IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES

(Preached on Sunday, June 1, 20088)

Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

-Genesis 6:22

There is a growing an dangerous form of Christian faith spreading around the land. It goes by a number of names, and it is both insidious and unhelpful. One name for it is the AGospel of Prosperity.@ The AGospel of Prosperity@ is based on a fundamental understanding of faith as transactional. That is, if you are good and if you believe in God, then God will reward you. The reward, in many cases, is monetary, but it includes general well being. If you=re good, if you believe, then God will take care of you and bad things won=t happen.

As we are conducting our Stewardship Pledge Campaign, how I wish I could lay on you this AGospel of Prosperity.@ It might make it easier for you to give. It might entice some of you to give more in the hopes of receiving more from God. And in what are shaping up to be difficult economic times it might reassure some of you that it will all be alright. But this is a shallow faith. It is shallow because it serves only as long as luck lasts. Sooner or later, something less than pleasant happens to everyone. A parent dies, a spouse cheats, a friend betrays, gas hits $4/gallon, layoffs come, times get hard; everyone experiences these things soon or later. And if your faith in God is tied to how well God treats you, then poof! Faith evaporates when suffering begins.

What would Noah have done if he had believed in the AGospel of Prosperity@? Would he have built that boat? Would he have gathered all those creatures? We have so cleaned up this story that Noah has become a cute little plush toy with furry companions. But this story is dark. It is a story of judgment upon all the earth. It is a story of incredible destruction which dwarfs any plague, hurricane, volcano, cyclone, tsunami, earthquake, or bomb since. There is no promise of prosperity here. All economic structures will be destroyed. No other human beings are to survive. All the world as Noah knows it is going to be wiped out and he and his family, if they survive, will be starting over from scratch. That is not a promise of prosperity.

But it is a promise of companionship. It is a promise of possibilities. It is a call to Noah that God wants to do something special through Noah and a promise that God will be with Noah throughout the ordeal. The truth about this God we worship and serve is that faith in this God, trusting this God, always poses challenges. Often it seems we are up against some Astone wall@ and being asked to jump through it C asked in effect, to Awalk on water@ or Ago through fire@ or Abuild an ark.@ The difference faith makes is not the removal of risk and trouble but the presence of power greater than we can figure out C the presence of God=s love. In the strength of that love, whatever stands in our way can lead us further along the way toward greater wisdom and fulfillment. We can live and give beyond anything we thought possible. It invites us to imagine the possibilities.

God=s love is sometimes hard to handle. It inspires more than we think we can do and makes it harder not to do it. It deprives us of excuses which keep us from putting forth much effort. As long as we doubt that what we do makes much difference, we don=t have to do much, or give much. But assured that the guiding power of God=s love is greater than our greatest problem, we open up and get moving.

AOpportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging,@ wrote Joseph Campbell. The generosity of God=s love is awesome. No obstacle need block our own generosity in response C not even our hardest doubts, not even the bleakest economic times. For our God is great and glorious, mightier than an obstacle we face and God will see us through. Not only see us through, but like Noah, God has a wonderful role of redemption ready for us. A role which will bring hope, light, and new life to those suffering in the world around us.