13th August 2023
Reflection (readings are below)
What is faith?
Faith can be assurance, that feeling that despite what is happening around us, we are safe. Faith can be confidence, that feeling of being safe even is we don’t know what the end outcome will be. Young children have an implicit faith that their mother, their father, will keep them safe. They will run to them confident that their parents will scope them into their arms and save them.
Faith is relying on what we know to be true even if we have not yet have experienced it. Earlier this year I abseiled down from the ArcelorMittal Orbit – the helter-skelter shaped tower in the Olympic Park. I knew that I would be safe, that the equipment was fail safe, that I could trust the knowledge of the instructors. Yet I still had to place my trust in my faith. I still had to act in confidence on what I believed to be true. I had to lean back over the void and let the harness and the ropes support me. I had to step off the edge and let my body dangle freely in that void, before lowering myself hand over hand to the ground.
Faith is the nature of our relationship with God. We know God through faith. We follow God through faith. We worship God through faith. Faith is not something that we have acquired through prayer or good works or discipline. Faith is not something that one minute we didn’t have, and the next we do. It is something we are born with. Faith is gifted to us by God as part of what makes us alive. It is a gift within each of us.
Yet it is like so many gifts, something we can push to one side, something we can ignore, something we can metaphorically lock away in a box and loose the key. I could have pushed aside my faith in what I knew on the Orbit tower and refused to make the descent. Sometimes people say, I have no faith, I have nothing to do with God. Or they may say, I choose not to believe because I place my faith in science. Which begs the question, the two exclusive? Some people may look around the world, seeing pain and suffering, and say, there is nothing here that makes me believe in God. Yet looking round the world a lot of what we see is human-made and much of that does not mirror God’s image.
So even though, as I suggest, we all have faith, we do not all choose – or are not encouraged – to exercise that faith. And for those of us who have neglected our faith, there can be a need to re-find our faith, to explore its depths and its breadth, to re-engage with God. We all need to practice leaning into our faith, trusting that it will carry us through life, with all its ups and downs.
Today’s readings point to different experiences of faith. Joseph, in his story, remains sure in his faith that God has a plan for him even though all the circumstances suggest otherwise. His perhaps is an example of faith being what enables us to carry on doing what we believe to be right even when the outcome seems incredible or impossible. This I often feel is what climate activists have to struggle with.
In his message to the Romans, Paul is explaining why we need to share the gospel, to make known what God has and is doing, to show people what God’s world can be like if we can all live drawing on the faith in God inherent in us.
And today’s gospel story reminds us that faith doesn’t take away problems – there will always be storms – but gives us the courage to cope with them. Indeed, the story goes on to suggest we may have greater strengths and skills that we realise or allow ourselves to believe. Is it possible that as Christians, as people of faith, we can do more than we imagine to create a better world, to transform the world in the ways that God desires?
A recent Christian Climate Action chat evening – Brew Time – asked the question “How can we be a transformational power to stop climate collapse?”
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him” —that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
Psalm 105, 1-6, 16-22, 45b
1 Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name; *
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him, *
and speak of all his marvellous works.
3 Glory in his holy Name; *
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Search for the Lord and his strength; *
continually seek his face.
5 Remember the marvels he has done, *
his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,
6 O offspring of Abraham his servant, *
O children of Jacob his chosen.
16 Then he called for a famine in the land *
and destroyed the supply of bread.
17 He sent a man before them, *
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet in fetters; *
his neck they put in an iron collar.
19 Until his prediction came to pass, *
the word of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent and released him; *
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
21 He set him as a master over his household,
as a ruler over all his possessions,
22 To instruct his princes according to his will
and to teach his elders wisdom.
45 Hallelujah!
Romans 10:5-15
Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say?
“The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Matthew 14:22-33
Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
The Green Tau 