What's faith got to do with it?

Written by Alissa Bender

Associate Pastor Alissa Bender
Calgary First Mennonite Church
August 8, 2010

What’s faith got to do with it?
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

 I’ve always liked the eleventh chapter of Hebrews.  There’s something beautiful about the contradictory definition of faith that starts it off: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”.  And then this is followed by a sort of Old Testament Hall of Fame of those who lived by faith.  You just heard part of Abraham’s story, but many others are named in chapter 11: Abel, Noah, Moses, Rahab.  Chapter 12 then begins with: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us”.

 Hebrews chapter 11 is the kind of place we go to be reminded that we’re not the only ones strange enough to be convicted of things we can’t see.  Here are our ancestors in faith.  But what, we might wonder, is this faith?  Not the content of it, but what is it to live by faith as Abraham, Sarah, and these other individuals did?

 These verses struck me in a new way this week and as I read them I thought immediately of Deb.  Deb was someone I met with the youth last week.  She gave us a tour of downtown Calgary, teaching us about some of the things we may see but not really see. 
We walked by cash corner, where people who are unemployed wait in the morning to get offered a “cash under the table” kind of job.  We walked by St. Mary’s church where those who are experiencing homelessness are invited every Sunday for an ample meal.  We sat on a few benches while Deb eased her asthma with a cigarette, and I wondered what those passing by assumed about our little group.

You see, Deb was the tour guide that I mentioned to you last Sunday, a woman who had, in the past, experienced homelessness herself for a number of years.  Now Deb has a home and a regular job and a gentle way of speaking with people about some hard realities.  But to look at her, some might still make some assumptions about her.  If she was sitting by herself, smoking on a park bench, some might avoid eye contact.  If she walked through these doors and looked around for a place to sit, if we’re honest, some of us might hesitate before sliding over to make room in the pew.  But then she might surprise us.

I asked Deb about the time in her life when she went from living on the streets to having a home and employment.  She had been on and off of the streets at least 3 times when various crises had hit her life, so I asked her what had helped her to be able to seek a way out of homelessness.  The many people we met last week reminded us that when working with people who have had their dignity stomped out of them, there’s a meeting halfway that happens.  A person reaches out with the desire to work for a better life, and the people with access to the resources to facilitate that transformation reach back.  So what had helped Deb to come her part of the distance?

She thought for a moment and I wondered if I had been too confusing in the way I had asked my question.  But then she said: “Well, my faith in God has really helped me”.  This simple comment is what I thought of when I started reading Hebrews 11.  I didn’t get a chance to ask Deb more about it, but it has stayed with me.  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Because how could Deb possibly see herself where she is now when she was weighed down by the grief of her husband’s death, the trauma of her daughter being taken away from her, the economic strain of suddenly being on her own, and the disdain with which she was treated by strangers in the street?  That is an exercise of faith that I have never had to put to the test.

I am not the kind of person who will flippantly say that if you would just have faith, your issues of addictions, mental illness, and homelessness will vanish instantly.  This is not what I see in Deb’s story.  What I do see are the same two dimensions of faith that we read in Abraham’s story.  These two parts of faith were drawn out in the words of the readers theatre we also heard, and we will go a little further with them now.

I am borrowing some thoughts from Bryan J. Whitfield, a professor of Christianity at Mercer University in Georgia.  It is his writing that helped shed some light for me on the two dimensions of faith.  The first dimension is that faith provides a foundation on which we stand.  It gives us the anchor that holds us fast and the arms in which we rest.  Faith means that we’re not just dreaming of pie in the sky, the content of our hope is real and tangible.  In the readers theatre you heard words from Psalm 33 that expressed this – Our soul waits for the Lord, he is our help and shield.  Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.  Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.  In faith, we rest in this.

The other dimension of faith is that as we stand on this foundation, we are oriented outward and forward.  Faith moves us.  Faith inspires and motivates us to go beyond where we have always been and to step out of what is comfortable.  This is the faith of Luke 12 in which Jesus instructs his followers to be dressed for action.  Have your lamps lit.  Be ready for what is unexpected.

As I thought of these two dimensions, I remembered that the Greek word “pistis” in Scripture is translated into English as both “faith” and “faithfulness”.  The way we treat these English words may help us to understand the two sides of faith.  The word “faith” usually conjures up the image of the foundation, the solid belief.  Whereas “faithfulness” is a noun that describes a way of living and moving forward.  Let’s put these together as two sides to the same coin.

Hebrews 11 describes part of Abraham and Sarah’s experience and their faithful response to it.  God promised them countless descendants and a land to call their own.  Both of these were “things not seen”.  Abraham and Sarah had the kind of faith that rooted and grounded them in God’s promises.  Still, we know that didn’t keep them from questioning God when the plan seemed humanly impossible.  Yes, Sarah laughed at God’s promise.  Yes, Abraham told God in Genesis 15 that one of his slaves would be his heir instead of a son.  These moments of uncertainty arose in their lives like they do in ours. 
But Abraham took his doubts and returned to his relationship with God, who re-stated the promise.  And it is written that Abraham “believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness”.

