June  17, 2018                    We Walk By Faith                                 

        A few weeks ago, I was sitting with the Dekalb Clergy group, and the question that our Prairie Association Minister asked us was, “What stood out in your experience at Seminary?” Now when I was in Seminary, it was a unique time for Eden. I was in the first class where there were more women, and more second career people, than there were white males. I believe there were 6 of us, four men and two women who came directly out of college to seminary.

And I remember the focus the faculty put on writing gender inclusive papers, and I remember the focus of trying to create a generationally inclusive campus for those who had families, and I remember some regular rants by classmates – who were unsure of their call – against the “traditional male college graduate model” of church seminaries.

But the thing I remember most, was my decision not to allow these focuses and rants to divide me from my class mates – because it was my father, my aunt and uncle, and my grandfather, who were all UCC ministers, who worked for the inclusion of women, people of color, and lay people in the ministry of the church. You see, in a world that denied or questioned the ability of these people to be ministers, my family walked not by what they saw in the world, but by faith in what could be for the world.

        As I reflected on our bible passages this morning, I realized that they were all about walking in faith, rather than walking by sight. Samuel saw as the world saw, David as a ruddy weakling who could barely keep the sheep safe, but God saw in David someone who could not only keep sheep safe, but lead armies, and be a King over Israel.

In the gospel lesson, the farmer plants the crop, fertilizes it, and stands ready to weed it. Then he watches it rain, and drought, and the high winds blow, he know that that there are a hundred ways that his crop will come to ruin, and yet – “he knows not how” – it comes to harvest. He plants because he believes, he walks not by what he sees, but by faith, and his faith more times than not, is rewarded.

        So this morning, I thought I would share one example of our need to walk by faith rather than sight, so that we might realize the harvest of God’s kingdom in our lives.

        Those who walk by faith speak the truth to one another. This week I did premarital counseling with a couple and I told them that the word truth comes from the old English word “troth”. And the old English word “betrothed” describes a relationship in which people are true to each other. To be "trothed" to one another means that we do not hide things from one another, that we do not tell lies to one another, that we are faithful in all our dealings with each other, and that we respect one another.

This what a philosopher might call a methodology of human truth. Just as a scientist might control an experiment by maintaining the proper conditions, Truth in human life is a matter of proper behavior toward one another. If that behavior is love for one another, than truth or troth is the result. This is the truth that Jesus speaks of when he says, I am the way, the truth and the life. This is the truth that comes from loving our neighbor as ourselves, and from Jesus laying down his life for us.

        But our world today tells us that we are all in competition with one another, that it is ok to hide the facts, tell lies, break our promises, and think less of those around us. One needs only look at our news today, to see examples of arrogant people, who tell lies, break promises and share only the facts that are to their advantage. When we see how the world does this, we see how broken it is, how much division and suffering it generates. And worse, when we participate in this worldly behavior, it may make our lives better in the moment, but over time it is just as destructive to us. And even worse than that, is what it does to our children when we teach them to lie, break promises, and seek only their advantage.  

        Those who walk by faith rather than sight, understand that there are disadvantages to speaking the truth and living the truth in the world. But they also understand that speaking the truth and living the truth are our only hope of salvation. Our only hope of a world we cannot see now, but one that in faith we believe in. A world in which people tell the truth, keep their promises, do not hide or ignore facts for their own benefit. A world that is not broken by division and suffering, but a world that is filled with truth, peace and love. A world in which we solve our problems, rather than allow them to go unresolved.  And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ!