Holy Communion

September 2, 2007

“Mountain Movin’ Faith”

Luke 17:5-10

There’s a monastery in Portugal that’s perched high on a three hundred foot cliff. To get to it, one must ride in a swaying basket attached to a single rope pulled by several strong monks. One tourist was about to ride up in the basket but became very nervous when he noticed the rope was quite old and frayed. He cautiously asked, “How often do you change the rope?” One monk replied, “Whenever it breaks!”

Well, riding up in that swaying basket is a lot like living in the world today. It requires a lot of faith. Like Jesus’ disciples, we, too, cry out, “Increase our faith!” In this morning’s reading from the Bible Jesus told his disciples that the smallest seed of faith could uproot and replant trees, and Matthew’s Gospel (17:20) adds to Jesus’ teaching, “. . . if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” The message, though, is the same.

Though it’s not the primary focus of today’s message, I need to say a little something about the second teaching of Jesus contained in verses 7-10. It’s built around the slave-master relationship which is common in the New Testament. It may be offensive to some whose ancestors may have been slaves in this country—a very shameful part of our nation’s history. But we need to remember that Jesus came among us as one who serves, and so are his followers servants. As far as our faith is concerned, there is no place or time, therefore, at which the disciple can say (short of physical or mental incapacity or death), “I have completed my service, now I want to be served.”

This lesson is especially applicable, I think, to leaders of the church, and here I’m focusing special attention on those of us who have been set apart or ordained by the church to give leadership, and who can sometimes forget that they are, first and foremost, “servants of the servants of God.” The time for serving God never ends. In the field or in the house, a servant is a servant.

Now, to get back to the main thrust of this morning’s message, the Bible seems to be a roster of common women and men who by faith achieve things far beyond their human limitations. Jesus’ own ministry is filled with incidents illustrating the power of faith . . . turning water into wine, the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, lepers being cleansed, the deaf being able to hear, and the dead being raised up. You may wonder why your faith doesn’t remove some mountainous obstacle to your welfare and happiness. The answer may be that you’re not using the faith you have. All of us have some faith. Jesus’ response is not a reprimand for an absence of faith but an affirmation of the faith the disciples have and an invitation to live out the full possibilities of that faith. Perhaps instead of asking for an increase in our faith, we simply ought to exercise more fully the faith we do have.

Do you remember the old story of a man who was walking across the desert in desperate need for water? Suddenly, he came upon a pump right out in the middle of nowhere. There was a baking soda can tied to the handle of the pump and inside was a handwritten note. It read:

This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer in it and it ought to last 5 years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock, I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and corked up. There’s enough in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like (crazy). You’ll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (Signed) Desert Pete.

P.S. Don’t go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with it and you’ll git all you can hold.

Like the disciples of another day, we approach Christ and ask for our faith to be increased. Our thirst for faith is great, and we would like to have the power of that tiny seed. The note from Desert Pete may help us to see the ingredients of a faith that has the power to uproot trees and move mountains. Consider with me this morning these essential ingredients.

The first ingredient is trust. The thirsty traveler had no guarantee that there was such a person as Desert Pete. Maybe the whole thing was a hoax. Faith is a capacity to trust someone or something without benefit of proof. In hearing some of the stories from the Bible some will insist that water cannot be changed into wine. But wine is 99% water to begin with! Some will say a blind person cannot be made to see and that the lame cannot walk. But some here this morning know that surgical procedures have proven that it can be done even in seemingly hopeless cases.

Faith is the capacity to trust. In order for us to trust we have to expect that something will happen because of our faith. Most of us remember the story of the farming community caught up in a terrible drought. The ministers asked their respective congregations to meet together in a field to pray for rain. When the congregations assembled at the appointed time, one of the pastors spoke: “We’ve come together today to pray for rain, but I see only one boy with an umbrella. Where, my friends, are your umbrellas?” Faith is not a matter of forcing a belief as it is a matter of trusting . . . trusting that there’s a God who in mysterious ways often moves beyond our comprehension.

The second ingredient is risk. Faith is always a risky business. If you were the thirsty one on the trail, wouldn’t you be tempted to drink the water in the bottle instead of risking it to prime the pump? There’s always the temptation to keep what we have, or to stay where it’s comfortable and familiar. But when we begin to trust God and the teachings of Christ, we’ll be willing to take risks in response to our faith.

Successful businessman, Loring Puffer, helps us to see what might be involved when we take such a risk. In an article that was written in the Christian Science Monitor, Puffer was described as one who worked very hard at fulfilling a dream, not so much going from rags to riches, but persevering until he succeeded in going from riches to rags.

