“Claiming Our Passionate Intiution ”

Sermon by Rev. Laurene M. Lafontaine

August 8, 2010

Hebrews 11:1-3

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.

Hebrews 11:8-16

By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.

Each ones of these people died not yet having in had what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country that that---heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.

I want to share with you, a prayer by Thomas Merton:

My Lord God

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,

and the fact that I think I am following your will

does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that my desire to please you

does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire

in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything

apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this

you will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always

though I may seem to be lost

and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear,

for you are ever with me,

and you will never leave me

to face my perils alone.

How many of us have said those same words in our own language? How many of us might be thinking that even now? Oh God, I don’t know where you are leading me. The world looks a little crazy. The world looks a little scary. How many of us are wondering: What’s next? Yet Merton focuses on the desire to follow God--which intellectually we don’t need to know.

The reason I shared this poem with you is it is one of my favorites and I’m kind of in the midst of it myself and I wanted to talk about how this passage from Hebrews really emphasizes what gets us all through because the world that we live in is so uncertain.

I was thinking here I am 50 years old and when I was 20, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, thinking the world was going to be my oyster and things were going to be different, we would make equal rights for all people, we would have no economic injustice, everybody would be well fed, there would be no poor. Anybody else have that dream? That sense that we could make a difference? And then reading lately we are in peril. That maybe the experts don’t know the depth of it.

It’s interesting that the writer in the letter of Hebrews was addressing that same issue. We know that Paul didn’t write the letter of Hebrews. There’s a sense that maybe Timothy or Luke or Priscilla wrote it. The unknown writer was addressing an issue that the people of this new faith, Christianity, were struggling with. They passionately lay this argument out that Christ is pre-eminent; that Christ is the fulfillment of what God has called the people of Israel—all people. The pre-eminence of Christ, that Christ’s priesthood was above all the most supreme and that Christ sacrificed, was the ultimate sacrifice for the humanity. These arguments put forth, passionately, to the people: Do not turn away from your faith.

Talk about tough times—they were being persecuted! When we think of Christians being persecuted we think of not believing what you believe or you don’t have the right belief, but they were being boiled alive in oil, fed to the lions. They were being hunted down. They had a reason to turn away and think that maybe that old faith, Judaism, had some merit. But no, the writer says no, hang in there, have faith, endure, run with perseverance and God is always with you. Paul emphasizes a personal commitment when he talks about faith. The writers of Hebrews talks about this enduring sense of passion, compassion, following one’s instinct and knowing that God is always there—the transcendent God is with us always. It’s a nice reassurance.

As I was reading the Greek, that whole notion of faith—it’s an assurance, it’s a conviction--one of the writers of the Lexicon says that it’s in faith that all we hope for is made real. We are in this together. We have this sense of faith and sometimes we, as people of faith, get it confused with belief. This notion of faith—Jews and Muslims focus on Orthopraxy, the right practice. Christians tend to focus on Orthodoxy, the right belief. So when we think about our own faith and when I’ve talked with people about where they are in their faith, it’s living, trusting God’s leading. There are no answers.

The great Pharisee, Hillel, who may have been one of Jesus’ teachers of the first century, was once asked by a group of pagans: If you can recite the Torah while standing on one foot, we will convert to Judaism. Hillel stood on one foot and said do not do unto others as you would have them not do unto you. That is the Torah—the rest is commentary. Go and learn it!

Do unto others, as you would not have them do unto you. He puts it into the negative. Sometimes it is more intentional to say I’m not going to do something. Faith is really living our lives with a sense of practice.

William Wordsworth, a wonderful British poet, said faith is passionate intuition living in such a way that we trust God speaking to us through our intuition.

I’m going to take a risk and share a dream that I had last week. In my dreams, oftentimes, I have conversations with God. I don’t know if they are dreams or if that’s the only time my mouth is shut and I will listen. It was either Sunday or Monday night. I was really anxious about my dog and God said: Hello! How’s it going for you so far? I said to God: You haven’t been paying attention? Life’s a little challenging right now. My dog, Gypsy, is kind of knocking on your door. I’m in the midst of some change; trying to figure what I’m going to do when I grow up. I’m really trying to have faith in you. I’m really trying. God said I know you have faith in me but that’s not the problem. Of course, I have some issues with authority and I say: Well, God, what is the problem? God says the problem is you. You don’t have faith in yourself. I said could you help me understand it? God says you need to go pray about it and then the dream ended!

