Between Sundays for Week of October 3, 2022
“Increase our faith!” The plea of the disciples in this week’s gospel comes as a surprise given all they’ve been through together. These same disciples were the 70 sent by Jesus in Luke 9 to prepare the way for him in the villages and towns he intended to go. They went with no extra baggage and with little to commend them except the peace they could offer. (Pastor Amy preached about this in June. You can listen back to Episode 25 – Sent Ones.) But by now in their journey with Jesus, they have seen and heard all they he asks of them. “Increase our faith!” is their only response in the face of the mission and ministry which seem too big and too hard.
In light of the challenges we face around us on a daily basis – increase our faith – might be the only thing we know to pray. But Jesus isn’t interested in quantifying faith in terms of more or less. Jesus reminds us that we don’t need more (as if we’d even know if we had more faith!), he invites us to share what we have and trust that it is enough. Not because we’re enough, but the power of God’s Holy Spirit working through us, is more than enough!
Pastor Amy shares a reflection on Luke’s gospel, reminding us that Jesus doesn’t demand more faith from us, but invites us to practice the faith we have, trusting that God can work with our efforts, however insignificant and ordinary they might be, like worms moving the earth beneath our feet. Her reflection is inspired, in part, by an essay she heard last week.
Ponderings
“Some weeks, it’s cheering to remind ourselves that in the wild welter of news that seems to flash so quickly by, the most remarkable work is happening, steadily and without fanfare, just beneath our feet.”
– Scott Simon in his segment on NPR titled, “Opinion: Tiny movers of earth, and also our hearts” (September 24, 2022)