But Sarah and Abraham did not, by faith, sit and wait for the promise to happen to them.  They also exercised the second dimension of faith.  They moved outward from their own corner of the world, forward into God’s call to them.  Verse 8 again: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going”.

Abraham and Sarah followed God’s call away from their home and into a life of moving from place to place, living in tents, trusting that their faithfulness to God, and God’s faithfulness to them, would help them to find that city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

We can see elements of both dimensions of faith in Abraham & Sarah’s story, but the truth of the matter is that not all of us are equally good at both dimensions.  Some of us are strong in holding fast, knowing the stories of God’s presence with us and resting in God’s promises, knowing where the foundation lies.  Others of us are ready to move easily forward into whatever new call God may have, oriented outward in faithfulness toward the poor and the oppressed, the orphaned and the widowed.

Sometimes those who are best at holding fast to the stories of our faith fear to move outward into God’s new call.  And sometimes those who are constantly on the move and on the look-out for where God will be at work next, need to sit and learn the story of God’s faithfulness through paths that have been rough and long.  We need to strengthen each other by exercising both dimensions of faith.  Whitfield says “We need to hold fast to the promises of God and to move forward into the future which is God's”, just as Sarah and Abraham, and Deb, show us.

There is one problematic point left in the Hebrews passage, though.  Abraham and Sarah didn’t see the fulfillment of God’s promise in their lifetimes.  Hebrews 11:13 tells us that “All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.”  Abraham and Sarah lived into the hope to which they clung, but they didn’t actually get to see it as they had imagined it.  Have you ever had this experience, where the thing that you have waited for just never seems to turn out as you had hoped, and you start to wonder why you’ve had faith in that dream at all?

After we met Deb last Wednesday, we were given a tour of the Alpha House.  Alpha House is a shelter and detox centre on 17 ave, so their particular emphasis is on working with people who are struggling with addictions.  David, giving us the tour, walked us into one office and joked about what an exciting part of the tour it was, three white walls, a window, a desk and a chair.  I listened to him talk about funding and resources for people in poverty in our city, but I was also drawn to the bulletin board on the wall above the desk.

It was full of people’s photographs and notices for memorial services, and I assumed that they were all people who had been clients at the Alpha House and had passed away while still connected there.  None of the people looked very old, but a lot of them looked pretty ragged.  I wonder whether any of those people made it into a safe home before they died, or whether they were still in and out of shelters.  I think of that wall of photos when I read that verse 13: “All of these died in faith without having received the promises”.

Of course, I don’t know how many of them had a faith in God like Deb did, but I believe that they were all beloved children of God, so why didn’t they also receive the promise of a roof overhead, regular food on their plate, and a dependable paycheque coming in?  We know that the causes of homelessness and addiction are many and varied.  There are very few, if any, quick fixes.  But I still lament the number of people who only see from a distance and greet the promise of a new life, a secure life, a healthy life.

It does not seem fair that the harvest of need is great but the labourers are few.  When visiting a place like Alpha House, I feel newly inspired to be dressed for action as Jesus tells us in Luke 12, the action of Isaiah 1:17: Learn to do good!  Seek justice!  Rescue the oppressed!  Defend the orphan!  Plead for the widow! 

By faith, I find myself propelled forward into the words of Isaiah, but lest I become overwhelmed by the great amount of need that I cannot possibly address alone, I must also be reminded to rest in the words of the Psalmist:  My soul waits for the Lord.  God is my help and shield.  My heart is glad in the Lord, because I trust in God’s holy name.

Abraham and Sarah desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  In the gospels, Jesus tells his followers to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, has come near.  When Jesus is present, the kingdom of heaven has come near.  And I believe that when we live in Jesus’ name, as he lived, as he served, as he had compassion, the kingdom of heaven comes near.

You might say that this kingdom is a thing hoped for, and a thing not seen.  So by faith we dwell in the promise of Jesus’ words.  By faith we hang onto this anchor, even when we only see the promises from a distance.  And also, by faith, we move forward into God’s call to us.  By faith we seek out the places where God’s reign is breaking in and we set up our tents for a while, as Sarah and Abraham did, and add our compassion and our gifts to the work of this kingdom on earth.  And one day we, too, will see that land that God has prepared, the one that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.


God of our ancestors,
We have come to this place to hear the stories of your presence with your people.
When we leave this place, we hope to experience your presence with us.
Strengthen our faith, that we might rest confidently in your promises.
Stir up our faithfulness, that we might live boldly into the call you give us.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, whose faith and faithfulness are our model,
Amen.