University Presbyterian Church - Chapel Hill, NC

“Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”[1]

A Sermon for University Presbyterian Church, Chapel Hill

August 12, 2007

Anna Pinckney Straight

Hebrews 8: 1-3, 8-16[2]

8 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ²Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. ³By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” ¹³All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40

³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ³⁵“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. ³⁹“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Writer Gary Rivlin wrote an article for the New York Times, published last week, about a situation facing some of the millionaires in Silicon Valley. His topic was something I had not, previously, given much (any, to be truthful) thought.

He wrote, “Silicon Valley is thick with those who might be called working-class millionaires — nose-to-the-grindstone people who …much to their surprise, are still working as hard as ever even as they find themselves among the fortunate few…. many such accomplished and ambitious members of the digital elite still do not think of themselves as particularly fortunate, in part because they are surrounded by people with more wealth — often a lot more….

Gary Kremen, the 43-year-old founder of Match.com…. estimates his net worth at $10 million. That puts him firmly in the top half of 1 percent among Americans…., but barely in the top echelons in affluent towns like Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton. So he logs 60- to 80-hour workweeks because, he said, he does not think he has nearly enough money to ease up….. ‘Everyone around here looks at the people above them…. You’re nobody here at $10 million,’ Mr. Kremen said”

“You’re nobody here at $10 million.”[3]

My first reaction to this article?  “You have GOT to be kidding me.”  Working class millionaires?  No way.  Yeah.  That’s a tough life.

Of course, as I’ve spent the week thinking about the article, I’ve found it increasingly less outrageous and more and more believable. 

And I’ve wondered, was that the way it was 2,000 years ago, for those who were listening to Jesus tell the story of the Rich Fool, the text just before today’s that was the foundation of last week’s sermon?  The man who had so much extra grain and so many goods that he had to tear down his barns and build bigger ones.  I wonder if those Jesus was telling the story to rolled their eyes like I did   “Yeah.  Such a problem this man has.  I wish I had such problems.”

I suspect it might have been, for Jesus didn’t stop with the parable.  He went on, and part of what he had to say is our text for today.  And made sure that when he was done, everyone within earshot had heard something they needed to hear.

On the surface, this passage, the story of the Rich Fool and the subsequent passage we heard this morning, serves as a reminder that, in the words of Alan Culpepper, “Anxiety must be a by-product of human freedom.  At least it seems to be a universal art, cultivated by people in all generations and cultures.  Those who do not have enough to live on….naturally are anxious about how they will live.  Those who have opportunities to develop a better life than they now enjoy worry about how they will get ahead.  Those who have all they need and more are anxious about maintaining and protecting their wealth.  Having more, then, is no solution to anxiety.”[4]

Having more… is no solution to anxiety

In a web article offering preaching advice on this week’s gospel lectionary passage, William Willimon writes, “In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus begins with the comforting word: ‘Do not be afraid!’ Elsewhere, he has told us not to be afraid in the middle of a raging storm, or in the dark of night…. Here, however, our fear is connected to our ‘possessions,’ our ‘purses’ and ‘treasure.’ Then he adds a command: ‘Sell your possessions and give alms.’

Jesus’ injunction not to be afraid when linked to our money is curious. In last Sunday’s gospel, Jesus warned us against ‘greed.’ Yet I daresay that most of us do not accumulate wealth due to our greed, or even for the fun of it. Our main motivation for our acquisitiveness is fear. It is as if today, in his teachings on wealth, Jesus has at last gotten to the heart of the matter.”[5]

And there it is.  What I think we all have in common, what I know I have in common, with those Silicon Valley Millionaires.  What we even have in common with individuals who would love to have some of our anxiety and stress, which is, for most of us, which is, for me, experienced in the comfort of a cool house with plenty of food. 

 Fear.  Fear diminishable by faith.

The heart of the matter.  We can either store up for ourselves treasures in heaven or treasures on earth. 

So much of the life of faith is about both / and.  We can have beauty and justice.  Strength and mercy.  Hope and realism. 

But here, an either or.  You can either devote your energy to building up treasures here, or you can work to building up spiritual treasures.   Faith.

When we delve deeper, this passage isn’t just a reminder of the universality of anxiety, it is about what we are, faithfully, supposed to do about anxiety.

And that, is what Jesus is illuminating for us in this text.  A way out of fear.  A pathway out of a life of anxiety.

Don’t worry he says.  Sell your possessions.  Give alms.  Help others.

Know where your true treasure is. 

Said another way, Let it go.  If you can give it away, it cannot possess you.

If you can give it away, it cannot possess you.

What’s your idol?  What’s your treasure?  That which you cannot let go. How are you going to live?  Grasp or release?[6]  Bondage or freedom?

