God's Faithfulness

Lamentations 1:1-6 Lamentations 3:19-262

Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

God’s providence touches every part of our lives and so we sometimes find ourselves contemplating God’s touch in two quite different areas.Today we have an interesting study in contrasts. We are celebrating St Francis day by honoring our companion animals but our readings are considering something quite different – the role of faith in our lives, and the readings started with a real downer.

The Book of Lamentations in Hebrew scripture is a series of five lengthy poems of inexpressible sadness, raw pain, and deep sorrow. The poets put into words our ancestors’ experience of living through enormous public and personal suffering as the city of Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C.E.. For our ancestors, that city was the focus of hopes and dreams, the sign of God’s presence, the promise of God’s fidelity to them; its hills, its Temple, its walls and gates all spoke to travelers and residents alike of what they treasured. And now it was gone, and they wept.

We have all had times when the focus of our hopes and dreams has been taken away; through the loss of a spouse, the loss of a job, the failure to pass on exam, the onset of ill-health. And we have wept.

It often takes us a while to reach that place of faith:

this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in him."

In today’s gospel reading Jesus’ disciples were obviously wondering about faith. They were beginning to understand that following Jesus was not going to be all feel-good preaching, miracles and praise. It was going to take an unusual faith, because being disciples of Jesus for many people, then and today, means facing persecution and suffering. For those of us blessed to live without fear of persecution, it still means being willing to face your own shadow side, being willing to acknowledge your own pain and that of the world around you with compassion and without turning away.

As we look at the planet today there are many reasons for lamentation. Flooding, landslides, oil leaks, hurricane and earthquake, war which never seems to end, suicide bombing and hatred-mongering, melting ice packs and climate change. It is easy for us to get compassion overload and to turn away with a sigh. It is easy for us to become paralyzed and do nothing.

Faith gives us the ability to get up every morning and face the pain. Faith also enables us to work for change. Many of the great leaders and reformers have been people of faith. People who believed that God was doing a new work and that they were part of it. Even a very small amount of faith, Jesus reminds us, can be enough to make huge changes.

We use the word “faith” in a number of different ways. I’m not talking about believing in a particular world view or a particular cosmological system. I’m talking about the kind of faith the writer of Lamentations found:

this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in him."

This is faith based in a relationship. It is faith based in a knowledge of the character of God. I think it is analogous to the faith that our dogs and cats and birds place in us. We provide for them and they are dependent on us. I don’t think that my dog Sam ever worries about whether there will be breakfast. He knows that it will be provided. He doesn’t like it when I put stuff in his ears, he doesn’t much like it when I go out without him, but I think he knows and trusts that I am faithful and will take care of him.

This is the kind of faith that provides us with hope and joy even when everything around seems black. It is never too early to start cultivating this kind of relationship with God. If you wait until disaster hits then you’re scrabbling around hoping that the whole faith thing is real and that God really cares about you. Now is the time to experiment with developing a deep and trusting knowledge of the divine. It takes time. When Sam came to us from Woods he was grieving. His former human had died after ten years of companionship and his life had been turned upside down. It took time for him to develop a new relationship of trust with us. It takes time to develop faith in God.

There’s another kind of faith. That is listening for God’s voice and then doing what it says. Sam has never quite developed the art of doing what I say! And now he’s so deaf he rarely even hears my voice! We can be deaf to God’s voice or we can cultivate the ability to hear and to listen. Then faith is having the guts to do what we hear. This kind of faith is asking every day, “God, show me what I should do today, where I should go and to whom I should speak, and give me the words.” Then following the inklings. At first it may be difficult to distinguish God’s voice but it comes with practice and through the daily discipline of asking and of giving your life and will to God.

These days Sam always sticks pretty close to my side but when he was a little younger he liked to take his own route along the beach, often veering a hundred or more yards away from us. When he returned, occasionally he would be so pre-occupied with his own thoughts that he would tag along behind two complete strangers for several minutes before suddenly realizing that he had made a terrible mistake! Sometimes we do get off track, we think it’s God but it’s actually the voice of our own little ego. That’s OK, it’s all part of the learning process. It’s what confession is for. You look up, realize that it’s not God you’re following and head back in the right direction again.

As you watch the disasters of the world unfold it is appropriate to lament. But for people of faith it does not end with lamentation. It moves to hope and faith and trust.

this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in him."

Yet this is not a selfish personal peace but one which is to be shared. The gospel calls us to action. We are here to serve God not just to feel good.

As the gospel tells us we don’t need to be heroes but to serve faithfully. Our side of the covenant of faith is to serve God each and every day so that we each come to play our rightful role in the redemption of this planet.