You see, for 36 years Puffer was a part of the middle class culture. He attended college, got his degree in business administration and became a very successful business executive. He and his wife and family lived in a colonial home in the country and he owned a plane. But things began to change when he expressed dissatisfaction about how people were dealing with various social problems. He said that he grew weary of the “do-gooders” who were concerned about prison conditions. If someone had made a mistake, they ought to pay the price. He was also concerned about so many being on welfare. After all, he got an education and a job, why couldn’t others do the same? He also was very disturbed by information relating to child abuse. His children weren’t abused. They were loved and cared for.

But all of this began to change when Puffer realized that he had never once stepped inside a prison and had no idea what the conditions might be like. He also came to the realization that of all his friends and acquaintances, he didn’t know one single person who was on welfare. He also realized that he personally didn’t know a child who had experienced such trauma.

Puffer decided that maybe God was calling him to do something about all of this. He and his wife sold their home and the plane. He left his business and for several years attempted to meet the needs of inmates inside prisons. He also attempted to meet the needs of persons who were on welfare and he made it a point to work with children who had been abused.

The article said that there were times that Puffer would say, “Enough! I’ve given up my home, my plane, and my business. But the people in need do not go away.” So Puffer continues to serve in their behalf.

I’m not suggesting that each of us must do the same thing. What I am suggesting is that each of us must be willing to take some risks if we desire the power to uproot and plant some trees and to move mountains that can only be moved by our faith. It will mean using the precious water in the corked up bottle to prime the pump. But it’ll be worth it, for “you’ll git all the water you can hold.”

The third ingredient is work. First you have to trust, then you have to risk, and then you have to pump like (crazy). It’s important to understand that one doesn’t have to work hard to get faith. After all, faith is a gift from God. The work of which I’m speaking is the work involved in maintaining the faith and keeping it in good spiritual fitness. The central problem in the lives of the disciples wasn’t that they didn’t have enough faith. The problem was that they weren’t using the faith they had.

There’s a lot of hard work to being a Christian, and I’ve discovered over the years that there are too many Christians who aren’t all that interested in pumping very hard when it comes to their faith. Singing some favorite hymns will not solve the problems of our society, nor will they be solved by churches that manage to reduce all of the complexities of life into a T-shirt or bumper sticker philosophy. We don’t need to have our faith increased; we just need to use what we have.

Robert C. Morgan, in his book Lift High the Cross, tells about a woman who has a gift shop on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. Her name is Frieda Hannah and she understands what it means to use her faith. She’s a Palestinian Christian and makes beautiful embroidery and cross-stitch work. Her specialties are altar paraments, clergy stoles and Bible markers. She’s been in business at the same spot for over thirty years. Her eyes are beginning to fail and she now wears very thick glasses. If you go by Frieda’s shop you’ll see her smiling and greeting the tourists.

On one particular day a large Christian tour group from the U.S. was in her shop. Many of them carried Bibles and seemed to be enthused with their evangelical expression of the faith. But Robert Morgan noticed that some were quite rude, pushing and shoving and demanding to be waited on. About that time some Palestinian children came into the shop begging for money. According to Morgan, the “Christian” tour group was quite indignant. One was heard to say, “Can’t you do something to get those dirty kids out of here?” Another in the group said, “Why don’t they stay in Jordan where they belong?”

Frieda overheard these remarks. Robert Morgan said he was embarrassed and apologized for his fellow Americans, even though he didn’t know them. Frieda’s response was, “Oh, that’s all right. I learned a long time ago that many of those who take the Bible literally don’t seem to take it seriously.”

Taking the Bible seriously is far more of a challenge than taking the Bible literally. Frieda certainly takes her Bible seriously. During the last thirty years, using the earnings from her little shop, she has given over 1,000 Palestinian youth a higher education in North America and Europe. She’s built and supported the operation of three medical clinics in the West Bank, and she had built and operates two orphanages.

“Lord, could you increase our faith?” Jesus essentially said, “You already have the faith you need. You just need to put it into action.” Our problem may be a lack of commitment and dedication. But if we’re willing to trust and take some risks and put forth hard work and discipline, we’ll have a vibrant faith, capable of uprooting trees and moving mountains. We remember this as we come to the Lord’s table. Let us pray:

O Lord, you have called us to be your disciples and to come to you even without credentials, complete commitment, or a full understanding of who you are and what your commission requires of us.

You say, “Follow me,” and our pretense is exposed.

You say, “Follow me,” and our collection of things seems so silly.

You say, “Follow me,” and our will to power fades into a will of love.

Thank you for seeking us out. Thank you for bringing us close. Thank you for taking us along with the simple invitation whispered to our hearts: “Come and follow me!” Yes, Lord, yes. Amen.

Prayer after Communion: Loving and gracious God, we lift our thanksgiving for this table and its place in our lives. Forgive our sins and touch with peace those who are troubled. Bind up the wounds of those who are hurting. Give love to those who feel estranged or bitter. Make us attentive to the world of needs around us. And let Christ be the head of the table and the head of our lives, this day and forever. Amen.