Readings: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Luke
12:32-40
We pray: may the
words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight
O God, our rock and our sustainer. Amen.
There is a Sufi
story about a man who was so good that the angels ask God to give him the gift
of miracles. God wisely tells them to
ask him if that is what he would wish.
So the angels
visit this good man and offer him first the gift of healing by hands, then the
gift of conversion of souls, and lastly the gift of virtue. He refuses them all. They insist that he choose a gift or they
will choose one for him. ‘Very well,’ he replies. ‘I ask that I may do a great
deal of good without every knowing it.’
The story ends
this way: The angels were
perplexed. They took counsel and
resolved upon the following plan: every time the saint’s shadow fell behind him
it would have the power to cure disease, soothe pain, and comfort sorrow. As he walked, behind him his shadow made arid
paths green, caused withered plants to bloom, gave clear water to dried-up
brooks, fresh colour to pale children, and joy to unhappy men and women. The Saint simply went about his daily life
diffusing virtue as the stars diffuse light and the flowers scent, without ever
being aware of it. The people respected
his humility, following him silently, never speaking to him about his
miracles. Soon they often forgot his name
and called him ‘the Holy Shadow.’[1]
This story of
faith and works is pertinent to our readings today. In her comment on the story Rachel Remem
reminds us that it is comforting to think that we may be of help in ways that
we don’t even realise. She adds that we
often do so in surprising and unexpected ways – that we are in fact messengers
of healing for each other without knowing it.
Like the Holy Shadow.
There are those
times when someone just says the right thing for the moment – for them an
ordinary kindness, for us a light shining in the darkness of need. I am sure each of us can think of a time like
this. Remen talks of a day when she was
stewing over a friend who had incorporated some of her ideas in a book without
acknowledging the source. A client
walked into her room and said ‘You know you can get a lot done in this world if
you don’t care who gets the credit!’ She
had read it on the bumper sticker of the car that pulled out of her parking
spot. ‘You know you can get a lot done
in this world if you don’t care who gets the credit!’
So is it just
coincidence, being in the right place, the stars aligning for us. I think that explanation is simplistic,
casual, cautious.
I believe that in
faith, in the power of trust and love, this kind of reaching out happens all
the time and we just don’t know it (and don’t need to know it). The flicker of kindness becomes the bright
light of hope, of healing, of love in those we touch in faith.
Those words from
Hebrews: Faith is the assurance of things
hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The things that
are invisible become visible in faith!
If we believe that living in love, in faith has fruit way beyond our
imagining we begin to understand how it was that Abraham and Sarah set out for
a strange land, lived simply while they waited for the promised city whose
architect and builder was God, placed their trust in a ridiculous promise of
descendants as great as the stars of heaven, as numerous as the grains of sand
by the seashore. We begin to see a
glimmer of the possibilities the world can be changed if we but live in the way
of God. Of the transformation that comes
from us truly being the presence of Jesus in our every day lives. So why the stress around being a person of
faith? Why are we so loathe to accept
uncertain future, to believe that trust that in Christ it will bear fruit way
beyond our imagining?
In a way it’s like
we don’t quite trust God’s presence in the
unseen unless we can check it off as well – we like to see the
trajectory of our faith in action – be sure that our efforts are
worthwhile, our planning and execution best practice, that the projected
outcome is at least loosely achieved.
And we get easily despondent when that doesn’t happen. Because our efforts seem to have
failed, we don’t believe God’s work through us could possibly succeed! The Holy
Shadow is not quite trusted.
Yet Abraham and
Sarah did just this, they did trust in God – in faith they lived their lives as
God’s people not looking backwards to see how well their sowings were growing
but forwards in expectation of what, in God’s grace, is made possible. They believed that God had their future in
hand, they looked forward to the city that God had both planned and was
executing, even though they were living in tents in the meantime. They had faith in God’s eternal love and
promise. Let us not make Abraham and
Sarah perfect people though – they would have had doubts, debates and
difficulties along the way but the thing is they kept their faces turned
towards the journey that they had committed to in faith.
And Jesus brings
us both the knowledge and reassurance of that faithfulness and love of God: in
his living, his teaching, his death and resurrection Jesus time and time again
shows us the power of trusting in God completely, placing our lives, our
futures, the transforming of the world into Gods hands in faith.
It is here in this
reading from Luke, where Jesus, in these wonderfully tender words, says to his
people: "Do
not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom.
He goes on to encourage us: be dressed for action, have your lamps lit no matter how small you think they might be, for every moment you live in the expectation of the kingdom, then so it shall be.
He goes on to encourage us: be dressed for action, have your lamps lit no matter how small you think they might be, for every moment you live in the expectation of the kingdom, then so it shall be.
So what shall we
take with us as we go from here today.
Maybe it is to be the Holy Shadow as was the saint in the story. Don’t panic because things are not moving at
the speed you would like. Don’t keep
looking back in hope – trust that all you have done in faith is growing new
things, offering hope and healing and new beginning because you believed, and
then turn round and bring the same faith and hope for the future.
Carry these words
with you today and ponder them in your hearts:
Faith is the assurance of things
hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
And trust that
everything you do in love ripples out into bigger and bigger waves. Trust in each other as a community of Christ
– love into the unlovely, be gentle with the clumsy and the klutzy, forgive the
times we don’t quite get it right, listen to the wisdom and the questions that
come with community, speak with hope into the future, pray for the healing of
the world, every day, and be ready, be the light of Jesus transforming the
world, and let nothing, nothing put it out!
Amen.
Margaret Garland
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