Lucia Lloyd’s sermon: Practicing Your Faith
Oct 6, 2019
Proper 27, Year C
Luke 17:5-10
When Natalie Goldberg, the author of Writing Down the Bones, spoke on writing, a member of the audience asked her for the best possible writing advice she had to offer. Her response was [hold up notebook, pretend fingers hold a pen, scribble away]. (Quoted from Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, p. 37)
I love that. What do you do if you want to be a better writer? Write.
Jesus has been teaching his disciples for quite a while by the time we get to the seventeenth chapter of Luke. And then one day the disciples ask him, “Increase our faith.”
When we look at this passage we notice that there are two sections of it, and we may ask: is there a connection between the two? The apostles say to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” In the first section, Jesus says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it would obey you.” Then in the second section Jesus says, “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all you were ordered to do, say, we are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”
It is possible that there is no connection, that this is simply a list of Jesus’ teachings and Luke just happened to put them together because they had to go somewhere.
But the more I think about it, the more I think there is a connection. Someone asks Natalie Goldberg, “increase my writing ability” and her response is “write.” Someone asks Jesus, “increase my faith” and his response is “serve faithfully.”
This makes perfect sense in every other area of our lives. If someone goes up to the track coach and says, “How do I become a runner?” The track coach says, “run.” All the other lessons a good coach has for you won’t do you a bit of good if you stay on the couch. The way to be a writer is to write. The way to be a runner is to run.
When we say “increase our faith” what do we expect? Do we expect to be like Cinderella getting a new ball gown? Or is it more like a soldier going to a sergeant and saying “increase my discipline.” The sergeant will increase your discipline, all right. He’ll say, in one form or another, “get to work.” A commanding officer doesn’t thank his soldiers when they’ve done a day’s work. Carrying out orders is their job.
Faith isn’t just something you have; faith is something you do. The best word for it may be the old-fashioned one: “practicing” your faith.
If you tell your piano teacher you want to be a musician, what will that teacher tell you? Practice. And while it’s true that practicing is preparing to play music, it’s also true that practicing IS playing music.
Some folks say that prayer is less like handing God your wish list; prayer is more like reporting for duty. There’s a lot of truth in that. And I expect that over time it turns out to be a paradox: that as you faithfully report for duty, you discover that your faithful work is ultimately what you wish for. As you faithfully practice the piano, you discover that you are playing music and you love it. You don’t expect anybody to thank you for it; you do it for the music itself.
Jesus has already taught us everything we need to increase our faith: Love God. Love your neighbour. There is no shortage of ways to do these two things: feed the hungry, pray, visit the lonely, sing hymns, give money, read the Bible, forgive your enemies, show up for worship, speak up for the oppressed, thank God for your blessings. Pick one! Start anywhere! It’s all good!
If you want to be a writer, [write]. If you want to be a runner, [run]. If you want to be a musician, [play]. If you want faith, live faithfully. What does that look like? That’s the next part of the sermon: the part you live.
I love that. What do you do if you want to be a better writer? Write.
Jesus has been teaching his disciples for quite a while by the time we get to the seventeenth chapter of Luke. And then one day the disciples ask him, “Increase our faith.”
When we look at this passage we notice that there are two sections of it, and we may ask: is there a connection between the two? The apostles say to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” In the first section, Jesus says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it would obey you.” Then in the second section Jesus says, “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all you were ordered to do, say, we are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”
It is possible that there is no connection, that this is simply a list of Jesus’ teachings and Luke just happened to put them together because they had to go somewhere.
But the more I think about it, the more I think there is a connection. Someone asks Natalie Goldberg, “increase my writing ability” and her response is “write.” Someone asks Jesus, “increase my faith” and his response is “serve faithfully.”
This makes perfect sense in every other area of our lives. If someone goes up to the track coach and says, “How do I become a runner?” The track coach says, “run.” All the other lessons a good coach has for you won’t do you a bit of good if you stay on the couch. The way to be a writer is to write. The way to be a runner is to run.
When we say “increase our faith” what do we expect? Do we expect to be like Cinderella getting a new ball gown? Or is it more like a soldier going to a sergeant and saying “increase my discipline.” The sergeant will increase your discipline, all right. He’ll say, in one form or another, “get to work.” A commanding officer doesn’t thank his soldiers when they’ve done a day’s work. Carrying out orders is their job.
Faith isn’t just something you have; faith is something you do. The best word for it may be the old-fashioned one: “practicing” your faith.
If you tell your piano teacher you want to be a musician, what will that teacher tell you? Practice. And while it’s true that practicing is preparing to play music, it’s also true that practicing IS playing music.
Some folks say that prayer is less like handing God your wish list; prayer is more like reporting for duty. There’s a lot of truth in that. And I expect that over time it turns out to be a paradox: that as you faithfully report for duty, you discover that your faithful work is ultimately what you wish for. As you faithfully practice the piano, you discover that you are playing music and you love it. You don’t expect anybody to thank you for it; you do it for the music itself.
Jesus has already taught us everything we need to increase our faith: Love God. Love your neighbour. There is no shortage of ways to do these two things: feed the hungry, pray, visit the lonely, sing hymns, give money, read the Bible, forgive your enemies, show up for worship, speak up for the oppressed, thank God for your blessings. Pick one! Start anywhere! It’s all good!
If you want to be a writer, [write]. If you want to be a runner, [run]. If you want to be a musician, [play]. If you want faith, live faithfully. What does that look like? That’s the next part of the sermon: the part you live.
