My Own Private Peniel Year C Proper 24 16 Oct 2016

“My Own Private Peniel”

Year C Proper 24, 16 October 2016

St. David’s Episcopal, Aylett, VA

Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Old Testament
Genesis 32:22-31
The same night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

The Gospel
Luke 18:1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

This was a hard week, again. Last week I mentioned not being sure where to go, not feeling led. But this week I can honestly say that I have preached on four of these readings, some of them more than once. Did you notice that I even quoted the Psalm for this week in last week’s sermon? Two of these readings I would list as some of my favorites in the Bible. So there is no dearth of things to say. When I am overwhelmed, though, I tend to remind myself of the K.I.S.S. principle, Keep It Simple, [Stupid]. Sweetheart is probably a better replacement for Stupid. So we will look at how we connect with God.

We all have our own private Peniel. We all wrestle with God. Some of us may see it as that. Some of us may call it all kinds of things, a dark night of the soul like John of the Cross, or a time of trial, or a bad spell. But I firmly believe that we all have a period or periods in our lives where we wrestle with God. Even in the Collect, there is a recognition that we [quote] “persevere with steadfast faith.” [endquote] There is a struggle to live a life of faith in this world. We all wrestle with God.

Why we wrestle, though, is what makes it private, just for us.

There are few scriptures that are so formative as when Jacob wrestled all night. I have had some bad nights of sleep, but I have never thrown out a hip. Kink in the back, maybe. Jacob felt forever changed from this night, and even changed his name. Israel means those who wrestle with God.

Jacob saw himself as Israel, and I would argue that we should, too. Now you might say that we should do what God says. Yep. You are right.

But we don’t. We finagle and rationalize. We obscure and ignore. We cherry-pick verses to follow, and then slap the ones not pertaining to us onto others. What a great band of hypocrites we are. I would argue that give me someone who is wrestling with God and I will see someone who is taking God seriously. We only pay attention to the things we care about.

There is an obscure little movie called Empire Records which featured several future stars as young adults. It is one day in the life of a record store. In the movie, one of the characters is a shoplifter at this small store who has been repeatedly caught, and in a moment of calm between all the crazy energy of the movie, the manager stops and asks the shoplifter who is in his office waiting for the police why he keeps coming back and causing him so much grief. And the silly shoplifter says, “Because I love this place. I would do anything to work here!” Flabbergasted, the manager says, “To have you behave all I have to do is give you a job?!?!?” We only give energy to the things we take seriously. The shoplifter with Empire Records, and us hopefully with God.

When our daughters were younger, we had a long talk with them about how they need to seek positive, not negative, attention. When we act out and misbehave, we are looking for negative attention. When we do what we are supposed to do, and try to excel, we are seeking positive attention. Maybe both are wrestling with God? The one acting out is usually out of anger, frustration, or if a little kid, low blood sugar.  Our friends in 12 Steps programs taught me a great acronym. When I am about to make an important choice that I am wondering if it is the right call, I should H.A.L.T. HALT, which stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. If I am any of those things, hungry, angry, or together, hangry, lonely or tired, I need to remedy that before I move on with whatever it was I was about to decide or do. I stop because I want to seek God’s positive attention.

What does that look like? Jesus said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” A seminary professor of mine translated the Greek this way, “Put God’s priorities first and God’s okaying of you, and everything else will fall into place.” The righteousness of God, God’s okaying of us, is that positive attention I was talking about. This is wrestling with God, too, just the other end. We take God so seriously that we strive with God to please God. We seek out that Atta’Girl, and that Atta’Boy! We seek God’s input in our lives and ways. And that is what gets us into our Gospel for the day.

Jesus’ parable is one of those unique ones. Some parables are about how wonderful the Kingdom of God is. Some are about how we should act, and what we should do. Some are about the nature of God. This one, like a few others is the opposite of that. GOD IS NOT LIKE THIS, GOD IS MUCH BETTER. This parable falls into that category. God is not like this, like all of us, is the implication.

Thank God, that God is not like us, vindictive and petty, small and cynical. The judge is all these things. The woman has a case and she calls for justice. But this judge listens to WII-FM, What’s In It For Me. He has no fear (hear the word respect there) for God or man, and yet, just to stop the constant NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE (like the Grinch) the judge does that right thing.

See, God is not like that. God respects Godself and humanity. God, actually, loves us. God knows the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, to quote the Christmas carol. And that is why we pray.

In our wrestling with God, for the most part, it is a verbal repartee. We spar with God as we lift up our prayers. The cliche, Prayer does not change things for us as much as it changes us for things, rings true. Or to put it in a more Episcopal slant, our Praying shapes our Believing.