How often do we not have faith in ourselves? We have faith in God. Most of us have faith in God. We say yes, God, we believe this. We hand over our life. We trust you for direction and yet we wonder about our own life. We say, God, here it is. Show me the way. Show me how to be a faithful person. Show me the direction.

As I was thinking about this dream this past week, it dawned on me that oftentimes, when we, as people of faith, say we trust God, we put our faith in God. In some respects it’s like you take it, God, and I’ll be over here. I’ll look for the signs and the answers and you are going to show me. It dawned on me that since we are created in God’s image and God’s spirit works in us and through us, our hopes, our dreams, and our own intuition—where do they come from? I believe from God, when we are grounded and we are doing things out of the highest good for ourselves and for others. That sense of intuition is something that we need to pay attention to and so often we doubt ourselves because we get confused with what the answers are. We get confused and think if I do it this way, it will be okay.

I’ve had so many meetings over the last 27 months. I’ve talked with many of you. I talked with a number of parents. I talked with women at about the same age as I am, saying there’s something that isn’t meeting that deeper need. Maybe I want to do this but I’m too afraid. Guys, saying I love this but I really want to do something else that I’m called to do.

I have a friend who is teaching 8^th grade. Pray for him, often! He was a businessman who went from 6 figures, when the market crashed and his office closed and he decided he wanted to teach 8^th graders! He had this opportunity to do it!

Here at Columbine United Church we are going through change. The fact that Carol and I have been listed as Interim means we are temporary. At the end of the month, I’m leaving and the position will be filled and when Carol’s position is filled with the Associate Pastor, she will be on her way. In a conversation, over coffee, one of the kids said, “I didn’t know you were leaving.” Our tendency is we get so used to things--the natural flow of things. Change comes along and we wonder what’s happening here.

What a wonderful, marvelous opportunity for this congregation to say how have we been and who are we going to be in this transition period? How do we welcome the new people in? Over the next couple of weeks, there will be dialogue about transition. How do we live into this change in a way that has dignity, in a way that has honor? Oftentimes, we struggle with change.

When I was teaching at St. Mary’s Academy, we would tell the seniors on their first day back in the fall that they would be leaving. We would tell them that oftentimes people don’t know how to deal with change in honest ways in dealing with the emotions and the feelings so it’s easier to make a mess. We would have kids act out because it’s easier to walk away angry, saying, “They don’t like me,” rather than, “Wow, this really touched my life,” because then they have to deal with their emotions.

During this period of change, you have the opportunity and Carol and I, as we move on, have the opportunity to do this with some sense of intentionality to live as faithful people. To hear God’s voice within each of us. How is God calling you to be a part of this community--to step up as it transitions and to be good role models? How is it that God is calling you at this particular time in your life? What’s God calling you to? What is that you have always wanted to do but have been too afraid to do it? What’s that little still, small voice inside of you that God is saying: Do this!

We don’t have to wait until we are dying. We can do it now. Faith is that passionate intuition. That sense of being so connected, it’s not about thinking. Actually faith is about action. Faith is action. We pray about it. We are grounded. We talk with our friends. We talk to God. We read the scriptures. We read other sacred texts that inspire us and yet, when push comes to shove, we are called to be like Abraham and Sarah. Being older than dirt, beyond years, can you imagine God coming to you and saying: By the way, you’re having a child! But yet, in the midst of all of their intellectual responses, they lived out their faith. They did what was necessary to have a child and they lived into their faith.

We are called to be like Abraham and Sarah in this present time. Times are a-changing! It’s a little scary but it’s all going to be good. It’s good when we are open, listening to God, having that faith to step out. The safety net is God.

Let us live our lives in such a way--being faithful, knowing that God is with us, around us, guiding us. Let us give thanks.

Amen