Great is thy Faithfulness
For about six months, I’ve been feeling really unmotivated to exercise and move my body regularly. There have been some new aches and pains that served as a demotivator. Also, in this new “everything is kind of back to normal” time after the pandemic, events, meetings, expectations of programming, travel, visits, dinner parties, social events have all roared back onto the calendar. The combination of physical discomfort and a busy schedule got the best of me somewhere about January 1.
But a few weeks ago, I got hooked by a bit of research that an NPR team participated in (The Body Electric), suggesting that intentional movement every 30 minutes noticeably improves health and productivity.
5 minutes of movement every 30 seemed pretty doable. So I use my watch to nudge me out of my chair every 30 minutes or so.
Lately, in addition to that, I have been taking a 30 – 40 minute walk every day. Because it turns out that once I started moving every 30 minutes, my body was longing for and capable of more.
The daily walk is both a time to move my body and unplug from a lot of things competing for my attention. It is time that makes my body feel good. It helps my mood. It keeps me in touch with what’s happening outside.
And it turns out, over the past two weeks what is going on outside is high temperatures. And this week that got turned up with crazy mid-Atlantic humidity.
Particularly Thursday, Friday and Saturday, getting out to take that walk before the jungle heat manifested took some internal and persistent pep talking.
But I did it. Progressively earlier each morning.
It hasn’t been easy. It hasn’t always bee fun. But after showing up regularly to my walk, here’s what I know:
· I know that when I put on my shoes, I’ve started the process and might just as well carry through.
· I know that when I move my body each day with intention, I eat better, I move better, I sleep better.
· I know that when I show up to that walk, I feel better throughout the day.
Faithfully showing up to this work yields results. Which makes it easier to faithfully show up the next day and the next.
Today, we’re exploring the fruit of the Spirit which is faithfulness – the act leaning into God’s promises even when it is hard and uncomfortable and not seemingly working for us.
Before we dive too deep on faithfulness though, I want us to recall a few things about the fruit of the Spirit:
The fruit of the Spirit is accessible to all of us.
The fruit of the Spirit thrives and grows in us when we stay connected to God.
The fruit is the Spirit’s work – it is not a function so much of our striving for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. We aren’t called to WORK toward these things in order to be fruitful (although the self-help aisle would happily convince us otherwise). The fruit is a function of our relationship with God. The fruit ripens as a result of our love of God and neighbor.
Our scripture today focuses on the thematic core of the latter part of “The Letter to the Hebrews” that focuses on what faith is and what it does.
Our bibles title this text a letter because that is the historic title that was found in a manuscript. But it doesn’t actually read like a letter. It doesn’t have the necessary address at the beginning and it doesn’t really end with all of the instruction and closing conventions of a letter in scripture. It is more likely a sermon, shared with multiple communities.
The Letter to the Hebrews was NOT written by Paul, and it was likely written before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. It seems to address communities of Jewish Christians who were considering a return to Judaism.
I have referenced a few times now the strange sort of boundless and unruly space of early Christianity. There was no “bible.” There was no universally agreed upon doctrine. Practices were just beginning to become traditions as they were passed on from person to person and community to community. The dominant ethos was that of the Roman empire – focused on economic and political power, hierarchies of class structure, institutions and infrastructure.
Today’s text rests in that space – a time when people really needed to be convinced that Jesus was real, the resurrection happened, that God was still at work by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that continuing to practice – continuing to gather in community to love and learn and serve and worship (things that would have felt very counter-cultural) – mattered.
Hmmm.
I think we are in a similar season today.
While there was a time – still in most of our lifetimes – when Christianity could really claim a space in dominant culture, I think we find ourselves today in a space MORE similar to the early Christian church.
We cannot assume that people KNOW who Jesus was and what he actually taught.
We cannot assume that people KNOW what it means to follow Jesus.
We cannot assume that our bible, our doctrines, or our practices are interesting, accessible, relevant or understandable to the average person who is NOT currently part of a Christian community.
And notice I didn’t say church – in part because I think that the image of “church” is wildly distorted in our society right now. I believe that there are many people inside of churches who also don’t know a lot about Christianity as a Jesus movement.
And so, this reminder about faith from scripture today feels timely to me: faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
I think the Jesus movement needs a fresh wave of assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things that we cannot see. I think the Jesus movement is longing for a renewed faithfulness.
Amen?
And I don’t believe we can just FAITH harder in order to have more faith.
Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia, which anchors our current series, highlights fruit of the Spirit – all of which echo qualities of God.
So then, God is faithful.
God promised after the flood never to destroy creation again. God promised Abraham a mighty nation. God promised to not harm the firstborn of the Hebrews. God promised a land of milk and honey. Jesus promised that death is not the end. Jesus promised an accompanying Spirit. The Spirit has continued to breathe life into followers of Jesus for more than 2000 years while the Kin-dom of God expands and contracts and expands and contracts as generations ebb and flow in relationship to God.
And so, how do we show up to God each day in order to nurture this fruit?
How do we ready ourselves for God’s work in our lives each day?
How do we respond to God’s call to be Kin-dom builders each day?
How do we allow the Spirit to work in us so that we bear ripe fruit? So that we feel faithfulness as part of how we move in the world?
By seeking relationship and guidance over and above a need to be certain or right.
By showing up even when we’re not entirely sure what we are showing up to.
And let’s be honest, that is hard.
But I suspect you are already doing some of it.
I mean, I know that when we show up here, it is NOT as if the sermon lands and the music and prayers lift us to transcendence every time. Sometimes…yes. But not all the time. And sometimes not at all. Still, we’re here every week. Showing up to worship. Putting ourselves in an attitude of praise and thanksgiving and devotion to God.
This week, referencing the dance of our devotion (that is showing up to a relationship with God) with our faithful action – acting out our God-following, if you will in the world, Fr. Richard Rohr pointed to another part of Galatians 2:20:
It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
How will you show up to God this week?
How will you open yourself to the Spirit’s work in your life?
Each week in our series, we have been prompted to respond to the fruit we’re focusing on. Our responses have become a part of our fruitful garden here at the table.
Here’s this week’s prompt (please write your response on the beautiful garden thing you received or drop it in the chat or email me or the office@faithworkshere.com)
This week, plan to take up one spiritual practice that you’ve never really experienced before for JUST one day. Pray every hour, fast, immerse yourself deeply in a profound Bible study, give extravagantly of yourself. What one bold thing will you do in God’s name?
What will you keep showing up to this week?
Faithfully?
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