Guard This Rich Trust

What do we treasure in life? Is it something physical – a book, a ring, a coin, a photo? Is it something less tangible – a song, a view, the sound of the waves, the touch of a hand, a smile? How about something even less tangible – a dream, a vision, a hope for the future, a shared set of values, a divine promise? How do we guard the rich trust of the hopes, memories, and dreams we have received.

I suspect most of us treasure many things in life. Our treasure chest is filled with both physical items that remind us of past people and joys as well as the intangible gifts and memories accumulated over the years of our lives, however many those may be. We all have treasures of one sort or another. Treasures we guard and protect, some of which we hope will go with us into eternity.

Some treasures are more difficult to hold onto than others. Probably the most difficult treasures to retain are the ones that are intangible, things like protection of the common good or the rights of all people rather than just the rights of the powerful. How can a people or a nation commit to protecting the rights of all and still be able to command the loyalty of the wealthy and powerful? When those in power refuse to protect the vulnerable, how are the rest of the people to respond?

These kinds of questions are not new to our day. These same kinds of issues are seen again and again in histories of civilizations and in the scriptures of religious communities, including our Judeo-Christian tradition. Are they out of date? Is it foolish to keep hoping? Do God’s promises mean nothing?

Habakkuk – Faith in Troubled Times

Social and political unrest were rampant in the time before the conquest of Israel and Judah by neighboring kingdoms. Habakkuk spoke to the Lord in the days after the northern kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians and before the southern fell to the Babylonians. “How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!” Everything is going to pieces – as the contemporary saying goes – to Hell in a handbasket! Destruction, violence, strife, clamorous discord – all are raging in the kingdom.

The Lord answered Habakkuk with words of reassurance, but no promises on the timing of their fulfillment. “The vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint.” It may not happen as soon as you would like, but “it will not be late.” There’s a time when it will flower. Meanwhile the just ones will live because of their faith. Those who wait faithfully will one day be vindicated. (Hb 1:2-3; 2:2-4)

So how long do we have to wait? Why can’t we just receive a huge dollop of faith that lets us go out and convert the world – to create a world of justice and hope for all?

The Mustard Seed – Faith in Bloom

When his apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith, he reminded them of a mustard seed – a potent, spicy seed that is quite small. Yet a mustard seed grows into something much larger. A mustard seed also brings a spicy flavor much larger than its size would suggest to foods into which it is cooked. Jesus told his friends they only needed faith the size of a mustard seed to produce major results.

Faith is powerful. It can move mountains of obstacles to the hopes and dreams of the Lord. It takes the faith and strength of workers who might be about the size of a mustard seed in their faith in order to move those mountains. But mustard seeds are powerful and mountains can be moved.

Faith – Guard this Rich Trust

Jesus encouraged his disciples to remember that just as a servant is expected to keep serving even after a day of work, without the master’s praise or thanks or notice, so the servants of the Most High are to keep working for justice and the coming of God’s kingdom. We keep working, not for praise but because of the promise towards which we aim. (Lk 17:5-10)

In our lives and ministries, we are called like Timothy “to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.” When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive gifts of “power and love and self-control.” We go out and share what we have seen and learned of the Lord and his promise. We are not broken by threats from those in power or by hardship. Paul wrote to Timothy while he himself was a prisoner, soon to be condemned for his work spreading the Good News of the Resurrection.

Paul’s words are ones that call to us too!  “Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.” (2 Tim 1:6-8, 13-14)

Guard this rich trust. Hold on to hope. Hold on to love. Hold on to kindness. Hold on to the dream of equality and opportunity in our communities. Hold on to the wonder of many ways of being and living as humans in this big world – the tremendous richness and diversity of human culture and experience.

This week look around you.  See the wonder of creation, the wonder of children, the wonder of older people, the wonder of seasonal change, the wonder of new learning, the wonder of family life at its best, the wonder of nations hoping to work together for the common good of all peoples in the world.

Some of these visions are blurry just now. Some seem in danger of being wiped out.

Hang on. Guard this rich trust – the promise and gift of the Lord. A vision that still has its time and will not disappoint is worth patient trust and confidence.

Readings for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C

And another story about a mustard seed!