The God Of Faith
Sermon
There was an interesting drama series on television recently about a family who had given up conventional suburban life to run a market garden in the country.
As well as the parents, there was a grown-up son and his fiancee, a daughter home from university, and a younger daughter aged about twelve. The son married his fiancee and they set off on their honeymoon, but on the way home from the wedding, the father had a road accident and was killed.
In story form, the series then began to explore the issues of death and bereavement for the different members of the family. None of the family believed in God, and when the local vicar visited, the younger daughter screamed out against God. How could she believe in a God who took away her father in such a brutal and callous fashion? The vicar was portrayed sensitively as he faced the situation, but he was unable to come up with any easy answers.
There aren't any easy answers to questions of life and death, especially premature death which occurs suddenly and violently. The child's reaction was a very natural and human reaction, and one which many people experience at times of particular stress and turmoil. Christians have usually explored such issues in the context of their religion, but there are many people who have rejected God altogether because they're stuck in those childhood reactions of rebellion against God which quickly turn into expressions of unbelief.
How do we cope with a God who doesn't put everything right? How do we cope with a God who allows terrible things to happen? St Paul sees the answer in terms of faith, for he sees God as "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." God is still able to produce miracles for us, but they may not necessarily be quite the sort of miracles that children of any age expect.
Faith is different to blind belief. Faith is perhaps nearer to doubt than to certainty, for those who are certain don't need faith. When people are desperately ill, we can have the blind belief that God will wave a magic wand and make everything better, just as he healed so many people when he was on earth and even restored Lazarus to life after he had died. Sometimes things work out that way, and the sick person is restored to health. But things don't always work out that way. Sometimes, despite fervent beseeching in prayer from many different sources, the sick person dies.
Death so often leaves blind belief in a difficult position, usually resulting either in fury, blame and blind unbelief, or in shifting the goal posts to somehow encompass the apparent non-answer to prayer. But faith has already grown past that somewhat childish position long ago. Faith grows within those who have the courage and the desire to ask questions of God throughout their lives, and to expect reasonable answers.
Faith is a different way of looking at the world. Instead of seeing God as an authoritarian parent who decides what's best for the children and brooks no opposition of any sort, faith makes a journey with a God who is so loving towards human beings that God wants to journey with them, hearing their points of view and gently guiding those who request guidance.
The God of blind belief is a God who arbitrarily decides who will live and who will die. There are no apparent guidelines to cover the choices of this God. This God may decide that a four-year-old child should die in horrific circumstances, but that a ninety-eight-year-old woman should live, whether she wants to or not.
The God of faith is both more rational and more profound. The God of faith aids human healers whoever and wherever they are, but when a human body is too damaged or too sick to survive, allows that body to die and gathers the owner of that body into his arms in a new life after death. The God of faith also gathers those who are bereaved into his arms, allows them to scream and cry and beat the air, and when they're ready, gently leads them on to a new life without their loved one.
The God of faith allows human beings to do exactly what they wish to do, which means that many atrocities, both hidden and overt, occur within human life. Some human beings wish to hurt and damage other human beings, and the God of faith allows them to do so because this God has given them free will and will never take that gift away from human beings no matter how badly they abuse it. Some human beings allow greed to rule their hearts and minds, and grind other human beings underfoot in order to have more themselves. They too have free will, and the God of faith allows that atrocity to happen too.
This is not to say that the God of faith never performs any "miracles". Where there are human beings there will always be miracles, but the God of faith isn't a God who simply fills in the gaps in human understanding. That's the God of blind belief, who perhaps tends to be good at the sort of miracle which seems like a conjuring trick with playing cards.
Miracles wrought by the God of faith have more depth and often occur within human hearts, for the God of faith is able to transform beings of clay and make them into beings radiant with light. When God works within us we begin to experience eternal life on this earth and have a glimpse of the delights and wonders in store for us after death. To allow this God to work within us, we need to believe in this God, or at least suspend our unbelief, and invite him into our hearts to become supreme ruler there. We need to let go of our egotism and let God lead us. And we need to study the life and teachings of Jesus Christ so that we know the sort of route we should be travelling.
And then we'll find, as Abraham did, that God is faithful to us in all things great and small and that miracles not only still occur, but occur for us and within us through the God of faith.
