First, an item on the weather: If any changes are made to the worship schedule, they will be posted on the Covenant website by 6 p.m. Saturday.
Will Willimon, for years the chaplain at Duke University, will be with us this weekend, speaking in the Fellowship Hall at 9:30 a.m. and preaching at both 11 a.m. services. A great storyteller and preacher, he says that in his more than 20 years at Duke, he had maybe 20 angry telephone calls from parents.
"Never did they say, 'Help. I sent my child to the university and he got addicted to alcohol,' or 'Help. I sent my child to college and she became sexually promiscuous.' No, the calls I got were, 'Help. I sent my child to Duke and she became a religious fanatic.' Religious fanatic defined as 'she's going on a two-year mission to Haiti with the Catholics'" (Thank God It's Friday, p. 30).
People often define religious faith as ascribing to a specific set of doctrines or beliefs: the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, the communion of saints. Yet those parents learned that the Bible speaks of faith more in terms of attending to sacred promptings, and stepping out onto an unknown road in trust. It's a matter of getting up from where you are and following.
In a recent interview, Barbara Brown Taylor observed that she had been "brought up with a definition of faith as 'adherence to a set of beliefs' but now she says, she is redefining faith as 'openness to truth' whatever truth turns out to be." The convenience of holding to faith as a set of beliefs is that we can draw a line between those who are in and those who are not, those who believe and those who do not, those who can and those who can't.
If faith is adherence to a list of beliefs, we can struggle with those beliefs and set ourselves to the challenge of finally working our way to a position of intellectual agreement. Or we can tell ourselves that we don't belong in church because we can't affirm all the beliefs. And we can have a fine old time arguing and fighting one another about whose list of beliefs is the real and authentic one and which is watered down, heretical. We've made a game of it for 2,000 years, and we're still at it.
But we do need to remember that it all begins not with a list of beliefs to adhere to, not with a creed, but with a voice saying, "Follow me." It begins not with a theological examination but with a summons: "Follow me."
There's a lot to notice about Jesus' invitation to the disciples, but most important is that the initiative is his, not theirs. Jesus comes to them. Comes to them where they are, working. Michael Lindvall observes that "Jesus' disciples do not appear to be God-haunted religious searchers. When he found them, not a one of them was at prayer in the synagogue. They were not searching for God: they were at their nets and counting tables" (A Geography of God, pp. 10-11).
Sometimes we think religious faith is our search for God, for meaning, for truth to live by. And in a sense, that is true. It is a noble and admirable quest. But even more profound is the idea that it is God's search for us, God's interference and prompting in our lives. Again, Michael Lindvall observes, "The journey of faith is not so much to 'find God' as it is a struggle to follow a God who finds us."
This weekend, we will ordain Elders who are responding to Jesus' summons, God's finding them, hear excellent sermons from Will Willimon and Jen Christianson (8:45 and 9:30 a.m.), and celebrate the beginning of a new year full of promise. Read our Scripture passage here.
Come, and bring a friend.
