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When Peter gave his first sermon recorded in the Book of
Acts, he included the words of the Prophet Joel and King David to show that God
kept His promises by sending Jesus Christ to be the Lord and Savior of His
people (Acts 2:14-36).
When Stephen spoke before the Sanhedrin before his death by
stoning, he recalled God’s promises to their forefather Abraham, His presence
with Joseph who had been sold into slavery in Egypt, and His empowering of Moses to
deliver His people out of their slavery (Acts 7:2-53).
When Paul spoke to the crowds in Jerusalem after his arrest,
he recounted his own conversion from a persecutor of Christ-followers to a devout
disciple of our Lord (Acts 22:2-21).
In each of these examples, people used accounts of God’s
faithfulness in their lives and history as instruction and encouragement to believers and
non-believers alike.
Throughout its history, the Catholic Church has turned to
its saints to reinforce their faith in God’s powerful strength and presence in
the lives of believers. God is said to
reveal Himself in a special way in their lives, and these saints are presented
as role models to venerate and imitate.
Our New Testament scripture instructs us to “hold
unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews
10:23), and we are assured that “no matter how many promises God has made, they
are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
By His very nature, it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18); what
He has promised must surely come to pass, and the Bible is filled with examples
of His faithfulness to His people.
My question, then, is this:
Why do so many Protestants fail to place this same emphasis on looking
to God’s faithfulness in the past in order to assure ourselves of God’s
faithfulness in our present and future?
Our church, for example, has a 170-year history of standing
in the heart of Media, Pennsylvania, on Baltimore Avenue. We characterize ourselves right now as being
in a “state of transition” due to the abrupt departure of our Senior Pastor two
years ago and the ensuing turmoil caused by the circumstances of his
leaving. Some of us have been energized
by the opportunity to address long-ignored issues. Some of us have been disgusted by the whole
situation and how it has been handled. Some of us have been scared of what the
future may hold. Some of us have been
angry about one aspect of the situation or another. Some of us have put our emotions aside,
rolled up our sleeves, and gotten to work.
Overall we have drawn strength from prayer, from worship,
from service, and from fellowship. But I
am curious: what kind of strength could
we gain from an understanding of God’s faithfulness to our church throughout
its history? I have no idea, because to my knowledge, it has not been
discussed.
Isn’t it likely that a church with a 170-year history has
experienced upheavals at some point in the past? Aren’t there likely to be examples of failed
leadership, issues that divided the congregation for a time, tough decisions
about facing the future that had to be made?
Couldn’t we find confidence in God’s faithfulness through those times in
order to face our own current situation?
If we could recognize the truth of the axiom that those who
cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it, then perhaps we could spare
ourselves just a bit of our current hardship.
If we could recognize the absolute Truth of God’s Word that “God’s
faithfulness endures forever” (Psalm 117:2), then perhaps we could draw on His
supernatural strength to launch ourselves into the powerful future He has laid
out for us.
And this isn’t just about my church and its current journey.
I think about the value of focusing on Biblical accounts of
people who experience God’s faithfulness in order to bring strength to my own
particular life situation as a woman, a wife, a mother, a disciple of Christ, a
friend, a person who is aging, a person who faces temptation to judge, to
anger, to complain, to worry. God is
faithful to me in every role, in every situation, in every personal crisis and
struggle, and if I doubt it, I can see His faithfulness in the lives of people
like me in His Word.
I think about the value of writing about my own faith
journey, so I can see where God has shown His faithfulness in my life, when He
has pulled me back time and again when my focus has blurred or my path has
strayed.
I think about the value of reading about the lives of other
believers—women who fulfill similar roles to mine who write inspirational
books for today, missionaries who have experienced God’s faithfulness in
strange and challenging environments, saints and martyrs who have paid the
ultimate price for their faith in God’s ultimate faithfulness, founders of our
denominations who have sought the best ways to honor God with our worship,
service, and praise.
I think about the value of listening to one another as we
share the stories of our faith journeys.
It’s not such an uncommon practice in the Baptist churches I attended as
a child—opening the pulpit to members of the congregation to let them share how
God has moved and continues to move in their lives. Why haven’t I seen that practice in the
Presbyterian churches I have attended in adulthood? I have shared my faith journey with the Elders
in order to be accepted as a member of their congregation, but have never been
asked about it again.
God is faithfulness,
as one of our Bible study participants reminded us yesterday. Our stories may glorify God, she told us, but they aren’t needed to prove His faithfulness. God is
trustworthy. Period. But those conversations about His
faithfulness, those accounts drawn from our history, both individually and
collectively, about how God is moving in our lives, can help us access God’s
strength for the journey.
He has provided us a “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews
12:1), and I feel that they are a great untapped resource for my own faith
journey. We, too, are part of that cloud
of witnesses for others; let’s give some thought to the true stories of God’s
faithfulness we can share to encourage one another and build each other up in
our faith.
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Amen.
Hey Andria, thank you for putting all of these thoughts into clear and passionate words. One remark I have heard along these lines is that we all have our own personal Old Testament that we can "read" when we need to be reminded of God's faithfulness to us. I might ask my 89 year old friend Ann Rocap what "tough times" she might remember at MPC since she was baptized at MPC and grew up in the church. I think our church history does mention our first pastor and how he had the faith to purchase the land on which the church is built with his own money. I should check on the accuracy of that "fact." Did you ever marvel that our forefather/mothers in the faith built such a large sanctuary when they were so few in number? If you have any ideas about how we can open more of our personal faith lives with to another, please share them. The Spiritual Formation Committee has been raising that question among themselves for quite some time. We had an assistant pastor very briefly many years ago who had a gift for finding ways to do that and for finding people who were less well known in our congregation to be willing to speak their hearts. Carry on:)
ReplyDeleteWe pray for strength, for healing, for forgiveness, for understanding of His Word. We even remember to thank Him for our many blessings. But not often do we give thanks for His faithfulness that He promises and gives unfailingly. And I wonder if it's a word that has lost meaning in too many lives. If we quit believing there is such a thing as faithfulness in our everyday dealings, then is it any wonder we forget to look for it even from God. People "change their minds", politicians change their politics, promises are broken, lies are told, people are cheated -- we're so surrounded by examples of faith-less-ness that it may be too easy to forget the Rock that our Faith is built on which is God's faith-full-ness. And when we forget that, we start trying to control the outcome of things instead of relying on God's promise of eternal faithfulness. Well, I'm still re-reading what you wrote and thinking about it. I wish all the women in our Living Stones group could read it -- would make for a meaningful discussion I think.
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