October 28, 2007
The Rev. James Richardson
Interim Rector
Luke 18: 9-14


Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; Amen.

Faith, hope and charity – that is what we pray for today.

And that reminds me of a story. As you may know, I have two part-time jobs. One of my part-time jobs is interim rector here at All Souls. My other part-time job is as the Chaplain to the California State Senate. My duties in the Senate consist primarily of praying for our elected leaders, and yes they do need lots of prayers. I open each legislative day for the Senate with a prayer. One day not long ago, I began with a prayer that God “give us the heart to be patient, kind and generous with each other and all whom we meet.” All of the senators dutifully bowed their heads and said “Amen.”

A few minutes later, one of my senators, who will remain nameless, sauntered over to me and said, “Chaplain, I have one question.”
“Yes, senator?’
“Yeah, this business about being patient, kind and generous – do we have to do that all in one day?”
I told him in his case, yes.

Faith, hope and charity – that is what we pray for today, something very close to patience, kindness and generosity. So I want to spend a little time today on faith, hope and charity and how Jesus connects it to our lives through this gospel tale of the two givers. In the parable, Jesus compares a very pious, holier-than-thou man with a tax-collector who is a major-league sinner – and Jesus finds the pious man wanting.

The tale is really about two people: One who thinks he knows everything, and he certainly knows all the rules – when to stand, when to kneel – but he really doesn’t let God, or anyone else, touch him. The other is a sinner who knows he does not have all the answers but he keeps searching Jesus sides with second one, the sinner, the one who searches, because it is he who looks to live a life of faith, hope and charity – and really, this second man is standing in for all of us who face the same struggle and who don’t have all the answers.

And that brings us to faith. I must acknowledge to you that, for me, faith is probably the hardest of these three concepts. To have faith takes faith. Faith is about trusting that God is somehow in this soup we call life, that there is more to all this than this, and that God will be with us, nudging us along even when we don’t see it. Faith is a gift from God that sustains us; faith is a gift that will find us. Faith is not about having all the answers, or standing and kneeling at all the right times. Faith is not about doctrine. One can have many doubts but still have faith, because the opposite of faith is not doubt.

The opposite of faith is fear. When fear takes over it is hard to find faith. In fact, doubt is a tool of faith because it pushes us to keep asking questions of God and sharpen our view of God and the world.

You may have recently heard that Mother Teresa of Calcutta had doubts, how she wrote a series of letters expressing how she felt distant from God. What you may not have heard is that her “the dark night of the soul” brought her to a depth of honesty in her faith that was far deeper than the superficial happy-clappy pap that is so prevalent in much church culture today.

Leading a life of faith is about living into the promises of hope and charity. Hope is the promise that there is more to this life than what we see now, that the resurrection of Jesus includes us, and will come to us, not because we are more faithful – or holier-than-thou – than anyone else, but because we are God’s creation and God made us good. Hope is what the sinful tax collector in the parable has – hope that no matter how low he gets, God will find him. Hope is a gift from God.

John Angell James, a 19th century English anti-slavery religious leader, said of hope: “For none are sunk so low as to be beneath its reach, nor are any elevated so high as to be above its influence.” Charity is how we respond to hope with faith. Charity is how we give of ourselves to each other and to the world. Charity is how we live by giving. Charity itself is a divine gift, for charity is fed from our well of faith and charity is our expression of divine hope.

Another great English writer, of whom I am very fond, Jeremy Taylor of the 16th century, put it: “Charity is the great channel though which God passes all his mercy… Every degree of charity that dwells in us is the participation of the Divine nature.” In other words, God participates in the world through us – our charity is not about giving because we are obligated, like the pious man in the parable. Rather, our charity, our giving, is the tangible way in which we are God’s hands, feet and heart.

Our giving is how we live into this divine purpose of faith, hope and charity. Living is truly giving.

In a few minutes, two families will be standing before us, presenting an extraordinary gift to those they love – the gift of baptism. We have two babies and two adults who will be baptized, and together as a congregation we will offer them a gift by making promises to uphold these four people on their life journey of faith, hope and charity.

Baptism is as basic as water and as basic as life. Baptism is an outward physical recognition with water that the Holy Spirit is moving and bringing each of these persons to new life. In baptism, we recognize with the symbol of water what is already an on-going fact, that God is at work in them, no matter their age or station in life.

Baptism is not an intellectual thing, although a lot of words get used. Baptism is not a magic act that zaps someone into heaven. Baptism is a spirit thing and that is why we can baptize everyone from infants to the elderly. It doesn’t matter if they – or we – really know what is going on with this. Baptism is also the initiation into the Church. As Paul puts it, we are “baptized into one body.” Infants and children are as valuable in the Body of Christ as anyone else, so why wait to baptize them?

Once you are in, you are in, and nothing can take that away from you. That is why we baptize someone only once. The reason we baptize you in church on Sunday is so that the body of the faithful can welcome you into the community. This is not a private deal – that is why we don’t do private baptisms anymore – so that the baptized can be welcomed into the Body of Christ by all of you. And you are not just in the body of Christ in one locale – in one small church or parish. Nor are you in the body of Christ in only the Episcopal Church.

Rather, you are a member of the entire body of Christ, all over the world, in every place and every time. All of us are connected through our baptism. All of us are members of the One Body through our baptism. It doesn’t matter whether you change locations or even change church brands. You are in.

Rich, Julie, John and Leighton, the body of Christ needs you. Christ needs every part of the body – all of us. This is not an intellectual thing, and it is not. But there are words that go with baptism – and those words are our baptismal covenant. They are the words we pledge to live by as we live into the fullness of our baptism, and they are the words all of us recite here today to pledge our support to each other.

We pledge to pray and share in the breaking of the bread. We promise to love our neighbors as ourselves and we promise that when we fall into sin – as surely we will – that will return to the Lord, again and again. And we promise to respect the dignity of every human being.

Think about those items I just listed – loving your neighbor, respecting the dignity of every human being, praying, sharing, giving. Our baptismal covenant is really about faith, hope and charity. And it is our baptism that makes all of us ministers, each according to God’s gifts. Everything we do that is good in this world flows from our baptism.

And so today, and every day, we pray that through our baptism, our gifts of faith, hope and charity will be boundless, and may we all continue to live by giving to each other and the world. Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity.

Amen.