“See from a Distance”
“See from a Distance”
Year C Ninth Sunday after Pentecost August 7, 2022
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Luke 12:32-40
Pastor Andy Kennaly, First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
On August 21 following worship, the Vision and Ministry Task Force will meet in-person with the congregation in Fellowship Hall to talk about the mission of First Presbyterian Church given a part-time pastor model. The Task Force was appointed by the Session of Ruling Elders a few months ago and they’ve met several times to study, pray, discern and discuss what God may be calling us to do and be at this point in the ongoing life of this congregation. The last several weeks we’ve been concluding each worship service with one outcome of these meetings. We say in unison that we are a congregation loving, living, learning the joy of faith.
Faith. That’s a loaded word that most people think they understand but usually misuse in their life because it is much more mysterious than we would typically assume. The author of Hebrews reminds us, saying, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” That word, “conviction,” is a churchy word! People use it often in Christian circles, usually with a little attitude thrown in. Conviction involves a level of certainty. But this conviction mentioned in Hebrews is based on the unseen.
Remember that the Greek philosopher, Plato, really pushes sight as a very high virtue, and seeing is equated with knowledge. But here we have faith in what is not seen. We only hope for these things. Ironic that many Christians insist on certitudes when faith is what we’re called to, and Abraham is lifted up as an example. He and his family followed God’s leading, and with obedience he set out, “not knowing where he was going.”
Both the Hebrews passage and that from Luke’s gospel focus on God at work through a minority movement, a small number of faithful people leading to God’s kingdom purposes. Even though the odds are stacked against them and it seems there is no way these plans will unfold, somehow God’s Spirit makes a way. The role of God’s people involves having an open stance, an attitude of trust in God’s goodness and living Presence, and the ability and willingness to travel light, to let go of that which worldly standards may push.
It must be disconcerting to Abraham to travel and live in tents, like a foreigner, but he trusted God’s vision of building a city designed by and for God. Or those disciples in Luke told to be “dressed for action,” and keep their attention on what matters for heavenly purposes. “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms.” Apparently God’s kingdom is not dependent on our possessions and we too can travel light through life. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Center for Action and Contemplation enjoys the title of that organization and emphasizes that the most important word in that title is the word “and.” Contemplation is one thing, but it leads to action. And action without the grounding of contemplation sends people astray or into cynical cycles of frustration. In a recent article, Paul Swanson writes about what that group calls their Living School, a “school that emphasizes a prophetic and incarnational mysticism in the Christian traditions in the belly of the American empire.” While this may sound crazy, it’s based on the biblical paradigm we see this morning. A small group of God’s faithful ones carrying the weight of a confused and arrogant world on their shoulders as they offer their prophetic work to the God who meets them in the silence and peace of worship and prayer. He says, “The ongoing evolution of the Living School is what keeps the learning edge sharp enough to cut through the illusions blocking or hiding new arisings of God in our times. (The Mendicant, Center for Action and Contemplation, Summer 2022, Vol. 12, No. 3, page 1).
Richard Rohr, the founder of that center, helps us see what the point is for this morning’s scriptures by putting it this way: “There is a deep relationship between the inner revolution of prayer and the transformation of social structures and social consciousness. Our hope lies in the fact that meditation is going to change the society that we live in, just as it has changed us.” (https://cac.org/ a quote on the homepage).
Hebrews: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” And Luke, “Where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.” This is the inner revolution of prayer, the grounding of contemplation that leads to action, the transformation of society. We participate with the biblical story by coming alongside Abraham and live the lives of prophets. But this morning’s scripture remind us that our vision needs to be more than our own sight, and go beyond the ego boundaries of our own insights.
Mike Petrow, who also works for the CAC in New Mexico describes it like this: “While prophecy is often defined as ‘speaking truth to power,’ this is an incomplete notion, being merely social criticism. Prophecy is speaking truth to power on behalf of a divine vision of wholeness. This vision comes from contemplation and the love it reveals. […] Action and contemplation are, in fact, inseparable. They are the inhalation and exhalation of divine love,” a call to active love, the “fixing of the world,” or what the early church called “apokatastasis” apo-kata-stasis, or the restoring of all things.” (The Mendicant, page 2).
He mentions that all of us are wounded in this. Like Abraham and Sarah challenged in their old age, like the disciples in Luke described as a “little flock.” We too are a small church, caught in the dynamics of the larger society, demographics, denominational characteristics and challenges. There is much around us and affecting us that is concerning and it’s easy to be fearful and uncertain of what’s going on and what may happen in the future.
Today as we partake the sacrament of communion, it serves as a visible reminder of our calling to invite awareness of God in our heart, to heed the call of Jesus as we’re invited to follow, even though we don’t know what that may mean.
We are sent from this table as the body of Christ, given for the world. God help us as a little church, a small congregation that is learning to live larger than our own fears, to trust in what we can’t see right now because it’s different than what we’re used to. Lynn Twist sums up the struggle of so many Christians and churches right now in saying, “We’re caught in the rigidity of an old system that’s no longer appropriate. So, I say the work we are called to do together is to hospice the death of the old structures and systems that no longer serve us, while we midwife the new structures and systems that are consistent with a sustainable, just, fulfilling, and caring future we all want.” (The Mendicant, page 5).
This is Christo-form life. This is Abraham leaving his homeland to set out on a holy journey. This is the early church, that “little flock” told not to be afraid. May we too trust this heavenly vision and prayerful calling that calls us to action, to live as the body of Christ, both now, and always. Amen.