Year C, Proper 22

"Faithfulness into Faith”Main point: In trucking times, God gives us opportunities to increase our faithfulness.SERMONToday's gospel meets us right where we need to be met. Today. Faith and the duty of a slave. But what do they have in common?Lord increase our faith. When times get hard.When the world is chaotic and the problems seem too big to solve.When circumstances in our lives don't make sense. Lord increase our faith.When we are called to be our best selves in situations when we would prefer to complain.When the cross we are asked to bear is harder than what we think we can stand.When  there is strife in my family system and my patience wears thin.Lord increase our faith.Such was the response of the disciples when they asked, “How many times should I forgive someone who offends me?” 70x7 was Jesus' reply. “Lord, that is too much for us. Increase our faith.” When compassion is what we need to bring but we'd rather bring spite.When forgiveness is called for but we want to stay bitter.When compromise is what we need to bring but we want to stick to our “right opinions.”Lord increase our faith.Every day we face our lack. Every day we come to the end of what we can do. And our prayerful refrain remains the same. Lord increase our faith.But how? How does God increase our faith? (Transition)There is a scene in the movie Evan Almighty when the character played by Lauren Grahm is sitting in a diner and meets the character played by Morgan Freeman. She's confused because she's unsure of what she should do in the circumstances she is in.Morgan Freeman’s character shares some wisdom that's worth repeating. He says ..If someone prayed to be more patient does God give a dose of patience or does God give them opportunities to be patient?If someone prayed for courage, does God give a dose of courage or does God give opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for their family to be closer together, does God zap them with warm fuzzy feelings or does he give them the opportunity to show love for each other?As it applies to our gospel today,When we pray for faith, does God zap us with more faith or does God gives us opportunities to be faithful?This is the very teaching Jesus gives to his disciples when they ask for more faith. You see, the amount of faith is not the issue. Jesus makes that clear. He says, the smallest amount of faith, like the size of a tiny seed, can bring about extraordinary wonders, such as commanding a mulberry bush to be uprooted and planted in the sea.No, it's not the amount of faith, it's faithfulness, and he gives the example of a slave doing their duty. Through faithfulness to God by doing one's duty, the life of faith enters into our experience. A slave surrenders all regard for their own thoughts, their own desires, their own will to that of their master.