I am an external processor. It took my wife a few years of marriage to finally figure this out. I would say something. An idea. A thought. I was “putting it out there.” It drove her crazy. She thought I was making a decision, or had made one and was announcing it. She processes internally, and when I finally get her to talk she has already made up her mind. She projected onto me the way she was. Because I am an external processor I often see my prayer life this way. You do not have to see it this way, but it helps me. In my prayers, in my innermost thoughts that I share only with God, I am “putting it out there,” or rather I am putting ME out there. I am exposing my inmost thoughts. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Might as well, God already knows my heart. And in those prayers, that exposing of my inmost self, I stand there with God and see what makes me up. And in that exposure, my desires, my wants, my hopes, my fears, I see who I am and who I am becoming in God. That is when we really wrestle, me and God.

It can be terrifying. So let’s keep it simple. If I ask for a shiny red bicycle, and I pray with all my heart for that shiny red bicycle, then I get to see that shiny red bicycle through God’s eyes. I might start to see that my blue bike is just fine. And I might see that there are those without bikes. And I might see that I use my bike about three times a year, and begin to question, do I really need a bike? Or I might see that I need to give up my car, and bike where I need to go for the earth and for my health and that shiny red bike would enable me to do that. Or whatever. There is nothing wrong with me telling God what I THINK my prayer is. And as I wrestle with God I might begin to see what God’s way for me is. At least I think so, I hope so. That is my prayer.

In my prayers, my incessant, non-stop prayers to the One that wants to hear them, we see that there is nothing that I take to God that God cannot handle. Heck, read the Psalms. God strike my enemy! God hate the evil-doer. God bless me! There is nothing hidden in the Psalms. The whole human condition is there. God is okay with all of us. We can bring it all there in prayer.

Will we? As Jesus asked, “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Today as we wrestle with God in our own private Peniel, and I hope you do, think of Jacob. He threw his whole self into that wrestling match, and he was forever changed. When we meet God face to face, in times of trial, and times of fear, and times of Grace, I trust we see God’s loving face looking back. God wants to hear from you, and there is nothing you can pray that God has not heard and that God cannot handle. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in,

from this time forth for evermore. Amen. (Ps. 121:8)

"It's Just Words"

"It's just words, folks, just words..."

That was the defense. Mere words. Nothing more, and then with the next breath, the resounding cry, "Believe me! Believe me!" But aren't they words, too?

Which words to believe? Which words we heard are we to believe?

Words mean things.

They do. I am a believer in words. I have staked my life on words. I was an English teacher. Just words. I am a preacher. Just words. Words mean things.

What we think, shapes our words. What we say, shapes our actions. What we do, is who we are. Where do we draw the line on this slippery slope? Where does it end. When does the Believe Me turn on, and when does this Just Words turn on? How can anyone tell the difference?

When I hear that it is "Just words" I take seriously the visceral reaction I feel. I have to. My gut feels like it is socked. I cannot give a pass, not on this.

The words I hear sound like an echo of Germany in the Thirties, or Italy, or Spain. Only I can save you. Only I can lead the way. Only I am looking out for your interest. Only I...

But those are Just Words, too. So many words, supposedly The Best Words, All The Words. But if they are Just Words, does anything matter. I feel like half the country has gone insane, and the feeling is mutual from the other side.

I have friends who cannot envision voting where I am leaning, and I cannot imagine going down the path they are choosing. I, like so many, am desperate for change. But not at any cost. I am not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater. One candidate may be more of the status quo, and many argue voting the lesser of two evils. However, the devil I know is better than the one I do not. Untested, untried, no substantive policies other than Believe Me is terrifying. For me there is no choice.

But as I write these words, just my words, I have to attempt to hope that there is a underlying hope in the American people. Things can be better, and I trust they will be. One of the oldest questions, at least to according to the Bible, is "Am I my brother's [and sister's] keeper?" Do I have a stake in caring for them? I believe that we do. This does not come from building walls, kicking them out, or extreme vetting (which I see as code for legal walls instead of physical, condemning a process already being done).

At the end of the day, I have to believe in our better selves, where we choose love over hate, hope over fear. I choose to be my brothers' and sisters' keeper, and I choose for them to be mine. We are all in this together, I believe for the better, not the worst. God be with us in these days where darkness is being preached instead of light. I have to believe that these words will not echo, and will fall on increasingly deafened ears. This American experiment has come too far to think otherwise.

