As hard as I try not to worry, it’s getting harder as prices rise and the rest of the world organizes in opposition to the trade war initiated by our current president. The lies attempting to cover up the incompetence and chaos are maddening. Worse of all, the cruelty with which efforts to deport large numbers of persons with little or no evidence and no due process are sickening.
I’ve been told that worry indicates a lack of faith. Perhaps.
Marty LeFleur was the Chief Inspector on the island of Montserrat, where the lifeboat from the Galaxy washed up on shore. After his daughter, Lilly, died, he wanted nothing to do with God. She was only four years old when she drowned while her grandmother slept in her chair at the beach. Why didn’t God wake her up in time to save his daughter?
Lilly’s mother, Patrice, turned to her belief that their daughter was in heaven—a better place than here. On the other hand, Marty could not accept that a merciful God would let such a tragedy happen. For Marty, “The power of misery is its long shadow. It darkens everything within view.” Our author suggests that Marty lost his faith while Patrice found hers.
Faith is a mystery. You cannot hold faith like you can hold someone’s hand. You cannot taste faith the way you can a glass of water. Nor can you see faith with the naked eye.
The irony is that you must have faith to see faith.
In a New York Times opinion article, David Brooks writes, “The word ‘faith’ implies possession of something, whereas I experience faith as a yearning for something beautiful that I can sense but not fully grasp. For me, faith is more about longing and thirsting than knowing and possessing.”
In his gospel, Luke tells about a time when Jesus’ followers asked Him to increase their faith. Rather than do as they requested, Jesus shared with them one of the most powerful mysteries of faith.“ If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, He said, “you can tell a mulberry tree to pull itself up by the roots and plant itself in the sea, and it would do as you said.”
The obvious interpretation here is that faith gives one great power in the physical world. Perhaps, but I’m thinking faith is even more powerful.
Meanwhile, water is scarce on the lifeboat. And with no rain in sight, the survivors’ thirst is mounting. Nina pleads with the stranger to do something, ‘Don’t you see how worried we are?”
“Worry is something you create,” the stranger responds. “Why would we create worry?” Nina asked, puzzled. “To fill a void,” replies the stranger. “A void of what? asks Nina,
The stranger offers a one-word answer, “Faith.”
Was the stranger, reminding Nina, that they must believe he is the Lord, as he said before, before he can save them? But is faith really about what we believe?
David Brooks writes, “When I was an agnostic, I thought faith was primarily about belief. Being religious was about having a settled conviction that God existed and knowing that the stories in the Bible were true.”
Soon after, the stranger took a nap. As the stranger slept, rain clouds began to accumulate. It wasn’t long before it started to rain. The survivors scrambled to collect as much water as possible. But Benji slipped and spilled most of what he collected just as the rain stopped.
“Keep it going!” Benji screamed. “So you believe I created that storm?” the stranger asked. Benji responds, “If you did, it wasn’t enough.”
“Wasn’t one raindrop enough to prove who I am?” the stranger replies.
So, what is the connection between worry and faith? If faith isn’t about believing that God exists? Or, in the case of the Galaxy survivors, is the stranger the Lord?
If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea!’ and it would obey you.
Luke 17:5-6
Brooks describes coming to faith as “falling in love” rather than finding the answer to a difficult question. Faith seems to be a yearning that can’t be satisfied by substitutes.
It seems to me that Jesus wasn’t talking about landscaping without machinery or labor. Instead, Jesus offered a comparison for us to glimpse the power of faith.
Brooks turns to Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s description of Moses receiving the Book of Law from God. He writes, Moses “received the Torah from Sinai not as a simple recipient but as a creator of worlds, as a partner with the Almighty in the act of creation.”
Our quest towards greater faith can be thought of as three movements, each taking us closer to God. Beginning with a desire to become a better person, we will eventually gain a better understanding of the world God created.
This improved version of ourselves then turns attention towards the world and the needs of others. For some, their mission is vast, and they help thousands, if not millions, of people. But most of us utilize the capacities and resources God makes available to us to help where and whom we can.
Finally, we experience a convergence whereby we pursue a greater and more intimate relationship with God, who is no longer a stranger but a trusted friend.
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Pastor Tommy
Our series was inspired by Mitch Albom. The Stranger in the Lifeboat. New York: HarperCollins, 2021.
David Brook. “The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be.” © New York Times, Dec. 19, 2024. Retrieved from: link