What Does "Faith" Mean? (All Saints)

Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

What Does “FAITH” Mean?

Nov 3, All Saints C      Hebrews 11 (assorted) -12:3

 

I talked on the phone with a man the other day who invited me to join a group of folks in praying for our country, specifically to pray for our country to return to righteousness. I admit I immediately wondered if this call was from a conservative, ‘Back to the Bible’ type group with rigid ideas of what “Christian” values would look like for our country, like those getting a lot of press recently.  I do pray for our country and all countries, and I pray for “righteousness,” in the way I understand from the prophets in our Hebrew Scriptures, which I had a hunch might not be what he meant.  We were each a little cagey about how much we’d say.  In my reading, a righteous nation cares for the poor and sick, and looks out for those marginal people who have little voice or power on their own; people and nations honor God and the way God wants all people treated.  This might be fleshed out by acknowledging and overcoming the evils brought about of racism and discrimination, which are supported by unjust systems and unequal wealth and power. God’s word in the Old Testament, instructed his people that the foreigners and refugees in their midst were to be treated as worthy and human - which would speak to justice for  immigrants; God’s continued concern for the poor and hungry would ask a nation to end the suffering of poverty, in feeding and caring for even the least among us; God’s concern for the voiceless would ask a nation to honor the humanity of all people regardless of gender or color. Jesus echoed this when he said, As you did it to one of these, you did it to me. I can and do pray for us and our country in these respects. 

I had a feeling this caller might have a different agenda.  We used the same word, yet meant pretty different things by it. 

Our word for today, “faith,” is another word that has various uses and understandings.  I want to mention a couple, and look at what I think Hebrews 11 & 12 are saying.  There’s a certain usage of the word “faith” that refers to the body of doctrines and common practices, like when someone refers to “The Christian faith,” where ‘faith’ is a noun described by the adjective ‘Christian.’ If we googled Christian faith,  we’d find a set of beliefs and practices that differentiates us from, say, Jewish faith or Muslim faith.  The contents would have to necessarily be rather generic, because Christians can have different understandings about parts of our faith. For example, the article might list doctrines about Jesus as the Messiah, or Christ, sent by God; how Jesus’ death and resurrection lead to salvation and the amending of life; what sin is, and what eternal life is; the sacraments of baptism, and the celebration of communion, as we are doing today.  To be generic enough to describe all Christians, it probably wouldn’t get into the questions about what method of baptism, or the age of the baptized, or how to do communion, or to dispute the additional sacraments that we Protestants dropped but our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers maintain. That generic description of the Christian “faith” may go on to describe common themes in the Judeo-Christian tradition, as in seeing God as Creator, although not really debating how that came about; perhaps in seeing humans as having souls and that living towards God is the highest good.  It would take too long to explore the various camps within each tradition that may have fervent feelings about their distinct meanings and practices.

            The way I hear the word “faith” used in Hebrews 11 & 12 this morning, is less like a set of doctrines and practices, and more like an inner quality  - a quality of conviction,  a core quality within persons, a gut conviction,  a deep and inner motivation.  These faithful folks in Hebrews 11 did a lot of rather different things, and it doesn’t say anything about their doctrines. They trusted God - they trusted God’s love towards them, God’s good will towards them, God’s promises to them, that God held their future, that it was important to acknowledge what God said and do it.  There was this bedrock thing about God in the depth of their person - God is, God exists, God is the source of life, God seeks relationship with us, God cares how we live, God cares for our future..  What we do matters, how we live matters.  We belong to God, which is who we are.  God is, and that matters more than anything.

            Actually, if we think about it, those mentioned in Hebrews ch 11 lived way before Jesus was born - they are people from Jewish history, and didn’t know anything about Jesus.  So technically they aren’t Christians - even though the writer of Hebrews holds them up as examples of people of faith, looking FORWARD to what God would do in Jesus, just as we look BACK (at least thinking historically and linearly) on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  In other words, Jesus is central, and the commitment and conviction is to God being FOR us. 

That’s what I think of in terms of “faith”, my friends: that deep inner trust and basic assumption that God is, and that living in relation to God in this world is our ultimate allegiance.  The letter from James, in our New Testament, asks people to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Jesus teaches us to pray that God’s will be done on earth, as it already is in heaven; that joining Jesus’ kindom means living and acting in the ways of that realm now and here.  This faith, this deep, gut-level acceptance, is a gift from God, the apostle Paul says, not an ego or will-power thing - rather, a transformation deep inside that’s like being born again.

Since our calendar is near All Saints Day, I thought we could perhaps add to the list of the faithful in Hebrews 11 from what we know of human history since Jesus. I came up with these: By faith, the Apostle Paul held to Jesus’ gospel even though he became persona non grata to his religious community; and through faith he traveled the Mediteraean area starting communities of Christ-followers - even among the Gentiles. 

            By faith, Hildegard of Bingen (one of my favorite mystics) trusted and even painted her visions, and wrote to and called out even the highest officials of the church in her day.

            In faith, Copernicus dug into the ways creation operated, seeing no difficulty between faith and science, even when his studies showed that the Earth rotates around the Sun, which idea was condemned by his church. Galileo and others who also studied and found this true were later excommunicated.

Through faith, Martin Luther wanted God’s Church to amend its ways, and found the courage to propose changes that eventually got him kicked out; and in faith like-minded folks gathered around him and continued to worship, in time starting the Protestant tradition.  

In faith, Martin Luther King Jr stood up for the dignity of all human persons regardless of color, and was assassinated for challenging his culture. 

By faith, Mother Teresa gave her life to assisting the sickest of the sick in her country, akin to the lepers of Jesus’ time, persuading leaders of the communities to support this work that recognized the dignity of the least among them; and in her determination, helped and inspired many. 

By faith, men and women have followed what God laid on their hearts, starting school and hospitals for those in need, planting churches, translating Scriptures into most world languages, reaching into prisons, establishing feeding programs, paying off student lunch bills, filling backpacks, advocating for justice, and so much more. 

So, at this All Saint’s Day, whose faith inspires you?  Whose faith challenges you?  Who are the saints who show you how to live for God, to pray, to hold to the ideals God gave you; who encourages you to say YES to your own call to service?

The reading from the letter to Hebrew Christians concludes by encouraging us to look to the example of Jesus, who, for the sake of the joy set before him, disregarded even the shame of being crucified like a criminal - because of his obedience to God.  He endured being rejected on so many levels, as well as physical suffering, for sticking to the call of God.  Consider Jesus, this letter says, when we need courage to do what that inner conviction calls us to. Consider Jesus, when what is calling us seems too hard.  Consider Jesus, when we grow weary and discouraged with seeing no results, of not seeming to make any difference in our ministries, when we are misunderstood and mistreated even by those God called us to serve; when others are raised up above us, when we don’t get thanked or recognized like we hoped for, when it doesn’t seem worth the effort any more.  Consider Jesus, and let that faith carry us on.  AMEN.