Thursday 7 November 2013

24th Sunday after Pentecost 3 Nov 2013 Sermon

24th Sunday after Pentecost (4th Sunday after Epiphany readings) 3.11.13 Seeking deeper faith

Our Lord rebukes the apostles for their lack of faith. The problem was not that they asked Him for help. It must have been that their manner of asking betrayed a lack of trust in Him.

He had already worked many miracles in their sight, so they should have had more confidence in Him by now.

Much of our prayer is of a similar kind to that of the apostles so maybe we are doing something wrong too!

In fact we are never more likely to pray than when facing a crisis; and at such a time we are likely to have a certain amount of panic in our manner.

It is fine to ask for help at such a moment, and indeed we are encouraged to bring our requests to Our Lord.

But He wants us to understand that if we have Him with us that should be the end of the matter as far as worry and fear go.

The apostles were conscious of the storm around them; but not so conscious that they had the Saviour with them in the boat.

They could see the problem but not the solution.

They had God with them; and so do we have Him with us.

Therefore the solution must always be greater than the problem. Nothing can overcome us if we have God on our side, in our midst.

This rings true with the intellect but we still have some work to do to have this belief in our hearts as well. So that we not only believe He is here with us but also feel it in the depths of our being.

We need more faith. We of little faith need to be We of much faith.

We need a faith which is so much a part of us that it comes naturally to the surface when needed. As easy as counting to ten.

Faith has to be a language for us, as natural as our first speaking language. It takes no effort for us to speak that language. Just so it should be no effort to trust in God, when a crisis is on.

How can we achieve this kind of faith? Ask Our Lord for it! The same God whom we must believe in will help us to have that belief.

In the non-crisis times we can seek Him out as much as possible. Let Him take possession of our minds and hearts so that we ‘have’ Him on hand when there is a need.

All the while contemplating His power and goodness.

His power is demonstrated by His miracles. Even the winds and the sea obey Him. Couple that with raising people from the dead and we have a great deal of power in our midst.

Then there is His goodness. All His actions are directed to our benefit; ultimately our salvation; in the meantime making things as easy for us as they can be.

Goodness and power in infinite supply and He is at our service. We cannot tell Him what to do but we can certainly ask Him to help, and He will always come up with a way forward.

True faith is habitual, like language, and it will express itself naturally.

Only those who do not know the Lord will cry out in panic. We will just mention to Him that there is a problem.

Some of the problems we face are more complex than just being in a boat on rough sea. Things like the loss of faith on the part of so many people in our time. This sort of problem is much harder to fix and will take more than one miracle.

But the principle is the same. Whether immediately or over centuries He will achieve His purpose. He has the will and the means to help us. All we have to do is believe, and even this He makes easy for us.

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