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Gospel Lesson for the
Week
October 7, 2007
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World Communion Sunday
The apostles said
to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
The Lord replied,
"If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry
tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
"Who among you
would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep
in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'?
Would you not
rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me
while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'?
Do you thank the
slave for doing what was commanded?
So you also, when
you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless
slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"
…The
Mathematics of Faith…
I cannot quantify faith.
Faith is more than mathematics,
or, for that matter, horticulture,
or engineering feats.
In a way, Jesus is saying to the disciples
(and to me)
that faith is something like pregnancy:
either you have it or you don’t.
No one would say, “increase my pregnancy.”
Similarly, it is absurdity
to seek an
increase of faith
as if it were fertilizer
to make the flower bloom.
So measure faith not by it’s quantity.
Even the faintest fragment of faith
-- however miniscule and mustard-seed-size,
-- real faith will work its miracles.
And when we’re done,
whatever we do in faith’s name,
is not so much our accomplishment
as it is God’s gift.
And so we take the bread and wine
as tokens of the grace received,
reminding us of broken body and shed blood,
uniting all humankind.
And we remain the grateful debtors.
Lord, in my faithlessness I seek your
face
And find again that everything is Grace.
---
rvc
*** D I S C L A I M E R ***
The Weekly Lessons are based on the lectionary
texts for the week – usually the Gospel lesson. They are not designed as a
formal commentary. Rather, they are the personal reflections and original
compositions of The Relay Online editor, Rev. Robin Van
Cleef, and offer a jumping off point, using the scriptures as triggers to
thought, imagination, and (we hope) empowerment. As you read them, let your own
imagination play, and let the Spirit speak to you, leading you where it will.
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