 8 – 16; Luke 12¨32 – 40

“Faith with Skin”

The Rev. Linda Campbell

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

She is also a young member of St. Alban’s and one of our acolytes this morning! Her mom, Susan, says that she gave Faith this name because her very presence, her birth itself, is such a gift. When a cousin asked Susan if there was a time when she ever gave up hope of being a mother – and Susan said, no. I knew. I knew I would be a mom. Sounds to me like the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen! It’s a blessing for all of us to have Faith here as a living, breathing reminder of God’s gracious gifts. So now I’m done embarrassing you, dear – but since your name and the theme of this morning’s readings are identical, you’ll hear Faith called out quite a bit!

Faith is the Assurance of things hoped for. What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “Assurance?” I think of confidence and certainty. Susan was confident that what she hoped for would be, or already was, in some sense, her reality. In her mind, she was certain of her motherhood.

The letter to the Hebrews was written to second generation church members. They had undergone persecution, and were deeply disappointed that Jesus hadn’t returned, as the early Christians had expected. Some of them were giving up and leaving the Jesus way. Others remained, absolutely confident that the heavenly homeland they desired was certain to be, or already was, in some sense, their reality. They followed in the footsteps of other giants of faith – Abraham, who set out for a place that he didn’t know, not knowing where he was going, but obeying his yearning to follow God. The letter to the Hebrews encourages them to be like previous giants of faith who “died without having received the promises, but from a distance still saw and greeted them.”

When I think of giants of faith, many names come to mind such as our own American giant of faith, Martin Luther King, Jr. who saw the promised land of justice and peace among people of all races and economic classes – but who died before that had become an evident reality. It’s a promised land we have yet to reach, and yet it is homeland for which many of us continue to yearn.

What do you hope for? What do you desire so deeply that it is in your bones and blood, that you would stake your life on it? One of the marks of a Christian is the hope for and the confidence in the reality of God’s kingdom – the ultimate reality of reconciliation between all peoples, and indeed, among all beings.

We can’t create that confidence all on our own. But we can cooperate with God’s creation of confidence within us. How? By acting in faith. By acting as citizens of the kingdom. Jesus simply spoke truth when he said “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If you want your heart to be in the kingdom, don’t wait until you have a warm fuzzy feeling of being in the kingdom. Put a check in the basket. Sponsor a child. Buy groceries for someone else. Forgive your spouse. Give thanks in all places and at all times and under all circumstances. All of these things are costly – AND they build confidence. They strengthen the spiritual muscles and bones of faith. If you want to be a long distance runner, you have to put on your running shoes every morning, and run. If you and I want to be a people of faith, we have to practice making day to day decisions with confidence in the unseen reality of God’s kingdom.

Jesus was the ultimate in confidence! He was certain of his Father’s good will and confident in their relationship. He didn’t get his authority from university degrees or from being ordained by the chief High Priest. His authority and confidence in himself came directly from his intimate relationship with God. He was confident in God because he knew God. And he inspired confidence in others. When Jesus told Zaccheus, “your sins are forgiven” Zaccheus rested absolutely assured that Jesus was trustworthy, that what he said was truth, and that if he said, you are healed. You are forgiven, that he was, in truth, healed and forgiven. Zaccheus was so happy in this assurance that he made thorough amends for his sins, returning all the gold he had taken from others unjustly.

It isn’t quite so easy for Jesus to inspire confidence in us – because we are citizens of the 21^st century – and we haven’t physically seen or touched or heard Jesus. Without the reassurance of his actual voice, we are kind of like the little girl who awoke one night frightened, convinced that in the darkness around her there were all kinds of spooks and monsters. Alone, she ran to her parents' bedroom. Her mother calmed her down and, taking her by the hand, led her back to her own room, where she put on a light and reassured her daughter: 'You needn't be afraid, you are not alone here. God is in the room with you.' The little girl replied: 'I know that God is here, but I need someone in this room who has some skin!' "

Someone with skin is good. And that’s, I think, one of the reasons Jesus insisted that his followers form communities of faith. We’re the people who can be God’s skin for each other. The author of the letter to the Hebrews, definitely intended to assure that community that God’s communication of good will and favor towards them through his Son, Jesus, was absolutely trustworthy. In our own tradition, when I lift my hand in absolution of your sins after the confession – it isn’t that I myself am forgiving you. God and God alone does that. But I’m someone with skin, who has been set aside by the authority of the church, to enact God’s voice of assurance that in truth, your sins are forgiven. You are free. You are healed. You are not enslaved to the past. You can rest assured in God’s grace and good purposes for your future. As Jesus said, and as I, your pastor, now repeat, “it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” You’re in. You’re free. You’re a child of God. Amen!

The final way that I think of assurance is as a pledge or a warranty. Remember the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval? That warranty meant a product was well made, that it would hold up under use, and that it would do what it was advertised to do. Genesis tells us that you and I and every other human being carry a warranty! We’re made in God’s Image and stamped with God’s seal of original blessing. Each and every one of us, boy, girl, gay, straight, deaf, hearing, blind, seeing, black, brown, and white – carry the warranty of God’s image. As an assurance, a pledge of his faithfulness, God sent his only son Jesus, to become one of us, to enjoy the pleasures of friendship and beauty, to suffer violence and vengeance, and to die as one burdened by sin and despair. How is that a pledge of God’s faithfulness? Because through Jesus’ deep and utterly faithful obedience, even when he could not see through the darkness of the cross, God was able to set once and for all time in human terms, the pledge of abundant and everlasting life that would outsmart, outlast, and outshine all darkness. Give a shout people! The goodness of God wins! Resurrection is the pledge of that.

Alexander Solzenitzen tells a resurrection story from his time as a prisoner in the Siberian camp to which he was sentenced. The prisoners were fed a starvation diet and forced into hard labor twelve to fourteen hours a day. One day, Alexander simply gave up. All his strength was gone. Physically weakened and sick, morally despairing and spiritually dead, he ceased to care about the beating he knew would come any minute that would end his life. But a fellow Christian saw him falter and give up. This fellow risked his own life to step out of the line long enough to draw a cross in the sand with his cane, and then quickly erase it again. But that was enough. Solzenitzen was embraced by that cross, and began to draw out of thin air the sustenance he needed to survive. He writes that he never again gave up hope.

Faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen. Meanwhile, it’s good to be around some Godly people with skin!