Year C Proper 23 2016 "May Grace Precede and Follow"

“May Grace Precede and Follow”

Year C Proper 23, 9 October 2016

St. David’s Episcopal, Aylett, VA

There are certain Sundays when the sermons come easy, and there are certain Sundays when they do not. Sometimes it is because it is a very hard text, like last week. Thank you for staying with me on that one, but this is the opposite.

I was out yesterday with my daughters and driving home I mentioned that I was having problems coming up with what to say, and despite spending a good number of hours like I usually do, I had nothing. They asked me what it was about.

I said that today’s reading was about the 10 lepers in Luke, and only one came back to say thank you and praise God. They both immediately said, that saying thank you is good. And my older one said, “Talk about that a-word that means you are thankful for what you’ve got.”

“Appreciative,” I said, “you think I should say to be appreciative.” She said, “Yeah.”

We should be appreciative, and say ‘Thank you!’ That pretty much could sum up what they thought I should talk about, and I told them most of you are not children, but if most of you were I would go on for a while about that. But you are not children. If you do not say please and thank you yet, nothing I will say will make you change at this point, most likely. If I were to say to you to be appreciative, I would have to be like Forrest Gump and admit,  “That’s all I have to say about that.”

I will say on a receiving side, when someone takes the time to stop and say Thank You, it does make a huge difference. I have been a teacher long enough for students to return as adults, legally and mostly biologically, to take the time to hunt me down and say Thank You. I had one student, who was almost apologetic when he came up to me. “I know you get this all the time, but you made a real difference in my life and who I became. Thank you!” I had to tell him, “No, I do not get that all the time. Thank you for saying it. That means a lot to me.” It meant so much, and all I did was teach classes. I cannot imagine what it meant to Jesus on that day. It is hard to just focus on this, though.

But let’s take a different tact. In our collect for the day, we prayed: “Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us…” Ah, now if we view our texts through that lens, we can go to some pretty interesting areas.

One of my favorite prayers images this, the Breastplate of St. Patrick. It speaks of the Grace of God being before and behind us, and a lot of other places as well…

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*
I bind unto myself today.

[skipping several stanzas]

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

“Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us…”

What if we really started to see Christ in all of what we encounter? What if we started to see Christ in everyone we meet? And Christ transforming us? And Christ transforming everyone we meet and every encounter that we have?

Christ be with me, within me, behind me, before me, beside me, to win me, to comfort and restore me. Christ beneath me, above me, in quiet, in danger, in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Another quote today, like Louis Armstrong sang, “What a wonderful world!”

There are two sides of Grace. We receive. We give. It also goes the other way. We give. We receive. When the Samaritan leper came back, he was giving back to Jesus, and giving glory to God. Yes, he received the Grace of Christ, but in his worshiping God at Jesus feet, Jesus received Grace from a Samaritan. This is not a reciprocal relationship. We do not pay Grace back. We cannot if we wanted to. We respond to Grace. How? By giving it to others. (We talked about this last week.)

Luke makes a big deal about the Samaritan coming back and not the others because his kind was not taken off in the Babylonian exile, and the Samaritans stayed and took land they did not own and took wives from foreign lands. They had betrayed those in the nation of Israel, but it was worse. But they were not  just Betrayers, but also Heretics. When they worshiped God, the same God, mind you, they did it on high holy places, altars on hills and mountaintops instead of buying into the Temple complex in Jerusalem. Psalm 121, a song of ascent, that was sung on the way to worship in Jerusalem, talks about disgust over Samaritan practice and praise for the Temple: “I look unto the hills,[these high holy places] from where will my help come, it comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.” Luke includes this story he is emphasizing that the faithful can come from anywhere, even Samaria. (This is what makes the Good Samaritan such a big deal in that parable.)

But here is this outsider, accepted, appreciated, and acknowledged by Jesus as being righteous. "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Even one outside can be made whole, like the woman (woman, and an unclean one at that) who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, he said the same thing to her, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace.” An unclean woman, a leprous Samaritan, no surprise what Luke’s theme is here. All are met with Christ’s Grace. It precedes him, and it follows him. The Samaritan leper came back. He came back and praised God. There was a wake of Grace. Jesus was touched emotionally, but this physically untouchable man. But the Grace rippled to the others there, the disciples, and all the communities they touched. He was able to show an aspect of the true disciple, we live in an appreciative way. We do that by expecting Grace, not to our glory and honor, but God’s. We live, not spoiled, but so that we can have the Grace precede and follow us, just like it did Christ.

