3/30/2023 0 Comments Mustard seed necklace![]() In essence, he seems to imply that they don’t need more faith, they need to realize that they already have faith and even if it’s a small amount…that’s totally enough. So here in Luke Jesus isn’t scolding them for not having even the tiniest amount of faith – instead when they ask him to increase their faith he’s affirming that the disciples already have the faith to do what is expected of them. But there is also an “according to present reality conditional clause”: meaning, “If you have the faith of a mustard seed (and you do) …” So here is the time when I say that knowing a little Greek can be helpful.īut knowing how to look up blog posts from guys who know a lot of Greek – is unbelievably helpful.īecause here’s what I learned – and forgive me for talking about grammar in a sermon, but in Greek there is a “future conditional clause”: “If you were to have the faith of a mustard seed …” - implying that you don’t have that faith now. Which can easily contribute to us thinking that if we have the right amount and the right quality of faith then the hard things in life won’t be hard and we will never doubt. I think we sometime mistakenly think having faith is like being the little engine who could – I think I can I think I can…and if we just muster up enough – a tiny mustard size amount of faith we can do anything – we can trust God when things are bad and never struggle or doubt and we can even uproot bushes into a watery grave if for some reason we think that’s what is called for.Īnd this Gospel text about the mustard seed kind of feels like Jesus is scolding us for not having even the tiniest amount of faith. We assume that having faith means not struggling with faith….that having faith means being totally trusting and peaceful and absolutely serene when really tough stuff is happening to us or around us.īut the thing is, that then, when the hard stuff in life happens, not only do we feel crappy, but then we have to add to it also feeling totally inadequate about our faith, which just makes it all worse. Is doubt ok? And one was really a statement and not at all a question: someone wrote: Sometimes I wonder if there really is a God because of all the hurt and suffering in life.Īnd so, with these questions and the texts for today rattling around in my brain, I started to think again, as I have before, about how often we assume that having faith means not doubting. What I was struck by were the sheer number of questions that were so similar – no, not “what do your tattoos mean?” but things like, is it ok to feel distant from your faith when you are going through a really hard time in life? And… What does it even mean to have faith? And…What if I am not sure what I believe? And. I think that’s why the prayers of the people here at House are so raw and vulnerable – in a way they wouldn’t be if people were standing up and saying their prayers out loud. Anyhow, it was too many people to be able to do a proper Q and A where people stand up speak and so we asked people to write down their questions instead.Īnd reading these questions, I realized how different it is to write something anonymously than it is to stand up and say it out loud in a room full of people. This Thursday I spoke to about 11 hundred people on the UND campus in Grand Forks North Dakota, which I think may also be the actual population of Grand Forks North Dakota. I mean, I’m saying the same things over and over which is downright monotonous for me, so what I really love, is doing Q and A – or as my friend Brian Calls it: Q and R Question and Response. See, I’m basically boring myself to death out there. This week while on the road, I had a really interesting experience around how some people struggle with what they think it means to have faith. ![]() Well, for the record, that necklace was super cheap and always turned my neck green so, you know, I didn’t wear it much anyhow. Nadia does not perform miracles, therefore Nadia has so little faith it’s not even as big as that mustard seed around her neck. ![]() Because I’ve always heard it as this syllogism: With only a teensy weensy amount of faith, Nadia could perform miracles. I have no idea what good that does.Īnd regardless of the relative merits of mulberry bush drowning…this text has often made my faith feel inadequate. Um, maybe you guys could help me with something here: I have never understood why, if given such vast power over physical objects, one would, out of all the options available, choose to uproot bushes and throw them into the ocean.
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