Pentecost xx – C

Meadowvale Lutheran Church, Mississauga

October 7th, AD 2007 (Thanksgiving)        

Pastor Peter Lisinski

 

"THE GENERATION OF FAITH"

(Gospel'.  St. Luke 17:1-10)

 

 

It's a popular custom at Thanksgiving for those who gather around the dinner table to name those blessings of life for which they are most thankful.  And from one home to the next, our lists are strikingly similar, with family and health usually near the top. But today, in light of the providential coincidence of Thanksgiving Sunday with our appointed scripture readings, I'm inclined to consider faith to be life's most precious blessing of all.

 

In today's Gospel, Jesus' disciples approach him with an urgent request:  "Increase our faith!"  Their urgent request reflects my urgent need – and_, I venture to suggest, your urgent need -- for a personal faith strong enough to sustain us through the inevi­table loss of all our blessings, including those for which we are most thankful today.

 

Having recently reached the three-quarter pole in my own life's pilgrimage, I am increasingly aware that my time in this world is running out.  The naive idealism with which I began my journey toward ordination twenty-five years ago is, reluctantly, begin­ning to realize that the transformation of this world into the holy communion of God won't be completed in my lifetime -- no matter what may say.  Neither have my last twenty years of ministry witnessed a turn around in the declining membership of the church -- nor have the past two years brought our cong­regation any closer to financial stability, as was pointed out to me in a recent conversation at our Eastern Synod office.

 

At a more personal level, I am conscious of my own shortcomings as a husband and father, and as the eldest son of an aging mother I wish I could do more to support.  I know that death will, one day, bring my relationship with all the people I love to an end. But the more aware I am becoming that, sooner or later -- as Canadian singer Nelly Furtado laments -- "all good things come to an end", the more certain I am becoming that the mustard seed faith which has sustained me up until now, will grow to sustain me when I need it most!  And I have each and all of you to thank for that faith!

 

In the community of faith we call the church -- in our worship, and whenever we gather in God's name, with God's people, God's Holy Spirit is present among us to inspire faith within us.  And as you reflect on your own life's pilgrimage, you will no doubt also remember the many people who planted and nurtured the mus­tard seed of your faith:  parents and grandparents; Sunday School teachers or choir members; faithful friends, neighbours, or col­leagues -- perhaps even a pastor or two along the way.  And they, in turn first heard the good news of God's love from someone else!