I use the phrase “You have been blessed to be a blessing” all the time. The intent and purpose is not for us to have stuff, to be nice, or to do well. The intent and purpose is the Glory of God. You have been blessed to be a blessing. You have so that you can share. You give so that others can have, not so you can get back. In the second line of the Collect for the day, we also prayed, “that we may continually be given to good works…” That is why we live in this bubble of Grace.

Last night I made a pot of chili in the Crockpot for the football game this afternoon. Nice and hearty. Before I went to bed the smell filled the house. We had our windows open because we could, and it has been so nice, good sleeping weather at night. I bet the aroma was in a bubble around our house. People walking down the sidewalk could smell it. People sitting on their porches could smell it. It was all around us. I look forward to eating it today. And even more than the aroma of that chili, Christ’s Grace should be all around us, and in us. People should see it coming when we enter a room, and like a nice perfume, its aroma should linger when we leave.

Saying Thank You. It is more than just being polite. It is showing and saying we acknowledge that we were without, and have received. It is an important skill, and a form of worship. We show the nature of who we are by how we say Thank You.

Like Paul reminded Timothy in today’s reading, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.” Live that appreciative and acceptable life, Timothy! And those words apply to us as well.

A spiritual mystic from the Middle Ages, a Dominican friar, who has since been titled Meister Eckhart, Master Eckhart in English, said that we should have an appreciative life, and even if just for a moment, if we opened ourselves to God’s Grace, God would know and be appreciative of us.

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough,” said Meister Eckhart. May that be in our minds, and in our hearts. May we live that Thank You. And that will be enough. Amen.

Increase Our Faith: a sermon Year C Proper 22 02 Oct 2016

“Increase Our Faith”

Year C Proper 22, 2 October 2016

St. David’s Episcopal, Aylett, Virginia

Luke 17:5-10
17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
17:6 The Lord replied, "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.
17:7 "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'?
17:8 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'?
17:9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?
17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"

There are certain passages that seem to make little sense, and we have been wrestling with some doozies over the last few weeks. This week is another one of those.

It starts with what sounds like one of those dangerous prayers, like “Lord, grant me patience!” or “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” When I first started studying this, I thought it was one of those dangerous prayers, prayers we think we mean until we see what the implications are. But as I read this text, and looked at the context and how it all wove together, I saw it very differently.

We have the apostles, the ones faithful enough to be chosen after they had already shown the faith to follow, and they come to Jesus and say, “Lord, increase our faith.” They want more. More is better. I saw the commercials that came on last year, with the man sitting with the kindergarten kids when they looked at More. And they all agreed, More is Better. That’s what we all think. But then we have the phrase, “Too much of a good thing.” I don’t think you can ever have too much faith, really. I agree that it is good to have lots of faith, but I do not think Jesus is saying here that the disciples do not have enough faith. Nor do I think Jesus is saying that we need to have faith like a mustard seed. Look at what the mustard seed does with its faith. Why on earth would someone order a tree to go into the sea.

We wrestle with this passage because we hear it in holy tones, our ears are attuned for enlightenment, not hilarity. I hear Jesus being funny, sarcastic even. He was an excellent storyteller and communicator. And here, in what seems so confusing (when spoken in holy tones) changes its meaning with a nod and a wink. Context, and tone, mean everything.

As our world moves more and more into short, snipped communications on our phones, we have even had to invent shortcuts to convey meaning, meaning beyond our words. Emoticons are a new necessary. And I feel Jesus is giving a winky smile to them and us.

We see the apostles coming in with a pious request, because we want the same thing, “Lord, increase our faith.” But remember when James and John asked to sit at his right and left, and Jesus rebuked them. Those places are God’s business; they were looking for power and position, which is not what God’s Kingdom is about.

What if the apostles came in the same way. What if in their minds and hearts they were thinking, The Master will love us more if we seem to want to be more pious, that’s what he seems to like and reward. “Oh, Lord, so wise and wonderful, increase our faith!” And I think Jesus saw right through them.

They are worrying about silly things, so Jesus responds with silly. THEY OBVIOUSLY HAD FAITH OR THEY WOULD NOT BE APOSTLES! 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.”

Maybe the problem is not that they do not have faith, or they do not have ENOUGH faith. Maybe the problem is what will we do with it.

