Faith in the midst of Darkness

Proper 22C The Sunday closest to October 5

Haabakkuk1:1-4;2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-10
II Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

Preached at St. John’s Lancaster

Today’s lessons attest to the fact that the world can be a pretty rough place. It does not take a prophet or a philosopher King to recognize the fact that the evil seem to prosper all around us, and that for significant periods of time they seem to call the shots and accomplish their selfish and evil ways with impunity. Sometimes, as Saint Paul points out to His Grace, Bishop Timothy, good people find themselves in the most untenable of situations. And all of us, in the midst of life’s vicissitudes, have cried out with the disciples, “Oh Lord, increase our faith!” In general, or in philosophical terms, we can all see the reality of the human experience, and we sagely acknowledge that which is self evident. But what are we to do when these realities of a fallen world become so real to us that we ache within our hearts. What happens when we cry out for deliverance from cancer, or justice over some contractual situation which we agreed to when we were younger, or more foolish, or when our financial situation was so much more stable and hopeful? We cry out for God’s hope and deliverance, and like Habakkuk say, “how long, O Lord…will you not listen?” What happens when we see decisions taken by others, decisions which threaten all we love and have worked for, and we feel powerless to do anything? With that prophet, we cry, “Violence!, O Lord, will you not save us?” And who of us has not been in some difficult situation, when we have felt so awfully alone, and we knew that if we could just talk to the one that we loved, God would give us strength through that encounter? Echoing the words of St. Paul, we cry out in the darkness of the night, “I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, remembering your tears, I long to see you that I might be filled with joy.” And yet our loved one for whom we yearn is still so very, very far away, across an ocean, or in another state, or on the other side of the grave. And we are so terribly and unalterably alone.
In such circumstances and at such times, we, with the disciples, cry out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” And now as then, He seems to give us the same answer that he gave them, and it seems so insufficient. “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.” How many of us have asked with all the faith we could muster for some such miracle, only a hundred times more immediate or personal, only to see our situations remain absolutely the same, or worse. To pray , believing, and then to realize that cancer or diabetes still racks the body of the one we love; to lose a child; to find no escape from migraine headaches; to see a loved child walking along a path which will certainly lead to death and destruction in this world and the next; to see a parent or a spouse fade away to a mere shadow, both physically and mentally, of what they were in their prime; to see a marriage fail in spite of all our best efforts…the grief, and the anger, and the pain can be crippling in such a situation.
There are often those well intentioned friends, who like Job’s comforters, attempt to help us in such times. One will say that we simply lack faith, because Jesus always keeps his promises, and if the tree is not planted in the midst of the sea, the problem must be with us, and we need to be more holy in our actions and conversation if we wish to receive God‘s blessing. There is another who says that we must boldly claim the healing of God, and a third who wants to enroll us in a self-help program which will help us to see the possibilities in our lives and “just praise the Lord in everything.” They are all well intentioned, for the most part, but they are about as much help in the midst of our adversity as was Job’s wife, who counseled her suffering husband to “curse God and die.”
And so what are we to do in such times? Today’s propers give us an answer, but I’m afraid it is an answer which the practitioners of instant blessing, prosperity, and quick results will not like. The Prophet Haabakkuk is succinct when he responds to his own troubles by saying, “I will stand at my watch post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.” Paul is equally direct and realistic: “…God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline…I know the one in whom I have put my trust,and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” Such language invariably takes me back to the old words of the signing at baptism, words which were our common Anglican heritage for centuries before our own American church unilaterally modified the baptismal rite which had been used throughout the communion and the church for so long. As the Minister made a Cross upon the Child’s forehead, he said “We receive this Child into the congregation of Christ’s flock; and do sign him (or her) with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end. Amen.”
The answer to the reality of evil in our world, and to suffering in our lives, is you see an answer which does not promise immediate deliverance in every instance, nor is it an answer which releases us from the call to embrace true faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We are not called to expect that God will overturn the laws of nature, his own laws, at every turn, although from time to time it has suited him to do so. We are not called to live in some sort of denial of reality which exudes false happiness and is characterized by bad theology and a pasted on smile. We are called with Habakkuk, and Paul, and Timothy, and the Twelve, and with saints through the ages to do our duty, “and when we have done all that we were ordered to do, to say, We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.” They understood that it was not about them, but rather about God, and his plan for us all. The whole duty of man, according to the old catechism, is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is best done by patient endurance and faithful obedience, all growing from a heart filled with love for God and man.
True faith is a gift of God. It is best known in the long times, and often in the dark times, as we learn to stand the post that we are assigned by God to his glory and to the extension of his kingdom throughout the world, that every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! In the midst of the darkest time, our most discouraging time, we would do well to look to the east in anticipation of the return of Christ, the true king. He will come to vindicate his people, and to make all things right. “He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel, we, like Paul, are appointed heralds.” Such an appointment will of necessity bring hardship and suffering, because our enemy the devil lurks in this world, seeking whom he may devour. But we must never be ashamed, for we know whom we have believed!
So let us, with Habakkuk, that good soldier and true watchman, stand our post in all sorts of weather, and in the difficult as well as the wonderful times. Like him, might we anticipate the fulfillment of that vision of the end, which does not lie. “If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.” Might we live by faith, and thereby inherit all the blessings promised in Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour, our brother and our friend. AMEN.