Last night at bible study we were talking about Luke 7, as we continue our ongoing reading of Luke. We were especially discussing this part:1 After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5 for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us." 6 And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; 7 therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, "Go,' and he goes, and to another, "Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, "Do this,' and the slave does it." 9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
We were talking about authority, and faith, and how the Jewish elders in the story ask for the healing of the slave on behalf of the centurion because he is a good and worthy man. Yet the centurion knows and understand that just as he has earthly authority, Jesus Christ's authority is supreme and humbling, and that he only has to say the word, and his slave will be healed. And he does. To me the striking thing is, as with a couple other miracle stories, the faithful look toward Christ on behalf of another, and God's mercy and the faith of the one asking make it possible - nothing else is questioned or matters here - not the faith of the sick person or any sort of deal for healing . . .
Also, the centurion's faith is so simple. He just believes - we are not told but can assume from the cultural signposts that the centurion is pagan and not Jewish - yet Christ proclaims his very simple faith as the greatest he has found - even in all of Israel! Faith can be this simple, and as modern Christians we often forget that - and yet maybe that is the most powerful faith - one without laws and too many human constructs to its faith system, but also without any doubt or restrictions on the power of God.
What freedom to think that faith is this simple. But it is also a very important part of my faith statement that faith is not something we can do on our own - like in the OT Deuteronomy reading from this past Sunday, the Word is in us, from when we are born, and it is a gift when our faith is stirred up in us by the Holy Spirit. As Luther says:I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.
(By the way, my banner when I turn on my phone is "called, enlightened, sanctified!" It makes me happy every time I see it.)
Then on the way home I was listening to my new Regina Spektor CD and these lyrics were on that reminded me that maybe it is all that simple:
Peace <><
This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath
No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again
I need to do a better job with leaving behind the politics of an organization or group (even church or faith-based ones) and gossip and do a better job at seeing Christ in situations.
At right is my small group, 14, from Kairos '07. Up until this point, I had always felt like God had given me really challenging kids in a lot of different situations, who were in times of crisis and needed to talk to someone or come to some climactic moment. I learned a big lesson at this Kairos because I know it won't always be this way, and that's ok. That doesn't lessen the experience or mean that I've served less. I meet people with my faith, where they are, and try to build on that.
Often these synod youth events have small group experiences in which kids have these deep, deep, secret-divulging conversations, and very emotional things which can result in hard-to answer/find God with such hard life circumstances. But that is not what happened in this group, or what they needed. It was a close, curious group, but had basically had been well-churched, but had a few basic faith/Lutheranism questions that needed to be answered, so sometimes it felt more like confirmation class (as some of the questions were really basic). I think God pairs these small groups and their leaders, and that He does a good job (of course). I am much more well-read, better versed in scripture to support the beliefs I have, and so I felt like God did at least a little bit of work through the Spirit through me. Kids constantly amaze me though, with their insight, love, assumptions, and troubles.
An update on my earlier post - I have been and had others praying for my dear student who is sick. She went to M.D. Anderson in Houston for treatment and they have decided surgery is an option. She will have (among other tissues in the area) her vocal chords removed, so she will permanently have a hole in her throat and have to learn a new way to talk. She is home now visiting before her surgery. She teaches me so much about hope and love as she sees life so optimistically, now more than ever, and is excited to learn her new way to talk and get back to school after maybe three more months in Texas. I cannot wait to have her back because (as I pray), I cannot imagine her hope or confidence in herself flogging, and so she will be such a shining example to other students. Her peer friends have also learned a lot of lessons from her also, I know.
I had a dream last night about my call and candidacy. I won't go into detail here, nor do I really put a lot of stock in dreams. However, I do have very, very lifelike vivid dreams which can shake me up sometimes. This one reinforced for me how excited I am about following God's call for me and getting to seminary and through candidacy, etc. Vocations conference is coming up in August and I am pretty excited about it, though admittedly also a little anxious as well.
I self-criticize perhaps too much about the execution of my call and getting to seminary - but I know, that in my heart I love God and am really excited about my call, and it is only between myself and Christ. I have grown so much in these (what will be three) years of teaching, and I love my work in teaching as my call and looking at the deep relationships I've formed with students. I needed this time off desperately before seminary, to feel like a true adult, be independent, and be in a new congregation and make my own community and live out my faith completely on my own, as an adult, as a colleague to others, not a junior, as an adult. I am a very different person than when I graduated college two years ago. My broken engagement was the right thing to happen but took some healing time and re-focusing on my faith walk that has been invaluable to who I say that I am now, and more importantly, whose I say I am. There has been some pain and lonliness in these years, but I have grown infinitely from it and having the world wide open to me, not structured, but seeing just where God and my passions lead. And of course, as Christ calls, I am made to follow.
