Sermon for Friends Congregational Church

“It's Good to Be Back Home”

Delivered by Tamara Franks

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12: 32-40

It is good to be back home.

Some of you may not know me  . . . .

It is always good to come back except for questions that seems to continually pop up when anyone finds out what I’m doing –

So, where do you hope to end up?

What do you want to do when you finish?

These are fair questions -- These questions are the epitome of human nature. We want to know don’t we?

She’s going to seminary, she’s going into the ministry – she must have special access to God and know all the answers – she must have clarity of vision. She has heard some call and answered it. She must know.

Last night as I was reading quickly and profusely as I attempted to hear God’s word from these passages I read of this account with Mother Teresa. A volunteer she encountered while working within the “house of the dying” in Calcutta, asked for prayers.

Mother Teresa asked what specifically did the volunteer request prayers for.

“Pray that I have clarity” was the reply of the volunteer.

Mother Teresa said no and that was that.

The volunteer asked why she wouldn’t pray for clarity and Mother Teresa said that clarity was the last thing they were clinging to and that they must let go of it.

The insistent volunteer commented that Mother Teresa herself had always seemed to have the clarity that they had longed for.

Mother Teresa could only chuckle and respond, “I have never had clarity; what I’ve always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust.”

We want to know more than we want to trust.

We want to know how high gas prices are going to go.

We want to know if this is the year for the Aggies.

We want to know if this time we will stick to our diets.

We want to know if we have chosen the right retirement account – will we have enough saved up after we retire.

We want to know when the killing will stop – in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in drug wars,

We want to know when the stupidity of drinking alcohol until alcohol poisoning is a fact and a death sentence will finally be know by teens and twentysomethings.

We want to know when peace will reign.

If we knew – if we had all the answers - - there would be no need of faith.

If we knew all the answers then there would be no need to wonder – to dream – to hope

But we don’t know the answers. And so every moment of every day we get to choose –

We get to choose if we will listen to the stories of our faith

Abraham and Sarah – as was read in Hebrews  --are examples of how we are to have faith in the times of unknowing.

v. 8 By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place, not knowing where he was going

Not knowing where he was going, he set out for a place. Not having all the facts and figures Abraham started out on his journey. Not knowing where the journey would end, if he would make it or if the promised land would come to fruition, Abraham, by faith, obeyed and took off.

This is far different than spending planning sessions outlining the objectives and goals and then deciding how to carry out those objectives and goals step by step and point by point.

In our ability to know and to process we strategize, test and retest and believe that we have it all together. We believe that in our scientific discoveries, experiments, procedures, inspections and lists of standard operating procedures that we can make the right things happen.

And often they do.

But then a bridge collapses in Minnesota. A bridge that was built by engineers with degrees and that was inspected by experts still collapses killing family members and friends. People who were loved, respected and admired  -- their lives are gone. 

Are you going to continue driving on bridges? Are you going to stop trusting engineers and experts?

Faith isn’t rational. Faith isn’t scientific. Faith is action. Faith obeys.

Unfortunately, faith typically isn’t displayed in times of ease and comfort. But rather faith is found and seen in times of turmoil, distress and uncertainty.

Living in a reality that is bounded by faith, is a reality that chooses to trust God’s calling. This is not a reality that is safe and secure.

Living in this reality as we read in Luke says

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Just prior to this verse are the chunk of verses that I can only guess Bobby McFerrin was referring to when he wrote his hit of all time – Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Jesus said, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing. God feeds the birds. Which one of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Consider the lilies how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

Solomon had it all – he was wealthy and had temples and all manner of things gold and silver – and yet Jesus teaches us that he had nothing compared to the birds and the lilies. So why do we keep trying to be like Solomon?

Luke’s gospel lesson for today is an attempt to get us to let go.

“Sell your possessions, and give alms.” Our possessions weigh us down on a number of levels. Deb and I are currently a three car family—that requires 3 oil changes every 3 months are 5000 miles, that requires 3 state inspections which mean finding the time for three trips to the station, 3 tanks to keep full of gasoline and 3 different vehicles to keep tuned up and running – in a span of a few months, the van needed $300 of work, the pickup needed its big tuneup and the Subaru needed its tires rotated. This week Deb suggested that we think about becoming a one-car household – I couldn’t have agreed with her more!

When we live by faith, and we discern God calling us to downsize, to let go, we live into this faith knowing that somehow we will manage. When we live by faith, we live believing that God will provide for our needs – needs that we may or may not realize. I am not saying that living by faith is sitting around waiting for the platter full of food to come by miraculously, for even the birds flit about looking for food. They spend their energy finding and consuming food. We have this chicken right now that lives with us – that’s another story, but I have been finding myself watching Chicklet, that’s its name. All she does is look for food the entire time she is out of her crate – she is continually living the life of a chicken – which is to eat so that she can produce eggs. She is not worrying about what she might need or what she might can use.

When we are bogged down by our possessions we tend to spend all of our time and energy on our possessions. We worry about them, we fret and are consumed with wondering if it’s time to upgrade our computer. We spend our time shopping for a storage shed to store all our stuff. We spend our energy organizing and storing our stuff. And then in the stress of wondering if we are managing our possessions, the arguments begin, the scowls loom large and the tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife and we wonder when life stopped being so simple.

Abraham and Sarah lived in tents –by faith, the writer of Hebrews said, Abraham and Sarah stay for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents. I’m guessing Abe and Sarah were much more able to follow when God beckoned. Luke’s gospel tells us to sell our possessions so that we might be ready. Luke writes, “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit,  . . . .You must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

You have an option to be ready. At each moment of every day, I believe we get to make the choice to live into the life that God offers. For Jesus said that I come to give you life. Given our past experiences, our present circumstances, our abilities, our limitations, certain options are open to each one of us each moment. God provides life for us. We choose how we will respond. Through prayer, attention to the Spirit, we discern where we find life.

We can worry, fret, and live in fear or we can live into a faith that was seen in Abraham and Sarah. A couple old and without children who continued to trust God – who continued to believe  . . .

And the writer of Hebrews says it best – by faith he received the power of procreation, even though he was too old , . . . .he was as good as dead . . . but he still believed and his descendents were born and they know number the stars of the heaven . . . .

When we believe and put our faith in God, we realize that this place is not our true home – for we are but strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

This homeland is found where we put our hearts, not where we store up our treasures.

This homeland is not necessarily about clarity of vision, but it is about listening to God’s call for a just peace, a just society, a just land – we have visions of peace, we have visions of how we want life to be, -- this is the essence of faith – knowing that we may not see our visions come to fruition.

This homeland that God offers will not be found as we continue to acquire or as we seek to know what tomorrow will bring.

But this homeland, this kingdom of heaven that God offers is found in our hearts – when our treasures are in the simplicity of living a life ready to answer God’s call of faith – when we travel light enough and are alert at all times – then when opportunities arrive, we will be ready to receive God’s blessings of love and life.