John Buchanan, editor and publisher of the bi-weekly magazine, The Christian Century, tells a story in the June 25th issue that touched my heart. It’s a story about Christian practice. Buchanan says that as a Protestant lad growing up he noticed that his Roman Catholic friends wore crucifixes, went to confession, ate cheese sandwiches for lunch on Fridays, and showed up late to school on a day in early spring with a smudge of ashes on their foreheads. He says that even though he joined others in making fun of the Catholic kids who crossed themselves at the free-throw line or at home plate, he secretly envied them.
I know just what Buchanan is writing about. As a Protestant girl I would ask my parents for a scarf because, I said, my friend Mary Quinn would take me to confession with her if I had my head covered. I soon learned what Buchanan learned when he bought himself a Celtic cross and showed it to his father. I learned that my request for a head covering was not going to be honored and that instead my request would get me a lengthy lecture on why we Protestants did not wear our religion on our sleeves for all to see.
But the practice of Christian faith has changed in the years since I was a child, and even Protestants – and of course Anglican Episcopalians – have adopted Christian practices seriously, too, and that includes not only imposing ashes on Ash Wednesday and wearing crucifixes as well as resurrection crosses, but anointing, laying hands on the sick, and offering private penance. And even I will confess to crossing myself as my flight is taking off and landing.
But, the question still remains, how do we practice our faith? Or, better yet, what does faith in Jesus Christ look like?
Both our bible lessons this morning ask us to look at faith and to decide how we will practice it. When scholars take up the topic they are inclined to use the word praxix.
The apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Rome urging faith in Jesus Christ as lord and savior. Paul first preached to the Jews who rejected his message, but then Paul came to know that God’s salvation was through faith in Jesus Christ and was for all people, not just his fellow Jews who believed – and still believe –that salvation is found in obedience to the Torah. Salvation is for all == for you and for me. For all people. Righteousness, of course, means being accepted or accounted as “right” before God. Paul tells the Romans in his e-piste, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Then Paul goes on to ask how this wonderful message is going to be spread. He writes:
“But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?”
This brings us back to the practice of our faith. What does practicing our faith look like? I agree with NPR’s “On Being” host Krista Tippett who writes in her 2007 book, Speaking of Faith, “I believed — and still believe — when all is said and done, none of us will be measured on how much we accomplish but on how well we love.” Practicing Christian faith is all about love, love shown in hospitality, welcoming both friend and stranger, something St. Stephen’s is very, very good at.
Another thing faith looks like to me is persistence, hanging on and beginning again, as today’s gospel from Matthew reminds us, reaching out to clasp on to the hand of Jesus when the waters are raging and I’m frightened. Knowing Christ is there in the midst of the storm and that he will not let us go.
I had a difficult conversation with a relative a few weeks ago. “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian,” she said to me. I guess not, I thought to myself, but it sure is a whole lot easier. In the face of troubling times and threatening situations, I rely on the hands of all of you reaching out to steady and calm me and keep me company in the hospital waiting room. And I hope you know you can rely on me as well.
One additional thing faith looks like to me – faith looks like a pilgrim on a journey.
Many of you know that I began my recent sabbatical with a 12-day pilgrimage. I went with the Reverends Carlos Sandoval and Lois Murray of Saint Simon’s Church and about 40 other travelers to experience the Camino De Santiago de Compostella, the Way of Saint James in Northwest Spain. Many people walk the Way, literally hundreds of miles. Alas, we traveled in a comfortable coach with leather seats and air conditioning. But it’s what we saw – the practice of faith – that impressed me. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of people, young and old, all nationalities, even people with canes and in wheel chairs, making their way, some painfully slowly, some spritely, all following the footsteps of St. James. Everyone of of those pilgrims had a prayer in his or her heart; everyone had a hope, a wish, and a dream. Everyone one of those pilgrims, just like you and like me, persevering, taking anther step, carrying on, practicing the faith that was given to us, the faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.
At the end of the journey we joined 5,000 pilgrims for the noontime Mass in the Romanesque Cathedral in the center square of Santiago. The power of faith in that Cathedral was palpable. It was the practice of Christian faith as I have never experienced it.
Kathleen Norris says faith is a verb. I think so. Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift of God, not an achievement. It’s not up to us to save the world. God has already done that. Our job is to practice the faith, to share the one we know to be trustworthy. Amen.