Practice (Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)
Sermons on YouTube…
One of the great things about having my new shop is that I have space to work! And that also means that I can pull tools out and leave things set up so that I can keep working on a project over a number of days or weeks.
And while this means I can work on a specific project much more easily than before, it’s also been occurring to me that I can simply spend time practicing techniques and refining skills that, although I know how to do them, I haven’t really mastered.
There really is no substitute for practice. It’s the only way to get better. But sometimes, I have trouble with that. And that’s because I often like to think that:
- I don’t really have time to practice, because I want to get this project done…!
- I only need to do something once, and then I’ll be great at it…!
- Because I did something adequately well several years ago, I will remember how to do it again…!
But really, getting better takes practice. It takes time. And it means investing yourself in the process. A lot of things are like that, not just woodworking.
And so is faith. As described everywhere in the Bible, faith is a relationship of trust in God and in God’s promises. Faith is a journey that takes time. And faith is a process that helps you grow in a relationship with God and with others.
The first disciples of Jesus also surely knew this, and at first glance their request of Jesus seems quite holy and proper: “Lord, increase our faith!” And yet, this request seems to really tick Jesus off! He sort of berates them for their lack of faith and then goes on to tell them about slaves doing their jobs. It’s sort of weird.
But perhaps the reason is that what the disciples are asking for is sort of like me when I just want to be great at some woodworking technique without putting in the practice time. “Lord”, the disciples say, “just give us faith without us having to keep doing the work of following and learning and growing.” Probably, they weren’t thinking this is what they were asking, but it actually was. And I think Luke includes this story because disciples of Jesus from the very beginning were tempted to see faith as a thing they could “get” by taking a short-cut.
But that’s not how faith works. And Jesus alludes to this by using the image of a mustard seed for faith. And the thing about a seed is not it’s size but that it’s a living thing that grows. But that growth takes time, and it takes nurture. Indeed, it’s a process.
Yet sometimes, we get tempted to want to want to short-cut the process. With all good intentions, we sometimes hope or pray that faith in God’s presence and promise will simply come:
- Quickly by some dramatic revelation … (perhaps we, too, might glimpse a burning bush or experience some miraculous healing…)
- By figuring out the “correct” spiritual exercise or reading the right Bible verses… (if we could just figure out the secret sauce…!)
- Without any painful journeys or experiences … (because we want God to make us happy and fulfilled, and like those first disciples don’t like it when it feels like Jesus is taking us on a journey to Jerusalem and the Cross…)
And so these words of Jesus – even though they sound harsh – are really intended to encourage us to seek faith, but not the short-cuts. Jesus calls us to remember that faith is a process of growing and journeying and it requires practice and dedication.
And so rather than take the short cuts, Jesus always encouraged his first disciples – and he encourages us – to be people who put in the time to practice. And often for us, that means being willing to:
- Be persistent in things like prayer and worship, even if nothing dramatic happens. And to be willing to sit with questions that bother us even and especially when the answers we’re seeking don’t come right away. Sometimes, the dialog with God and the process of seeking is the only way to begin to find the answers, but it’s a process and it often takes a lot of time…
- Be open to new ways of experiencing God in our lives, and not to give up if they don’t work right away. After all, many people in Jesus’ day listened to one thing he said and then walked away, instead of sticking around for a while and listening to see if maybe this was the way God wanted them to go. Sometimes, I’m tempted to give up on some technique because I failed miserably at first! But sometimes, when I’ve tried it a couple of times, I’ve find real value in it. And often, it’s important not to give up on a new way of experiencing God in your life because it didn’t do anything for you the one time you tried it…
- Commit to the journey, even when it’s long and sometimes when it’s painful. I know that in my life some of the ways I’ve grown in faith – that is, in the assurance that God will be there for me no matter what – have been the times I don’t want to think about or remember. But those were the times when God helped me through a horrible situation and they give me confidence that God will be there when a horrible time happens again. I know many people who have similar experiences. And like those first disciples, it’s often the journey – even and especially the hard parts – that brings about faith…
Having faith – even faith the size of a mustard seed – is a great thing. But it’s not like a seed that we put in our pockets and pull out when we need it. Instead, it’s a living journey with Jesus. It takes time, it takes practice and it’s a process.
And it’s when we engage in the journey that we can often experience the presence of Jesus. It’s when we take the time to practice our faith that we often find that faith begins to grow. And it’s when we’re open to the process that Jesus can lead us in ways that really help us to have hope and strength for the future.
Amen.