As well as the parents, there was a grown-up son and his fiancee, a daughter home from university, and a younger daughter aged about twelve. The son married his fiancee and they set off on their honeymoon, but on the way home from the wedding, the father had a road accident and was killed.
In story form, the series then began to explore the issues of death and bereavement for the different members of the family. None of the family believed in God, and when the local vicar visited, the younger daughter screamed out against God. How could she believe in a God who took away her father in such a brutal and callous fashion? The vicar was portrayed sensitively as he faced the situation, but he was unable to come up with any easy answers.
There aren't any easy answers to questions of life and death, especially premature death which occurs suddenly and violently. The child's reaction was a very natural and human reaction, and one which many people experience at times of particular stress and turmoil. Christians have usually explored such issues in the context of their religion, but there are many people who have rejected God altogether because they're stuck in those childhood reactions of rebellion against God which quickly turn into expressions of unbelief.
How do we cope with a God who doesn't put everything right? How do we cope with a God who allows terrible things to happen? St Paul sees the answer in terms of faith, for he sees God as "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." God is still able to produce miracles for us, but they may not necessarily be quite the sort of miracles that children of any age expect.
Faith is different to blind belief. Faith is perhaps nearer to doubt than to certainty, for those who are certain don't need faith. When people are desperately ill, we can have the blind belief that God will wave a magic wand and make everything better, just as he healed so many people when he was on earth and even restored Lazarus to life after he had died. Sometimes things work out that way, and the sick person is restored to health. But things don't always work out that way. Sometimes, despite fervent beseeching in prayer from many different sources, the sick person dies.
Death so often leaves blind belief in a difficult position, usually resulting either in fury, blame and blind unbelief, or in shifting the goal posts to somehow encompass the apparent non-answer to prayer. But faith has already grown past that somewhat childish position long ago. Faith grows within those who have the courage and the desire to ask questions of God throughout their lives, and to expect reasonable answers.
Faith is a different way of looking at the world. Instead of seeing God as an authoritarian parent who decides what's best for the children and brooks no opposition of any sort, faith makes a journey with a God who is so loving towards human beings that God wants to journey with them, hearing their points of view and gently guiding those who request guidance.
The God of blind belief is a God who arbitrarily decides who will live and who will die. There are no apparent guidelines to cover the choices of this God. This God may decide that a four-year-old child should die in horrific circumstances, but that a ninety-eight-year-old woman should live, whether she wants to or not.
The God of faith is both more rational and more profound. The God of faith aids human healers whoever and wherever they are, but when a human body is too damaged or too sick to survive, allows that body to die and gathers the owner of that body into his arms in a new life after death. The God of faith also gathers those who are bereaved into his arms, allows them to scream and cry and beat the air, and when they're ready, gently leads them on to a new life without their loved one.
The God of faith allows human beings to do exactly what they wish to do, which means that many atrocities, both hidden and overt, occur within human life. Some human beings wish to hurt and damage other human beings, and the God of faith allows them to do so because this God has given them free will and will never take that gift away from human beings no matter how badly they abuse it. Some human beings allow greed to rule their hearts and minds, and grind other human beings underfoot in order to have more themselves. They too have free will, and the God of faith allows that atrocity to happen too.
This is not to say that the God of faith never performs any "miracles". Where there are human beings there will always be miracles, but the God of faith isn't a God who simply fills in the gaps in human understanding. That's the God of blind belief, who perhaps tends to be good at the sort of miracle which seems like a conjuring trick with playing cards.
Miracles wrought by the God of faith have more depth and often occur within human hearts, for the God of faith is able to transform beings of clay and make them into beings radiant with light. When God works within us we begin to experience eternal life on this earth and have a glimpse of the delights and wonders in store for us after death. To allow this God to work within us, we need to believe in this God, or at least suspend our unbelief, and invite him into our hearts to become supreme ruler there. We need to let go of our egotism and let God lead us. And we need to study the life and teachings of Jesus Christ so that we know the sort of route we should be travelling.
And then we'll find, as Abraham did, that God is faithful to us in all things great and small and that miracles not only still occur, but occur for us and within us through the God of faith.
