What is Faith?

In the gospel reading that many of us will hear this coming Sunday – Luke 17:5-10 – the disciples plead with Jesus to give them more faith. That may sound like an odd request to us, but Jesus has just been telling them there will be times when they will need to forgive someone over and over again. And if you’ve ever had to do that, you probably understand the urgent nature of their request!

Interestingly, Jesus kind of throws their request back in their face. If you had only a speck of faith, he says, you’d be able to do unimaginable things. And then he invites the disciples to consider whether servants expect to be thanked for doing what they are supposed to do. Given that the anticipated answer is probably “of course not,” we might conclude that Jesus is saying that the disciples should stop worrying about whether they have enough faith and just get to the business at hand.

Which got me thinking: might “faithfulness” simply being doing what we see needs to be done? Maybe faith doesn’t have to be heroic – going to another country to serve as a doctor or missionary. Maybe faith doesn’t even have to be particularly religious? Maybe faith is just being attentive to the needs around us and committing ourselves to doing what we can with what we’ve got, trusting that God will make use of it.

My friend Jenee Woodard, who runs The Text This Week — an awesome website that almost every preacher I know turns to — sent me a link to the following video in relation to this passage. It’s about some folks in Detroit who noticed the city wasn’t able to mow the parks in their area any more. And instead of complaining, or shaking their heads, or writing an editorial, or just getting depressed…instead of all those perfectly understandable things, they just did something about it. Maybe this is faithfulness. And maybe, when you think about it this way, we each have all the faith we need.

So what do you think faith is? And what do you see around you that needs to be done? Or, maybe more importantly, where do you see folks just doing the stuff that needs to be done and how might you name that as – and maybe even thank them for their – faithfulness. If you want to tell your stories in the comments below, I know a few Working Preachers who will be grateful for what you share. ☺ Thanks.

Urban Innovation Exchange: The Mower Gang from DETROIT LIVES! on Vimeo.

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