October 6, 2019 - Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost - Increase Our Faith!

I was not at Creator worship today. I was on a three day Via de Cristo retreat. I may post about that journey sometime. We reflected on the same Gospel lesson and there was a "Bloom where you are planted" theme that our group considered on Sunday.

For now, however, I think it is more appropriate to post a memory about this lectionary day three years ago because today's Gospel, Luke 17:5-10, remains appropriate to that moment. This is the three year anniversary of the synod accepting.Creator's Ministry Site Profile, which described Creator and our vision in calling a pastor.

In many ways we are still struggling with similar anxieties and fears. Remembering what we learned then is probably worthwhile. Pastor Susan came to worship to formally accept our MSP submission. Yes, the MSP process was a humbling undertaking and taught the members of the team about God's work through Creator and our own version of asking God to increase our faith.
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At our first meeting the Transition Team's first discussion was filled with uncertainty. It was hard to separate the Holy Spirit from the anxieties we were bringing to the table. There were concerns about what Creator can afford to pay a pastor in our future.  There were also questions about who we were as a congregation after Pastor Dayle's retirement.  As the team began our work on the MSP, I believe in many ways we began praying for what the apostles are requesting of Jesus in the Gospel, "Increase our faith!"

When we prayed for that faith, what did we feel we needed? Some might have desired a faith that brings a certain kind of certainty. Perhaps, this was somewhat unintentionally a request for spiritual superiority.  Many of us talked about being a church of the future, bucking the current national trend of fewer worshipers on Sundays.  We wanted to have, at least, the prospect of positioning ourselves as relevant in a future church we can't yet discern.

We wanted our financial and spiritual problems to, magically or mercifully, be solved and many of life's challenges to no longer be a worry. We wanted to have "enough" faith for some pretty big accomplishments that would be signs of God's presence.

Instead, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the team found Creator's quiet service and fidelity to the community.  We discovered many ordinary and daily acts of ministry and service that Creator members were presently engaged in both inside and outside the church.  This is not done for reward, recognition or praise. The team learned that the vision of being a spectacular church of the future was worthwhile, yet we should allow ourselves the dignity to do only what we ought to do and be grateful and satisfied with the size of the faith God has granted us as individuals.

Martin Luther proclaimed, "The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid." It is hard to come to that cradle without preconceptions. I marvel today abut the economy and scandal of the response of our Lord "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

I might paraphrase my initial understanding of this reading as  a reproach regarding their faith (and ours). In other words this is how I heard our Lord's answer, "You don't even have faith the size of a mustard seed because, if you did, miraculous things would happen. A mulberry tree would be uprooted and planted in the sea if only you had enough faith"

I did not think of the implications of this interpretation until recently. This means Jesus is scolding rather than answering the disciple's request or taking the stance that increasing faith comes down to us as individuals - that we need to make a greater spiritual effort to increase our faith to the point that it is at least the size of a mustard seed.

Now I hear reassurance and a direct response from Jesus to their request.  In other words his answer is refreshing and inspiring, "You don't need to increase your faith to follow or act. You don't need to be a winner in some faith race. You have all the faith you need. Everyone has faith the size of a mustard seed. Look for the changes that will make around you,"
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Pastor Susan preached three years ago about the Second Lesson - 2 Timothy 1:1-14.  She emphasized the message of the reading saying we too needed to remember and rekindle our faith by remembering those in our personal lives who have always been there for us.  She quoted from Creator's Ministry Site Profile the mission that was identified.  What she felt was strong was that as a congregation we were looking outward and that we were not "bunkered in" to a vision that included only members of the congregation.  She particularly pointed to the line "While we embrace the beauty of nature around us, we acknowledge the community inequities outside our door and strive, together, to bring change and hope to our lives and community."

I pray all of us at Creator can maintain our fidelity to identity and the story of this congregation and keep it in our hearts.