Help my unbelief

Our Lay Worship Leader led the service today, and gave the homily based on these readings:

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

Psalm 37:1-10

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10

One of the characters in the New Testament that I associate with is the father in the story told in Mark of a father of a deaf & mute son, who came to Jesus begging him to heal his boy, after the disciples had been unable to do anything for him. He cried out “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief!”

How often have you felt like that? Something seems impossible, or you see the state of the world and feel compelled to pray, but think “What’s the point?” Lord I believe. Help my unbelief

I think this is a little how the disciples felt at the beginning of the reading from Luke that we heard today. The part that we did not hear was Jesus telling them to forgive seventy times seven – seemingly an impossible task. And in the face of this command they cry “Lord, increase our faith!” We can’t do this. It’s too hard. Lord we believe. Help our unbelief.

GK Chesterton once wrote: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried” What we are asked to do by Christ so often seems impossible, calling on us to sacrifice too much, to love the unlovable, forgive the unforgivable, to believe the unbelievable. Lord I believe. Help my unbelief

 However, the overarching theme in the readings today is that God grows mustard seed faith through patience, truth, and trust in their justice.

We begin with peace and Psalm 37 reminds us that even when life feels unfair, or when it seems like people who are unkind get ahead, we don't need to overthink or let it eat away at us. “Do not fret yourself because of evildoers”, we are told. “Do not be jealous of those who do wrong.”

How often do we look at what is happening in the world and despair? It seems that everywhere we look there is hatred, brokenness, shit-stirring. A lack of justice, a lack of empathy, a lack of humanity.  But God invites us to rest in Them, to trust that justice will come at the right time. BUT it’s important to note that waiting on God isn't just sitting back but about carrying on doing good things with a calm heart and letting Them be in control.

From that place of peace, we move to clarity. In Timothy, Paul tells us to stand in God's truth. In a world where people sometimes twist the truth or say, "you can believe whatever you want," we are called to hold on to God's word with love and care. This isn't about just knowing the words in our head but it's about living it out in the way we speak, the way we help, and the way we treat people every day.

We are called to live out the knowledge that God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. 

And then we step into action in Luke 17, Jesus says that even if our faith is as small as a mustard seed God can use it to do amazing things. We don't have to be the strongest or the most important but to just have trust in Them and do what they ask, even in small ways. True faith quietly gets on with serving others without the need of recognition.

The episcopal minister, Rev. Anna Sutterisch puts it like this: “The life of faith is complicated. People are complicated. And following Christ is complicated. There are expectations we will never fully meet. There are failures we cannot avoid. There are times when we might doubt if we are prepared to live out such a life. We, like the disciples, may feel like we just need a little more faith, and then we can proclaim the Gospel, love our neighbour, be “good enough.” Lord we believe. Help our unbelief.

But grace abounds. Faith the size of a mustard seed is enough. And so, together, as communities of faith, we discover our boldness. We do the work—not for trophies, not for recognition, but because it is what we have promised. It is what God calls us to do. And it is what Jesus has done for us, over and over again.

The words of the prophet and poet Michael Leunig resonate here

There are only two feelings.

Love and fear

.There are only two languages.

Love and fear.

There are only two activities.

Love and fear.

There are only two motives,two procedures, two frameworks,

two results.

Love and fear.

Love and fear.

How often do we let our fears override the love that we have been taught through Christ? We may fear our inabilities, we may be afraid of what others might say or think, we may be worried about giving too much away…whatever holds us back from those reckless, unthinking acts of love that we are called to, it is not the way that Christ would have us respond.

Let Paul’s words to Timothy remind you again of what our Covenant with Christ is about: God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Of power and of love and of self-discipline.

How amazing is that? But still in the back of my mind I hear that voice: Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. My faith is too weak. I can’t do that.

But really, there’s not much value in worrying too much about whether you’ve got enough faith or whether you could have more faith. The important question is, “Are you living faithfully with the faith you’ve got.” You see, living faithfully should not be a big deal. Every one of us was created in the image of God with an innate ability to know the difference between love and hate, between integrity and fraudulence, between faithfulness and treachery. Every one of us was created with the capacity for continual growth in love, truth, peacefulness, goodness, creativity and wholeness. Every one of us should be able to be expected to live faithfully to that. Our basic faithfulness and integrity should be able to be taken for granted. It’s what we were created for. It’s what we are called to. It’s just doing our job. It’s not evidence of great big faith. A mustard seed’s worth of faith is more than enough if you just live it faithfully. God and everyone else should be able to take us for granted on that one.

And so, in the end, together, these readings show us what God can grow in us, a faith that starts small but becomes strong. A faith that rests in God's justice, stands in God's truth, and serves with God's strength. Finally, we should understand that what is required is not more faith, but the willingness to act with the faith we already have.

Gracious and Loving God,we thank You for the gift of faith— not measured in size, but in trust.Remind us that even the smallest seed of faith can take root and grow when lived out with integrity and love.

Help us not to be anxious about how much faith we have, but to be faithful with the faith You have already given us.Teach us to walk in truth, to choose love over hate,and to reflect Your image in the way we live each day.

let our lives bear witness to Your goodness and grace.May our faith, however small, shine brightly in acts of kindness, in words of peace,and in hearts grounded in hope.