Really?

May 20, 2007

            In the passage that Hannah just read from the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul or one of his followers offers words of thanksgiving for the faith of the members of the church, calling them to continue to live as disciples of Jesus Christ.  Together, with the whole congregation, we give thanks for those of you joining the church today and promise that we will do our best to join you in living faithfully as followers of Jesus Christ.

In just a few minutes, you who are joining the church are going to answers some important questions about what you believe about God and you are going to make a commitment to live a Christian life.  In just a few minutes, the rest of us will join with you in a statement of faith that you have written as a confirmation class.  Together, as we answers these important questions and make a statement of faith, we will all feel pretty confident about what we believe when it comes to God and Jesus and living as followers of Jesus Christ.  Well, at least momentarily confident about what we believe!  Our answers and statement are pretty bold… for some of us, too bold!  When it comes to faith, many of us have more questions than answers.

There are at least a couple of things though that I am confident about that I want you, the Confirmation Class, to know.  The first is this, when it comes to faith, it is okay to ask questions.  It is okay to ask “Really?” As you look around at the adults who are here with you in worship today – your parents, your mentors, your Sunday School teachers, your Youth Director, your pastors, your friends – you might think that we have it all figured out when it comes to faith.  There might even be one or two of you who think that we have all the answers about God and Jesus and the Bible and all.  But the truth is we don’t.  And that’s okay. 

Questions and doubts and times when we aren’t sure about anything that has to do with our faith in God or God’s faith in us – it’s all okay.  In fact, I believe it is a part of being faithful.  I think our questions and our doubts and those times when we aren’t sure what we believe or even how to believe can be a sign that our faith is alive and even ready to grow.  When it comes to faith, believing that we “know it all” sometimes isn’t helpful.  We can get stuck and not be able to recognize God calling us to a new place and even to new beliefs.  A really wise person once said: “While we all long for the certainty and security that come with absolute and pat answers, and while we all want to feel that God is in our corner, the reality is that we live by faith and not by certainty or security or even knowledge.  Faith implies questioning, searching, wondering, and hoping.  Faith understands life as a journey that never ends.*  Having faith in God does not mean having all the answers or even believing in God all the time.  When it comes to faith, it really is okay to ask “Really?”

            The second thing I am confident about when it comes to faith is actually a part of the Statement of Faith that you, as a confirmation class, wrote.  You said that… “We believe our purpose on earth is to love our neighbor, be nice, bring joy to the world, share our talents with the world, help others find their own faith, love, serve God, follow our passions, serve the Lord, teach others, and love God’s creation.”   These words call us to think beyond ourselves.  You are figuring out that faith isn’t just a me thing, it’s a we thing.  Our personal faith must be lived out in community with other people… with all creation.  Loving our neighbors… bringing joy to the world… sharing our talents… all of these things challenge us to live our faith on the outside as a part of believing our faith on the inside.  Again and again and again, Jesus spoke of a faith that involved doing and not just believing.  I really believe that our loving actions as Christians can speak louder than our words.

            Finally, I am confident, just as you said in your Statement of Faith, that God is always with us.  Even when we doubt… even when we question… even when we wander away… even when we don’t live as Jesus calls us to live… even in the middle of the scariest of times… even when we think we are all alone… even then, I believe that God is with us.

            When our family lived in Nome, we had a good friend named Willie Senungetuk.  When we knew him, he was in the last years of his life.  But he loved to tell us the story of the time, when as a young man, he went seal hunting to provide for his family and he and his dog team got caught out on the ice.  It was his story of faith.  It was his way of saying that God is always with us.  I’ve told it before… a long time ago really so I want to make sure you hear it today.

            The hunting trip he spoke about was in the spring when the sea ice isn’t all that secure a place to be.  Leads or openings in the ice come and go with the wind and tide.  Willie was several miles out on the ice, heading back toward dry land after a successful hunt.  He stopped to rest his dog team and warm himself with a cup of tea but he soon realized that a lead had opened between himself and the secure, shore ice.  He and his dog team were literally floating on a large piece of ice with no way to get across the open water.  As he told the story, he said that he unloaded most of the seals from the sled to lighten the load.  Then he calmly talked to his dogs, reassuring them of his plan and then he simply waited.  Because of his keen eyes and sense of balance, he realized that the large island of ice under his feet was slowly moving… pivoting to be exact… and would soon come in contact with the shore ice.  Willie was ready for that moment.  As the ice moved and a small tip of the floating island touched the secure shore ice, Willie gave his dogs the command and they pulled him to safety across the narrow bridge of ice.  He remembered looking back out to sea the moment he had his feet on the secure, shore ice and watching as the island which had held him only seconds before, crumbled into a thousand pieces.  Each time Willie finished telling us the story, he would say that, in the midst of it all, he knew that God had been by his side.

            I believe that God is by our side… really.  God is with us in the middle of our questions and doubts.  God is with us when we are living our faith on the inside and out.  God is always with us… really.   And that really is enough to know!

*From Living the Questions by Robert Raines, page12.