Church of the Epiphany
Surrey BC
16 June 2024
When I was in seminary, I was taught that sermons, in principle, should not focus on a single verse in a reading from the Scriptures but on the entire reading itself. When the preacher focuses on only one verse, they run the risk of losing sight of the whole idea the writer is trying to express. Just as location is one of the most important things to consider in real estate, the whole picture, the context, is one of the most important parts of preaching.
But today I am going to take that risk. I think that I am doing it in a way that is faithful to the intent of Paul in his second letter to the wild and woolly bunch of Christians who were in Corinth in those days. This verse speaks to us and to all the parishes around us who are seeking to discern what the future holds for us and who are trying to identify how we navigate our way towards that future.
Here’s the verse: “ . . . for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5.7). This one verse inspired a hymn found in our hymn book that was written by Henry Alford, the Dean of Canterbury, in the late nineteenth century.
We walk by faith, and not by sight;
no gracious words we hear
from him who spoke as none e’er spoke;
but we believe him near.
We may not touch his hands and side,
nor follow where he trod;
but in his promise we rejoice
and cry, “My Lord and God!”
Help then, O Lord, our unbelief;
and may our faith abound,
to call on you when you are near,
and seek where you are found:
that, when our life of faith is done,
in realms of clearer light
we may behold you as you are,
with full and endless sight.[1]
In English the word ‘faith’ can be used in at least two ways. In the first way ‘faith’ means a set of religious beliefs and practices. We speak of the Jewish faith or the Muslim faith or the Hindu faith or the Sikh faith, for example. When we use the word in this way, to walk by faith means to carry these beliefs and practices in our pockets as a guidebook to our daily lives.
It’s a good thing to have beliefs and practices to guide us. As Christians we believe that all that is, seen and unseen, is the work of a loving Creator. We believe that in Jesus of Nazareth we meet this loving Creator and learn how to live into God’s likeness. We believe that the Holy Spirit continues to sustain us, to guide us and to warn us. We continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers in order to be nurtured and shaped into a more Christ-like life.
But sometimes, when we face particular challenges, we find our beliefs do not give us clear guidance. The practices that have been so important to us may not seem as helpful to us in these moments. We may begin to doubt our beliefs and to find less meaning in our practices.
It’s perhaps at this point in our lives, whether as individuals or families or communities that the other meaning of faith comes to our aid. In this sense ‘faith’ is our trust or confidence in someone or something. It is more often an intuition or a feeling or an insight than a set of beliefs we can recite or a set of practices that we undertake.
This kind of faith understand that to be a person of faith is to be someone who does, from time to time, have doubts. Having doubts does not mean we have lost our faith. Doubts are signs that our faith is seeking to understand what is going on at this moment in our lives.[2] Our history is full of saints and teachers who have often had questions and doubts about God and God’s purposes. It is a sign of a truly active faith to ask questions and to seek out the wisdom and experience of others.
Have you ever gotten up in the night in the dark to go to the bathroom or to get a drink? Have you ever wondered how you returned to bed without stumbling over things? It turns out that there are two small matching parts of our brain just behind our ears called the hippocampi (meaning ‘seahorse-shaped’). They help take short-term memories and turn them into long-term memories. They are particularly associated with our spatial memories. They allow us to walk without sight. They are the parts of the brain that help blind people navigate their homes – so long as someone doesn’t re-arrange things without consulting the blind person!
I believe our trust and confidence in God comes from our spiritual hippocampi, our memories and experiences of God’s presence and action in our lives. There is a practice called ‘the healing of memories’ that some counsellors and spiritual directors use. In this practice a person is invited to remember a troubled time and to seek to find where God was in those moments. God’s presence may have been only a kind word from a stranger or a friend calling unexpectedly. But remembering this in the past can heal the present.
My friends, we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by our beliefs. We walk by our practices. But in the difficult times, in the uncertain times, in the challenging times, we walk by those deeply-embedded memories that sustain and embolden us. They enable us to walk in whatever darkness we find ourselves as surely as we walk in the night-time darkness of our homes. God has built into our souls the spiritual equivalent of those two small seahorse-shaped structures in our physical brains. For us, the dark night of the soul is not an experience of the absence of God but of our deeper search for God.
Recently on Facebook a friend of mine posted a piece of spiritual advice. I think that it has something to say to us here at Epiphany as we search for a new rector and as we discern how best to serve our neighbourhood through our property.
Faith doesn’t always take you out of the problem,
Faith takes you through the problem.
Faith doesn’t always take away the pain,
Faith gives you the ability to handle the pain.
Faith doesn’t always take you out of the storm,
Faith calms you in the midst of the storm.
My friends, we walk by faith, not be sight. But that is not bad news. It is good news. It is the promise of God’s creating, redeeming and renewing love in all times and in all seasons, in the light of day and in the dark of night, and in times of clear paths and in times of untrodden paths.
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