Prudently invest, and you won’t get nervous when the Wall Street Journal reports that “Stocks seesawed wildly to end a volatile week….as investors struggled to determine the magnitude of the escalating crisis in the credit markets.”[7]

And when, according to Jesus in Luke, when are we supposed to embark upon this way of life?  Now.  Because God will arrive anytime, any day.  Is this exchanging one anxiety for another?  Don’t worry about your day to day life because you are supposed to be worrying about when God is arriving?

While it can be tempting to look at it that way, it’s not what Jesus intends. Jesus is much smarter than that.  He isn’t saying we should worry about when it will be, he is saying we should be ready.  And those are very different things. 

Be ready.  Live the life you have been called to live.  At all times.

The faithful life is not about getting ready for some almighty test, it is about living the life of faith.

And there it is, the piece of this puzzle that ties everything together.  Faith.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith. 

Believing when we cannot see.  Trusting outcomes we may not get to experience.

If you have proof, it’s not faith.

In her recent book entitled, “Eat, Pray, Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert describes faith in this way:

“The search for God is a reversal of the normal, mundane worldly order. In the search for God, you revert from what attracts you and swim toward that which is difficult. You abandon your comforting and familiar habits with the hope (the mere hope!) that something greater will be offered you in return for what you've given up....

The devout of this world perform their rituals without guarantee that anything good will ever come of it. Of course there are plenty of scriptures and plenty of priests who make plenty of promises as to what your good works will yield (or threats as to the punishments awaiting you if you lapse), but to even believe all this is an act of faith, because nobody amongst us is shown the endgame. Devotion is diligence without assurance. Faith is a way of saying, 'Yes, I pre-accept the terms of the universe and I embrace in advance what I am presently incapable of understanding.' There's a reason we refer to 'leaps of faith' --because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mighty jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don't care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to sit you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational; it isn't. If faith were rational, it wouldn't be--by definition--faith. Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch. Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be...a prudent insurance policy.”[8]

The something better for which we are told to hope?  It is not fortune or safety or health.  It is nothing more, nothing less, than the assurance that we will never be alone, that God is with us.  Weeping as we weep, laughing as we laugh, forgiving us when we ask, loving us in each moment.  Always seeing what is possible when we trust faith.

Faith will not pay your mortgage.  It will not bring you to reap a magnificent harvest. It will not keep you healthy or even keep your body safe. In fact, it may even lead you to do things that are not considered by some to be safe.  Faith.  The acceptance that the only assurance you really need is that God is with you, and that everything, everything else is fleeting. 

Faith.  Not a life without doubt, but a life that accepts that that we do not believe because we believe proof will be forthcoming, we believe because God has created, redeemed, and sustains us.

Faith.  In Hebrews, “the word points to a reality that does not owe its existence to human awareness.”[9]

Lord I believe, help my unbelief.

Many years ago, I went on a week-long backpacking trip in Mt. Rainer National Park. On about the 4^th day, the fourth day without a shower.  The fourth day of hiking all day with a 50 pound pack, we hit a snag.  The bridge that was supposed to take us across a river wasn’t there.  Our guides, our more than qualified guides, hooked together a system of logs and pronounced that we would walk across on these.  Over cold glacier water. 

I was unconvinced.  I was tired.  I was thinking that maybe there was an easier way.  And so I decided that if they wanted me to take this risk, fine.  But I was not going first.  I was going to see if it worked before I tried it.  So.   Some of the others went.  And they got over just fine.  They had told me it would be fine, but I didn’t trust them.  I wanted to see it for myself.   It was only then that I was able to believe their word that it would be okay. 

Seeing it for yourself is, I maintain, a good principle when you are crossing a river on a wet, thin, log.

When innocent lives may be falsely convicted, beyond a reasonable doubt is more than a good principle, it is a necessity.

Testing is a great way to find out if you know your multiplication tables, if you know how to spell grace.

Testing, beyond a reasonable doubt, seeing is believing, they are all bad ideas when it comes to God. 

Because if you have proof, it’s not faith.

Faith, more than believing in the Good News of God.  Trusting, leaning on that Good News of God.  Good News of grace and love and forgiveness.

Having faith in a Loving God means knowing that and answers and proof are not what we need. 

If answers and proof were truly what we needed, God would give them to us.

Faith means that we recognize that the question is not: God are you here? 

The question is: God, how do we show and proclaim your love?

If you have proof, it’s not faith.

It is faith that leads us out of anxiety.  Out of fear.  Out of the paralysis that keeps us from true discipleship.

Faith.

Faith is never beyond a reasonable doubt.  That’s why the Good News is so good.

Lord we believe.  Help us in our unbelief.