How many of you own some type of GPS?

Maybe it’s one of those Garmin Nuvi’s or a Tom-Tom. Perhaps integrated into your car or truck? On your smart phone? I was skeptical at first, I mean, come on, pick up and read a map. But I’ve become a convert. One of my favorite features allows you to look ahead at what is available as far as amenities at the upcoming exits. This is excellent if you are traveling with kids, your own or chaperoning a group of other peoples’ kids. You end up with the information at your fingertips that allows you to decide if you need to take the next exit for a pit stop and lunch because there is nothing available for miles, or if you can put it off for another half hour because there is a Panera a few exits down the road. It’s nice to know exactly where you are heading, what to expect and when you will arrive. It’s comforting. Sometimes when writing my sermon, I wish there was a sermon GPS that allowed you to navigate neatly through a scripture passage, making good time to your desired destination.

But alas, as we see in today’s passages there is no scriptural GPS. Instead we are faced with Hebrew’s bold opening statement, “Faith is assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen.” Rather than something that can be known, managed, and planned out, our faith, the foundation of our life together as a community is to be based on something as ethereal as hope and conviction. Faith is a realistic assessment that what we often see around us in this world, whether it be large scale destructions such as war, genocide and environmental disaster or the small scale, individual misfortunes such as illness, broken relationships and personal hurts, that all of these are not God’s will for us as humans. Instead, God’s desire for humanity is a desire for abundant life and healthy relationships with each other, with God and with creation. It is the lion lying down with the lamb, a place free from tears and sorrow, where all have enough and there is no more darkness. As Fredrick Buechner writes in his book, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “By faith, we understand, if we are to understand at all, that the madness and lostness we see all around us and within us are not the last truth about the world but only the next to last truth. Faith is the eye of the heart and by faith we see deep down beneath the face of things – by faith we struggle against all odds to be able to see – that the world is God’s creation even so. It is God who made us, not we ourselves, made us out of his peace to live in peace, out of his light to dwell in light, out of his love to be above all things loved and loving. That is the last truth about the world.”

But the writer of Hebrews doesn’t stay ethereal for long. By verse four we have the first of many examples of faithful people that will be offered. Our reading centers on the main of those examples, Abraham and Sarah, who, following the promises of God, set out for a new land. The reading continues for another chapter with even more examples of faithfulness, even while acknowledging that many of them did not receive the promises in their lifetime, but instead “from a distance saw and greeted them.” It is clear in Hebrews that faith is not merely an intellectual assent but involves action as well. It means envisioning the world as God would have it and then actively living into that vision, tempering our actions in ways that both reveal the vision and bring it into being. 

The same sentiment echoes in the passage from Luke. What are we to be about as disciples of Christ? As followers of God? We are to be dressed for action with our lamps lit – waiting for our master to arrive at a moment’s notice. “Do not be afraid, for it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” Jesus says, and in other passages he proclaims that the kingdom of God has come near. The kingdom of God is already ours. The vision, the promise of God’s kingdom of peace and love and wholeness is not only a vision for the life hereafter. The kingdom of God is both here and not yet – breaking through like a thief at unexpected times and in unexpected places. We are to have faith in its coming, and act in ways - waiting, open, ready for action - that welcome the very presence of God among us.

And so where does that leave us?

Two weeks ago we talked about the great rummage sale and the many challenges the church faces as it tries to engage a changing culture and worldview with the message of the gospel. Last week, we considered the central traditions of the church, prayer, worship, hospitality, mission, study, and the need to find the heart of those traditions so we could share them adequately with others. In this week’s scriptures, the focus is forward. It is about the hope of this kingdom, this kingdom of God being given to us, breaking in amongst us. It is about being prepared, open, attuned to God’s presence, ready to receive it, willing to nurture it. 

If only we had a GPS!

Well, we may not have a map, but there are some signposts on the way. In a culture where they are increasingly marketed to, people are searching for authenticity. Following Christ and participating in the life of a church has less to do with the programs offered than it does the hearts of the gathered congregation. Vital communities of faith are filled with people who are willing to share in meaningful, honest conversation about faith, Christ and the struggles of discipleship. 

In a world where individuals are increasingly mobile, fractured from family, from friendships, from their roots, people are seeking connection. This holds true for people of all ages, whether they be a 20-something in a new community with a new job far distant from where they grew up or went to college, or an 80-something whose family has moved far distant and they feel they are navigating life alone. Vital communities of faith create space for acceptance, for forgiveness, are non-judgmental and willing to share both joys and burdens.

In a world that says it is all about you, a growing number of people are seeking to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to sacrifice rather than to take. Vital communities of faith encourage people to nurture the kingdom of God in the midst of their own lives. They help people recognize and name the ways that their individual actions of compassion and love and justice are a part of a bigger whole, a larger history of God’s people working and living faithfully into the “hope of things not yet seen.” 

We have something to say, something to share, a bit of good news for all of these people. Some of them may walk through our door. An awful lot of them will not. And so our faithful action, our hopeful waiting must include making these wall as permeable as possible – and not with the expectation that people will come in, but that we will go out – to be authentic, to be connectional, to be missional, to share the heart of our traditions, the heart of who we are as a people of faith with others where they are at. 

  And so I challenge you this week to go into your workplaces and your neighborhoods, your condo associations or apartment buildings, your schools (well maybe not quite yet) and your playgroups throughout our community and ask, “Where is the love of God needed?  Or “Where is the presence of God and God’s kingdom already breaking through?” And ask yourself then – how can I as a follower of Christ, be a part of that? Nurture that? Help that vision come into being? The church, at its best, is here to support you!

Amen.