Faith is Not Knowing
Now faith is confidence in things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:1,8)
In my email inbox five mornings a week, comes Anu Garg’s A.Word.A.Day, bringing me a word I may know, or may be new to me. And some of them I can adopt and use, some even in a sermon, some I would not dare speak aloud in church.
Along with the day’s word is how to pronounce it, and its definition (some words have more than one meaning and use and even more than one
pronunciation); and an example or two of using the word in a sentence. Then, below that and equally interesting is A THOUGHT FOR TODAY. And last Tuesday morning the thought was this:
No amount of belief makes something a fact. (James Randi magician and skeptic (b. 7Aug 1928) - -
- - which in fact paraphrases my own personal theme-song that I picked up during my first Navy assignment in Washington DC over fifty years ago: "Just because you believe it, believe it with all your heart, even believe it fervently with every fibre of your being, that don’t make it so!”
From the NT book Hebrews, we are working on Faith, where the opposite of Faith is not Doubt, but Certainty. The opposite of Faith is Certainty, where Faith is Belief. Not, as Mark Twain wrote, “Faith is believing what you know damn well ain’t so,” but as the Bible says in our Hebrews reading, Faith is confidence in things Hoped For. At Genesis 12 God tells Abraham to leave Haran and, along with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, depart for a land that God will show him and award to him and his heirs as a gift forever.
And not only The Land (part of which is the land that the nation Israel claims as Abraham’s heir today), but also that Abraham (whose wife was barren and they had no children) that Abraham and Sarah would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore (which is to say innumerable); and also that Abraham would be blessed, and especially that Abraham would BE a blessing to the world. And Abraham’s faith: believing God, trusting God, and doing as God commanded, Abraham’s faith is credited to Abraham as Righteousness. In other words, God’s reward to Abraham for his Faith, is being declared Righteous regardless of his sins (and, believe me, Abraham was at times naughty and quite disgusting), but Abraham is God’s friend regardless, or as my Baptist relatives used to ask, “Are you saved?” And yes, Abraham was “saved”, in a right relationship with God, which for many carries a promise of Heaven after this life.
So, now, what is our Faith, and what does it mean? First of all, back to the beginning, Faith is NOT Certainty. Faith is "not knowing". Faith is Hope, confident Hope; Hope SO confident in fact, that you lay your fears and worries aside, turn it over to God, and so Trust in God that you live your life in accordance with God’s will.
Again in other words, that you live your life in accordance with your Baptismal Covenant:
I WILL continue on the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.
I WILL persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever I fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.
I WILL proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Jesus Christ.
I WILL seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving my neighbor as myself.
I WILL strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.
And although the details of it have changed over the ages, from Jewish belief to Christian belief, and indeed within Christianity itself (including differing from one Christian to another) we believe in the Life of the World To Come. Every faith group does not believe that, but it’s a principal holding of the Christian faith as we know it today. And the theology of it shows up not only in the Creeds, but in the Prayers of the People of our liturgy for Burial of the Dead, Rite One, listen. And as you hear them, remember that a mark of Anglicanism (the Episcopal Church is the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion) - - a mark of Anglicanism is the Latin phrase “lex orandi lex credendi”, the law of praying is the law of believing. Again in other words, our theology, what we believe about God, is easily found by paying attention to what we do and say and sing and pray when we gather for worship (as we are gathered this morning). So here’s what we believe happens and God does for us (and for those we love and for everyone God loves) when we die:
O God, whose mercies cannot be numbered: Accept our prayers on behalf of thy servant (departed), and grant him/her an entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant, we beseech thee, to thy whole Church in paradise and on earth, thy light and thy peace.
Grant that all who have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection may die to sin and rise to newness of life, and that through the grave and gate of death we may pass with him to our joyful resurrection.
Give courage and faith to those who are bereaved, that we may have strength to meet the days ahead in the comfort of a reasonable and holy hope (which is Faith), in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those we love.
Help us, we pray, in the midst of things we cannot understand, to believe and trust in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to life everlasting.
Grant us grace to entrust our loved one who has died to thy never-failing love; receive him/her into the arms of thy mercy, and remember him/her according to the favor which thou bearest unto thy people.
Grant that, increasing in knowledge and love of thee, he may go from strength to strength in the life of perfect service in thy heavenly kingdom.
Grant us, with all who have died in the hope of the resurrection, to have our consummation and bliss in thy eternal and everlasting glory, and, with all thy saints, to receive the crown of life which thou dost promise to all who share in the victory of thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Into thy hands, O merciful Savior, we commend thy servant (departed). Acknowledge, we humbly beseech thee, a sheep of thine own fold, a lamb of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of thy mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.
Again, understand that these prayers are an expression of our Faith, what God, our God who loves us, can and does do for us when we die. And why? Because we are walking in the Faith of Abraham, Trusting in Abraham’s God, and believing the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ: in my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am there you may be also.
Where and what is it that Jesus goes and comes back for each of us? We don’t KNOW (remember Faith is not knowledge, Faith is Hope, confident Hope, Hope so confident that we live our lives as Abraham did, and as we covenant with Jesus and each other, trusting in the promises of God.
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Rough draft standby sermon for 11 Aug 2019, just in case, the Rev. Tom Weller. Text, Hebrews 11:1f.
Art: http://atom.doaks.org/atom/index.php/story-of-abraham-departure-to-canaan
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old-- and Sarah herself was barren-- because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.