Springwood Presbyterian Church: Whitsett, NC

“Seeing is believing,” we’re told.  But can we really count on our eyes to tell us the truth? 

Consider 3-D movies and virtual reality games.  You put on a helmet or special glasses, strap on sensor pads, and are instantly transported via a video monitor or movie screen into the thick of battle or into a racecar, with graphic moments of fear and danger, yet without any real risk to your real life or your real limbs.  It seems absolutely real while it’s happening; yet, like a dream, when it’s over, you might be a little breathless, but none the worse for wear.  Virtual reality uses your sight and hearing to fool you into believing you are in a different place, a different time.

Now consider “no-see-ums”—that plague of summertime: bugs too small to see, but you know they’re real, because they bite the fire out of you.  I experienced them again last weekend, sitting by a lake.  My favorite theologian, Calvin reflects, “We rely on sight to confirm the existence of things.  We don’t believe in things we can’t see.”  But then he re-thought and asked, “So how do we know that ‘no-see-ums’ exist?  Verification is ruled out by definition!”  (This is not John Calvin of Geneva, but the little boy of a comic strip I miss.)  In the last panel of the cartoon, he’s madly scratching and moaning, “Oooooh, I itch!”, while his tiger friend Hobbes smugly smiles.

Yes, there are some realities that cannot be seen or even felt; yet, they move us to action as much as the “no-see-ums” moved Calvin to scratch.  That’s the kind of reality which the writer of the letter to the Hebrews is talking about.

The young church was weary, discouraged that their suffering for Christ hadn’t quickly changed the world—that their faith in him hadn’t been rewarded with his glorious return to take them to heaven in a golden chariot.  They lost sight of what made them follow Jesus in the first place, and were in danger of falling into a conventional, lifeless piety—just going through the motions, The preacher says, “Wake up!  Look past your present reality to God’s ultimate reality.  Move past what you can see and start to make God’s vision real, now.”

What is your present reality?  We are citizens of a secure, affluent nation.  Most of us live in comfortable homes.  We worship regularly in a lovely sanctuary.  We can say what we believe without fear of persecution.  We’re intentional about helping the poor and disadvantaged as scripture demands.  But has faith become static for us?  Have WE grown complacent?  And if we haven’t, what’s to prevent it?  Are we being asked, like Abraham and Jesus’ disciples, to step out beyond where we are now?  And to what?

Clarence Jordan translated the passage this way: Now faith is the turning of dreams into deeds; it is betting your life on the unseen realities.

Turning dreams into deeds.  Action is part and parcel of following Jesus.  It isn’t, of course, our dreams that we are to bring to reality, but God’s, entrusted to our stewardship.  Wise stewardship goes beyond passively holding tight to the security that’s been given us.  Remember the man in last week’s parable who put up more storage units to hold all his goods?  And for what?  He died that very night, rich in things and poor in soul.  Jesus calls us to bet our money, our time, our faith on spiritual treasure: the kingdom of God, on earth as it is in heaven.  God promised it to us—that’s a reality.  But it isn’t yet fulfilled—that’s also a reality.  And the fact that we can’t see it or feel it or experience it yet doesn’t make it less real, because God sees it--God experiences it--God lives it.  It’s real in God’s mind, in God’s plan.  Our part is to move toward it and to bring it closer to reality in this time, in this place, in our lives.  Faith looks back to remember what God has done in the past.  But then faith must move forward, to do what God calls for today.

How to do that is the hard question.  “How” involves risk—betting our lives on unseen realities. 

Betting our lives.  Not betting a few dollars on a lottery ticket or a ball game—not betting our financial future on a change in careers—but betting our very lives on something we can’t see or touch because we trust God’s faithfulness.  

Complacency and playing it safe won’t give life to God’s reality.  I apologize to the bible study group for repeating a story they’ve heard about my come-uppance when I was associate pastor at Church of the Cross in Greensboro.  It’s a very small incident, but it continues to prick me whenever I’m too sure my plans are the big picture. 

It was a Friday afternoon.  I was at the church trying to write a sermon.  I didn’t then have a computer at home, and that day, I had the one church computer to myself.  I reveled at the prospect of a long stretch of time to think and write. 

