Lament and Faith

This week, 2 shoter reflection, starting wiht PSalm 137 then a brief relfection on Lament

The people of Israel were in exile. Their stories of God all revolved around the promised land, and now, defeated and in a foreign place, they struggled. Parts  of this psalm are quite shocking, but one thing about the psalms is their realism. The psalms are prayers from deep within the heart, written to express the things we struggle to name. I think most people have felt lonely, lost, confused, angry, devastated. Have you ever felt like you could not sing? Here the people  of Israel mourned their loss; the sense of alienation and the longing for the familiar. This is a psalm of Lament. At times I have heard people say, that you can’t scream at God, you can’t be angry with God. We can, and at times we should be.

When life doesn’t make sense, when violence cripples our cities, when children grow up in poverty, when people die in floods, when people are left homeless by earthquakes, when cyclones and tsunamis, bushfires and droughts bring despair and pain – we can avoid the news, we can pretend this is the way the world should be, and get on with our own lives.

Or we can be aware, we can hurt with those who are hurting and weep those who weep, and raise our fist to heaven, asking Why God!, when will your reign of peace and justice come? Why do you let this happen!

Maybe if we were angrier with God, if we told God through our tears and anger and pain, maybe we would stop looking for revenge, and trust God to bring about peace and justice.

Shortly we bring a prayer of lament.  Take some time to think about the areas of your life where there is despair or alienation, anger or pain.

silence

followed by a Prayer of Lament

Part 2 on Timothy and Luke

The disciples asked for more faith.

The disciples request shows they misunderstood the nature of faith, they think of an amount of faith. They show that they fear that they will not have enough, that faith is a scarce and limited commodity.

The disciples asked for more faith, and Jesus tells some stories.

The first is the story of the seeds of the mustard weed, a weed that was difficult to eradicate. Mustard weed grew wild and was the scourge of farmers in Palestine.  Birds would eat the seeds and distribute them, and even if you pulled up the mustard weed, the birds would drop more.  It was persistent, irritating, and fast-spreading. It would be there whether you liked it or not.

Jesus is telling the disciples, and us, that this is the kind of faith we need. This isn’t about amount of faith, but faith that is small enough to be carried everywhere, faith that is contagious and takes root into any space it can find.

If you have any faith, even as tiny as a mustard weed seed, you can do amazing things. It isn’t about how much, but having any faith at all. Any amount of faith in God is enough. Faith in God, faith that God is God, that God is able to act in the world. If we believe in God even just a little bit, it is enough.

Faith is about what we do, rather than how much we have. Jesus changes the discussion from how much faith, to what faith can do, and what we do with the faith we have.

The second story Jesus tells is of a servant come in from working on the farm, and it is dinner time. The servant will cook dinner and clean up, before they get to eat a meal themselves. This isn’t about how to treat people in  a HR sense, but about how we expect to be treated. We are servants of God, why expect a reward for doing what God asks and requires of us?

Just as the master does not reward the slave for doing his job, so we should not expect  a reward, a gold medal, for doing our job as Christians. We don’t get a bonus for being the people God calls us to be. Our reward is serving God.

Looking at the second letter to Timothy, a few things stand out for me. This was likely written in the early part of the second century, that means we are looking at second and third generation Christians. The church is struggling, many thought that Jesus would have returned quickly, but this had not happened, and now how to hold fast to what is true, how to not be discouraged when living in a hostile environment.

The author of this letter is writing to encourage Timothy, but not in a sweet or soft way. The encouragement is to stand firm, to maintain correct teaching. The letter starts by telling Timothy how much he respects Timothy, calls him beloved, and how grateful to God he is for Timothy. How Timothy comes from a family tradition of faith, handed down from Grandmother to mother to Timothy.

Then the strong part, rekindle the faith that is in you, stand firm in the faith, trust in the Holy Spirit, guard the treasure God has given you. Sounds to me like the encouragement you give someone going through a difficult time. When you or someone you know is struggling, how do you offer encouragement?

Faith is a heart thing, it is trust and acting in obedience to God. It is honest sadness, tenacious remembering, performance of duty, a holy calling, and holding fast to sound teaching. Living in faith requires everything of us. Being grounded in awareness of the holiness and sovereignty of God; reflecting the grace of God in all our living; knowing our purpose is in serving God.

We are equipped with the promise that our faith will be sufficient, and the assurance that "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

The second letter of Timothy is one of encouraging Timothy to live the faith. We have another letter, a letter from God in the from of Jesus. What is this letter from God saying to you?