A story is told, a true one, of one of my favorite authors, Tony Campolo. He was asked to speak at a Missions Conference. Just before he spoke, the moderator got word that one of the Missionaries was in great need, and needed $5,000 I think it was. Unannounced, she asked Dr. Campolo to please pray for the need to be met. He said, “No.” She was taken aback, and assumed he was joking. She asked again. He said, “No, but what I will do is this.” He reached into his pocket, took out his wallet, and emptied the contents of all his cash. He went and set it on the edge of the stage. The moderator laughed and thanked him for making his point. He said, “No” again. It was not a metaphor, he pointed at her and told her to do the same. He then told the ushers to go and gather all the cash from the attendees. They did. After this spontaneous collection they counted it up, and there was over $15,000, triple the need. It was then time for him to speak. The moderator was glad she was off the hook. Dr. Campolo went to the lectern and said, “Don’t ask God for a nickel, when he has given you a dollar.” He sat down, and did not say anything else. I heard later that they did not honor his contract for his speaking fee because he did not speak, but I think that his message screamed, and the conference showed that they still did not get it. [For those reading the blog, I know that I used this story last week at another church, but it fit so well again, I could not think of one better. All I can ask is forgiveness if you had to read this one again.]

We, like the apostles, ask for a nickel more of faith when we already have a dollar in our spiritual purse unused, unshared, untested. We may say we have faith, but what do we do with what we have? Do we worry about our rank and position? Do we play games to jockey and improve our place?

I think this is what Jesus is getting at because of where this leads next. He talks about slaves, coming in from the fields. Do they get to sit down and relax and tell their Master what they want for dinner?

Put this in context. They just asked to have their faith increased. If they had been sincere Jesus would have spoken about faith, I believe, or rather, I have faith in that. He is talking about position and obedience because Jesus is all about increasing their faith. So he says some harsh, SARCASTIC things.

“Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?” Jesus saw what they were doing. I used to teach preschoolers, and middle schoolers, they are not much different. They both are desperate for approval. When I would assign an essay, they would come after having written a sentence and ask for feedback. When the apostles came and ask Jesus to Increase their faith what they were really saying is, “Jesus, give us your approval and attention, and say ‘My, what a good boy you are!’” So he goes on and shows them, do I thank you for doing what you are supposed to do? Should I? If I do that then where will it end? I want you to do your best! I want you to GROW UP in your faith. I want you to USE the FAITH YOU ALREADY HAVE!

He doesn’t want us to use it to uproot trees, or build bigger monuments to our egos. He wants us to be deliberate and devoted servants to our Master and Lord, Jesus himself.

When I worked with students wanting to get better grades, and when I worked with parishioners wanting to grow in their faith, most of them knew what they should do, what they had to do to grow and improve. But we, JUST LIKE THE APOSTLES, go to our teacher for a shortcut. “Increase our faith.” “Increase my grades.” “Increase my sense of self.” What all these requests are saying is “GIVE ME A SHORTCUT SO I DON’T HAVE TO DO THE HARD WORK.”

If I want big muscles, I have to do two things. I have to put in what that muscle needs to grow, and I have it use it so that it meets resistance and my body responds by growing the muscle to meet the resistance.

Our faith is the same way. Our faith does not increase when our spiritual self is not fed with what it needs for growth. What feeds our soul? Scripture. Prayer. The Sacraments. But these, in and of themselves, while wonderful, will only make us comfortable and cozy. The equivalent of a cup of warm milk or a nap in a hammock.

The other side of the equation is also necessary. We need to meet resistance so that our muscles must respond and grow. How do we meet resistance? By meeting and ministering to the Least of These. Remember, When you have done it unto the Least of These you have done it unto me. These moments of meeting and ministering to the Least of These has not changed. For our faith to grow, we have to encounter and wrestle with the Godless systems of this world, the systems that we created and that keep down the naked, the hungry, the jailed, the outsider. These systems were established to create and maintain power. Think about it.

We have promised in our Baptismal Covenant certain things. And they are just what we are talking about today. Turn to page 304 in your prayer books. Seriously. Right now. Jump to after “I believe” stuff, and get to the promises we make. Please respond from pages 304 & 305.

Celebrant	Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?
People	I will, with God's help.
Celebrant	Will you persevere in resisting evil, and , whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People	I will, with God's help.

Celebrant	Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People	I will, with God's help.
Celebrant	Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People	I will, with God's help.

Apostles’ teachings, Eucharist, Prayers.

Resisting Evil, and Repentance.

Proclaiming the Good News.

Serving Christ in All, Loving Neighbor as Self.

Striving for Justice, Peace and Dignity.

We may pray, “Lord, Increase our Faith!” We have been made in God’s image, and we have been given the gift of faith. The problem is that it sits in our prayer closets unopened, up on the shelf with all of our other spiritual gifts still in their wrapping paper. Maybe the prayer closet is unopened, too.

We pray for a shortcut, “Lord, increase our faith.” But, we know what to do. The question that remains, will we? Amen.