Then the phone rang.  A chaplain at NC Memorial Hospital was calling churches at random, looking for a minister to go find someone.  That Someone’s baby was hospitalized there in Chapel Hill, and his condition was rapidly deteriorating.  The doctor needed to talk to the mother, but she had no phone.  The chaplain apologized for inconveniencing me and said, “I could call the police to go to her house, but that seems cruel.  I’m hoping you might try to find this mother and ask her to call us.”  

I was not overjoyed to lose my afternoon of quiet.  In fact, I was angry and felt put-upon, and I muttered on my way to the car, “Couldn’t he have called one of the big churches where any one of a dozen people might have been available to go?”  But as I drove on, I realized, “My sermon isn’t going to bring in the kingdom.  It’s a lot more important to let this mother know about her baby.”  I was bit by a “no-see-um.”

Giving up the comfort of our plans is one of the risks of following Jesus.  It can be scary  not to know the details of what the future holds, when all we have is those unseen realities—God’s “no-see-ums”—prodding us to participate in building God’s kingdom.

What, then, are those unseen realities toward which God calls us?  The next hymn suggests they are the same things Jesus did, and that he commanded his followers to do:

-         freeing captives: from the bars of unjust imprisonment, from the constraints of addictions, from the fears that hold us back from being and doing our best;

-         ensuring the right to daily bread—life’s basic necessities for everyone, in all parts of the world;

-         bringing an end to greed and pride and fear and injustice. 

This vision of God’s kingdom is so deep and wide it’s overwhelming, but you and I can work toward it right here in Whitsett and Gibsonville and Burlington, not only by supporting the various ministries we already engage in, but also by simplifying our lives so we can be even more generous to those in need, by helping others see God’s love for all people, by staying alert to God’s call to action.

Does your faith also extend to understanding that God can and will use you?  If not, remember our biblical ancestors: Noah was a drunk—Abraham was old—Isaac, a daydreamer—Jacob, a liar and a scoundrel—Moses stuttered—Jeremiah and Timothy were too young—David committed adultery and murder—John the Baptist ate bugs—Peter denied Christ—the disciples slept instead of praying—Martha worried too much—Paul was too strict.  God found them worthy--surely God wants to use you!

The kingdom is built little by little, when we live into hope.  Little by little is all we can do.  But it’s enough, when we live by faith, trying to make God’s dream today’s reality.

*****

          God of forever, you have blessed us with time: a time to worship, a time to pray, a time in which to live in faith and in faithfulness.  Your Son and your Holy Spirit come to us in all the times and seasons of our lives.  Give us grace to learn from them, and from the  patriarchs, matriarchs, leaders, judges, servants, apostles, whose stories are preserved in your holy scripture to be bulwarks for our faith.  Hear us now as we silently give thanks for the saints who’ve shaped our faith and actions in our lifetime….  As they experienced your love—were touched by your mercy—accepted your forgiveness—and ventured into your purposes, help us to be faithful, too. 

          We pray for faith—for hope—for love.  And we pray for the church in which we live out these things that help build your kingdom.  Encourage and guide the Pastor Nominating Committee in finding the pastor who will lead Springwood to even greater work for your kingdom.

          We pray for the wounds of the world: that wars will end; fears be calmed; broken hearts mended; diseases healed// that the hungry be fed; the homeless sheltered; the restless find peace; the addicted find freedom// that joy and laughter may fill the lives of all your people.

          Prod us, O God, to see and live these as the realities of your kingdom—not so far off if we are moving toward it, for we pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father….”

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  In humility and  faith, let us confess our sin to God:

Hear the good news: anyone who is in Christ is a new person.  The old life has gone, a new life has begun.  Know that you are forgiven, and be at peace.  TbtG.

Our spiritual ancestors offered sacrifices to glorify God.  Let us honor God with our offerings, given in faith that they will serve God’s purposes. // [For the opportunity to express our love for you through our offerings, O God, we give thanks.  Use them in programs of outreach toward those who long for meaning, as well as for life’s other necessities.  May those who give and those who receive be filled with your joy.  Amen.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  Amen.