Praying for Faith not Accomplishments, July 19, 2009

2 Samuel 7:1-14
Mark 6:30-56
The message for this morning is a difficult one for us to hear, for we are a people of Accomplishment. We see a purpose and apply ourselves, and it is done. We are easily convinced of WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS, or of the works themselves, and have difficulty not only trusting GOD'S GRACE, but trusting that Grace will come in the future that is not possible now.

It is hard for us to wait, to allow time to heal and time to pass. We are a people conditioned to CONTROL, to have what we want, and to have when we want.

Reading over the Story of David, I am struck by the reversal compared to our lives. We purchase a piece of real estate, we pay taxes on that, we desire unlimited freedom to build whatever may occur to us in the future, yet what we are issued is a permit to be able to do this specific thing in these colors this far away from the road, this far away from the neighbors, this far from the lake. David wanted a permitted to build a Temple for God, and instead of that permission was given unconditional trust and commitment for all time to come.

There is a tension in this passage, that first the Prophet Nathan says “Go For It”, but the next day stops the King and says NO. The tension is not over Variances or Set backs, or even the traditional understanding that King David has too much blood on his hands to be able to build a Temple for the Lord. The tension, is an internal tension within faith. Building a Temple, a Church, is a location for God, a containment, security, that whenever I need God, I can come to this place and have God and then I can leave God to do what I desire. God complains through Nathan, that as far back as Moses, as long as anyone can remember God was known in the wilderness, in a Tent or Tabernacle of Meeting, but not in any permanent place. God is so much bigger than we can ever imagine.

What is truly amazing in this passage is very subtle and easily missed.
Up until this promise, faith has been Conditional. To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses, to Saul, even back to Adam and Eve, God had promised IF YOU will follow and be faithful THEN GOD WILL provide. There is no IF/THEN in this promise. This is UNCONDITIONAL GRACE. God will make of you a people of God for ever. We are the recipients of that promise, and it carries through us into the future. Faith is no longer contractual, the covenant has been cut deeper, not simply into the flesh of this generation, but for all peoples, for ever. Being timeless, for ever, faith does not come on our calendar and timetables. LORD, Next Tuesday I want to fall in love. Praying in January, LORD I want it to stop snowing. And yet, to pray, LORD, do not forget us, but use us for your purposes, heal the concerns we have named, have mercy upon the poor and the afflicted, that we might see Thy Kingdom Come.

Jesus, descended from David did heal the concerns and had mercy upon the poor and the afflicted, but the UnConditional Nature of Grace was difficult for even the disciples to imagine. They had been sent out in his name by two and they had seen miracles. Together they did things none imagined they could do. Yet still, having been part of this, they came back to Jesus, and matter of factly, not as if it would be accomplishing a miracle, but rather witnessing the needs of the people and responding he commanded his disciples FEED THE PEOPLE. To which the Disciples, who had been out in the world teaching, baptizing and healing, said HOW? Remember that there are some 5000 people gathered and listening. Many of us are planning vacations at this time of year, we pack suitcases, we MapQuest Directions, we book places to stay and set reservations, in order that our needs will be met. This people heard that Jesus was going to be in a deserted place, and they dropped everything, they did not plan for what we have to take. They went to see and to listen, without any other concerns. That is the Challenge of FAITH to the David's desire to build the Temple. As much as we may adore Stained Glass windows and the music of Pipe Organ, Choirs, programs for our children. FAITH touches something inside you, more basic than food or shelter, or security. To see and hear and receive the blessing. But it also speaks to who Jesus is. For with 5000 people gathered, he was not concerned with LASER LIGHT SHOWS, PYROTECHNICS, or costumes, his concerns were for the people.

This last week, our Former Secretary brought friends to the Church who had been members decades ago and tried to describe who we are and what the Church represents in the community. They began most recently that we had built a Clinic and provided Health Care in Sudan. They described the Skaneateles Festival and the gift of Music this Church provides to the community, describing the Hand bells and the Organ. They described a woman who makes over 100 caps and mittens for children. They described having been in worship, when not only did we pick up and comfort babies, but we had handed babies to a soldier going off to war, we placed a baby in the arms of a child going far from home and promised to pray for them. She described having been in Finance Committee meetings as we anticipated pledging two Capital Campaigns while increasing the Budget and that people brought projections of debt 30 and 50 years into the future. After listening a long time, I said among my favorite memories was the summer when we were rebuilding the Church, when we had our offices in the Narthex so we could be available to people, and all the Committees, even Deacons and Session met simultaneously in the Sanctuary, suddenly realizing all the Church was not about Christian Education, or Mission, or Worship, but all of these were parts of the Church. About that time, two architects stopped in to investigate possibilities for geo-thermal heating and cooling. That using the difference between ground and air temperatures we could provide heating and cooling, Suddenly we began to imagine the Church making a commitment to having a resource for the community's needs a hundred years from now with heating and cooling provided by the earth's temperatures with no cost! It would be easy to describe ourselves by our accomplishments, but the question of faith is whether we can be patient with knowing that God will be present in this place, even more IN THIS PEOPLE, long into the future.

After feeding the people, Jesus sent the disciples ahead in a boat while he dismissed the crowd. He went up on the mountain to pray. Then coming down to where the Disciples were, he saw them in the middle of the lake, struggling to row against the wind. So he walked out to them. They had seen Jesus heal and teach. They had been sent out by him, and had themselves been part of miracles, they had returned and heard him teach anew and seen him feed 5000 with two fish and a few loaves of bread. But seeing him walk on the water, they were terrified.

Even with all we have seen. The miracles we have been a part of. Still it is difficult at times for us to trust and to believe.