+ What is faith?
Think about it. Is it a thing? A commodity?
A state of mind? Some type of mind over matter proposition?
Is it a simple platitude?
A gift?
I suppose the particulars of faith vary from person to person and from situation to situation, but one thing seems really clear to me—faith isn’t stagnant, it’s dynamic. Faith isn’t a thing that either is or isn’t, faith isn’t something we either have or don’t have, faith moves, faith is active, faith is ever-changing.
And it's that-- this idea that faith isn't a thing, it's an action-that Jesus is trying to teach us with today's parable of the mustard seed.
The disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith while they sit by passively, waiting for something to change.
I’m not sure what they thought Jesus would do…. whack them with his magic “increase your faith” wand?
But Jesus isn't into magic, he's into reality and He wants them to take whatever modicum of faith they have and use it. Activate it, exercise it. Because what Jesus knows and we have to learn is that with even a teeny mustard seed of faith, God can do amazing things.
Jesus is saying that the disciples should stop worrying (whining) about whether they have enough faith and just get down to the business at hand-- to do what needs to be done, trusting in their own ability and God's grace.
But the truth is, faith can be hard to come by---at times even the tiniest glimmer of faith is darkened by what we perceive to be the hopeless reality of a situation.
Detroit is a city in a bad way. They have more square footage of abandoned properties than any other US city. If you drive through Detroit, you travel by miles of vacant buildings, razed properties and over grown abandoned parkland.
Now, there are pockets of hope, blight turned into successful urban farms.... But there remain a whole host of neglected dilapidated parks.
What do you do, when the city you grew up in, perhaps the only home you’ve ever known, is no longer a safe place for children to live? How do you improve the quality of life for thousands of people who have no other options except to live amidst the desolation and hopelessness? You can march on city hall and demand services, but if there isn’t any money, how in the world is that going to accomplish anything? You’re still left with overgrown parks inhospitable and unsafe for the children of your community.
Enter The Detroit Mower Gang....
“The Detroit Mower Gang is a group of people---caring citizens---that descend upon the abandoned parks of Detroit and mow them in a furious fit of weed whacking.”
They are self-identified do-gooders who refuse to let parkland go to waste and who refuse to allow bureaucracy and tightened city budgets to get in the way of children playing outside. Why do they do this? Well, they say, “ Because people need us and no one else is getting the job done.” ( www.detroitmowergang.com)
In other words, they consider Detroit their community and because they care for their community they are willing to take care of their community.
It’s impressive what people can do with a little bit of faith and a willingness to give God the room God needs to increase that faith into something amazing and powerful.
The Detroit Mower Gang saw a problem: no safe green space for the kids of Detroit. They considered options: wait for the city to get around to it or take care of it themselves.
So they got down to business by exercising their faith.
They exercised their faith---faith that if given a nice green space the families of inner city Detroit would get out and enjoy it.
They exercised their faith that if they just told people what they were doing they’d get enough interested people to keep up with all the parks they’ve adopted.
They exercised their faith in the city they love by identifying the problem and then being part of the solution.
They EXERCISED their faith.
I talk about this all the time---we are recipients of God’s immense and overwhelming love, we are the recipients of God’s faith in us. A faith that never wavers, never wobbles, never falls down. A faith that we will take the mantel of God, the lessons of Jesus and make a difference in this world. That we will indeed Love one another as we have been loved.
So what can we do with all the faith, all the hope, and all the trust, God showers upon us?
We can exercise it.
We can spread it. We can talk about it, we can do things that without faith we would be too scared to do. We can make a difference in this world. We can make a difference in WNY, we can make a difference in Perry NY.
So today, the lesson of the Gospel is this---take your faith—no matter how small, no matter how battered, no matter how tentative and go out into your world, your community, your neighborhood, and exercise it in all you do. Because when we do that, I have no doubt that miracles will happen. And if there is one thing this world needs, is more miracles.
Amen.
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