Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Proper 22 Year C
October 5
Lamentations 1:1-6
Psalm 137
Luke 17:5-10
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
God of Hidden Seeds
when we feel overwhelmed,
Remind us that even small faith is enough.
Give us courage to forgive,
To risk Love,
to serve without seeking reward.
through Christ who came among us as a servant and friend. Amen.1 Prayer from the Heartedge Bible Study for October 5
Enough is Enough.
While the phrase is redundant, the words also quite simply attain your meaning, or are enough!
A funny English word with many letters that “speak and do not speak”- terrifically difficult to intuit how to spell, the word comes from the Germanic.
AND I LOVE the word in German: Genug. (Much easier and shorter in spelling, too!)
Enough is Enough.
How often are we hollering this from our hearts?
How much worse can circumstances become?
How much more?
How much longer?
We lament.
We feel the loneliness, the isolation, the disconnect of the world. We are overwhelmed.
ENOUGH we cry, let us off this merry go round called life.
The readings today from Lamentations and our Psalm describe how desperate and disconnected the community feels. The psalmist takes their pain and, even with hope, moves to violence.
Enough is enough, their souls cry out.
Desperate for community, for flourishing, for joy to revisit their lives.
Much like taking too much wasabi or vegemite on your plate,
the saltiness and bitterness overwhelms everything else.
While the mustard seed illustration in today’s gospel is not unique to Luke’s Gospel (Matthew and Mark include it also), Luke often includes stories that are unique to illustrate his theme. Luke’s message is always about the kingdom of God turning things upside down. Reminding those listening that God’s desire for the world is full restoration of relationship in the midst of the isolation, desperation and despair.
Today, those beloved disciples have been walking with Jesus, walking, walking, walking. They have been listening to parables, to the people around them, to the pleas, the questions.
The Disciples are overwhelmed.
Jesus has been there with them.
Answering questions
Listening deeply
Answering with the right amount of truth.
The disciples, at this point in their hiking with Jesus say “INCREASE OUR FAITH” (which is the equivalent to “Lord have mercy!” in my southern background.) Essentially, they are saying, “You want us to do what? We have had the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep, the prodigal son, the shrewd manager,- still working that one out- the banquet table seating chart and now, you have just told us we have to forgive more than is required and expected? What more do you want from us? The disciples say “enough!” or perhaps “sure Jesus, how on earth are you going to help us with this? Give us something more……”
Gently and beautifully, Jesus stays with them still.
Jesus says, friends, you already have enough.
Like Andrew looking about and seeing the young boy with fish in his basket,
look at what you have around you.
Like Jesus sending out the disciples with only their staff and garments,
You have what you need, the rest will be provided
Like Abraham heading out with family, |
be with those you love in the uncertain
Like the Israelites following Moses- take what you have…
God will provide for your daily needs, it will be different.
You, too, have enough and will be transformed.
The faith you already have is enough.
Trust in me.
Know you are enough.
Jesus tells them, “Your faith that you ALREADY HAVE, because it is in God, is enough to move even the dastardliest mulberry bush- rooted, sturdy and situated. Your faith can move even the most immovable things.”
You don’t need a lot of wasabi, vegemite, or mustard to make a huge difference, my friends.
Like Mary’s magnificent song, turning empires upside down.
Faithful responses with God’s call make the impossible possible.
AND we respond in faith not for accolades,
not for the sabbath rest at the end of the day,
we live faithful lives because it is our calling, our duty.
Jesus’ subsequent story of the servants and roles and expectations, told by Jesus reminds the disciples that because of who we are, we live faithfully.
It’s what we do.
We opt into lives of love,
we lament, we grieve, we get angry
AND we look for the courage to forgive and receive grace of being forgiven.
We have enough within us to learn a new way,
to be guided by the Holy Spirit to see hope in the midst of despair.
To know that our lament is tempered with the joy of God’s presence with us in this very moment.
I love a bit of word play and adore that Jesus is constantly turning even the words the disciples use to help them understand themselves and God’s love for them more clearly.
In the disciples demanding “increase our faith,” Jesus directs them to the faith they already have and then digging deeper to their true desire to be heard and seen. They want Jesus to acknowledge and see their efforts, to affirm their efforts and celebrate that it is hard good work. Jesus reminds them that the work is enough, what they have is enough, sufficient.
Faithfully responding with love,
Planting seeds of hope, presence, joy and grace looks different for each of us.
And yet collectively our lives lived together in community make for kingdom living.
Seeing one another, listening deeply, seeing the faithfulness in each other
Seeing first the lament and pain AND deeper still the love that is in each heart.
As we cry out, ENOUGH is Enough.
Jesus replies to us, even now, what you have is enough.
My love is sufficient, my embrace is wide enough for all of you, I am here.
I know your suffering
and you have enough to journey this road
You are loved.
You are seen, you are not abandoned.
You are enough.
I close with a beautiful prayer reflecting this gospel reading’s hopes and desires as we head out into the world. Both this prayer and the one I began with come from a community called Heartedge… which invites us to shift from survival mode to flourishing by focusing on relationships, community, and participation in God’s ongoing work in the world.2 Both this prayer and the one I began with come from a community called Heartedge… which invites us to shift from survival mode to flourishing by focusing on relationships, community, and participation in God’s ongoing work in the world https://www.heartedge.org/a-generous-god/
God of mustard Seas and mulberry trees,
we bring our small and fragile faith.
Breathe your spirit upon us.
Stretch our imagination.
Strengthen our trust,
Teach us to walk in humility and love.3 Prayer from the Heartedge Bible Study for October 5
Amen