The Assurance of Things Hoped For

Genesis 15:1-6; Psalm 33

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40

Buechner reminds us, “Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than as a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all. Faith is not being sure where you're going, but going anyway. A journey without maps.” God calls us into new life has given us a vision of the home we seek. God called Abraham to new life in a new land and Abraham's faithfulness sent him forth. Abraham's and Sarah's faith was more than simple assent and was more, even, than right thinking. The faith of Sarah and Abraham was about right acting – faithful trust on a pilgrim journey into an unknown future.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

I’ve noticed, since I was a kid, that there are a lot of Church words. Some of the words are big words: justification, sanctification, righteousness, hypostatic union, ecclesial. But some of the words, many of the words, that are used in Christian language are little words. Words like God and love, sin and Christ, and two words from today: hope and faith. They are small words but they are packed with big meaning.

Some words – words like “faith” and even “hope” have a certain religious tenor to them, sounding maybe a bit “churchy.” They might even seem a bit boring, irrelevant in modern culture. I think, though, that is that very words that are rich in meaning and point to vital and exciting realities. And just as ordinary events in life can speak to us of holy things, so too can simple, small words point to the realm of mystery that lies beyond our ordinary experience. It is these words, concepts, and ideas that lie beyond our definition, that bring us into the land “beyond-words” where mere human definition cannot convey the fullness of power, meaning, and truth.

In life there are, perhaps, a great many things that are indescribable: the incredible power of music, the feeling of falling in love, the death of a friend, or the smell of grandfather’s sauce on a Sunday afternoon. Frederick Buechner writes, “How can we possibly describe such things other than to say that they are ultimately indescribable? You can know them only by experiencing them for yourself” (Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABCs of Faith, Harper San Francisco 2004 , vii).

But even those words that are “beyond-words” must still be shared and talked about so that we might gain just a little understanding.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

So, when you heard that line from the author of the book of Hebrews, did you crinkle your nose and furrow your brow, asking “What? Huh? Of what magic do you speak?” Or did you just let the line slide idly past? you just let it blow past? When you heard it, did you notice that even the author, in defining faith, isn’t really all that clear. Instead of clarity in definition, the author throws out one line then recites a series of actions by faithful men and women of old. Look up these stories in the Old Testament and you will notice that they are all there. But, you will also notice that there is no direct reference to faith as the moving force in the lives of the characters. It’s implied but it is curiously not there for us in black and white. That’s interesting, right?

You see, the author of Hebrews uses the word and concept of “faith” throughout the book, employing it in two primary ways: either as meaning trust or belief (i.e. as an activity on the part of the subject) or as a reference to the virtue of loyalty or faithfulness (i.e. as a description of the subject). In all of the uses and particularly in its usage in this pericope, faith (belief/trust or loyalty/faithfulness) is not and cannot be separated from hope. The lives of Abraham and Sarah and the other ancestors of faith become exemplars of this for the author of the book of Hebrews. Men and women who lived lives trusting in the promise of God and faithfully living according to the promise. They are testimonies of faith and its connection to hope.

So when we think about faith, don’t we often think of that assent that we make to intellectual propositions. Do we believe there is a God? Do we believe in God that is Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Do we believe this or that about the Bible or the teachings of the Church?

But this is limiting the full expression of faith, especially as it pertains to hope. Faith, as used by the author of Hebrews, is much more than simple assent in belief that there is a God. Instead, faith is trusting that God’s promise is real, that God’s promise awaits us. You see, faith trusts that God is faithful to God’s promise. It is not a trust that wears blinders. Faith has a long memory and looks to the past – to God’s actions among God’s people. It looks to what God did in Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. It looks to what God did in David and Nehemiah. It looks to what God did in Jesus Christ. And so faith hopes, looking beyond the now into God’s future. Faith tenaciously endures, accepting promises deferred in the conviction that even death will cancel out God’s promises.

Faith is indeed the conviction of things not seen. Faith is a conviction firmly held but be aware and on guard for faith is also, at times, fragile and elusive. It is not permanent but demands that we work on maintaining hope. God entrusts us with a holy freedom; people of faith always have the option of returning to “the land that they had left behind.” We know that land. We view that land with our rose-colored glasses. It is the same land that the Israelites longed for while they were in the wilderness forgetting that they were slaves. It was the land they remembered as bountiful with the leeks and garlic, forgetting that it was also bountiful with bricks and bitterness.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Our God calls us into new life – to a new future. Faith is that future-orientation, a demonstrable trust in the God who will keep the promise. Faith and hope are so intertwined and so enmeshed that they are almost as one. Faith is the pilgrim journey towards the hoped for promise.

The author of the book of Hebrews reminds us of Abraham and Sarah, exemplars of the faithful pilgrimage. Remember the story (and this is just a summary): God called Abram from Ur of the Chaldeans to journey in faithful trust to land that God would show him. And Abram went but even when he gets there, the place is not his to claim. Instead, they wander as foreigners in the land of promise, strangers in a strange land. They are forced to Egypt and back yet still Abram cannot claim the land. Abraham had anticipated a city with sure foundation, with a river flowing through it. And now, in chapter 15 of Genesis (the first lesson from today) Abraham is frustrated because he does not yet have the land and there are no offspring to embrace the future inheritance. But God reassures Abram. “And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

The God who calls us into new life has given us a vision of the home we seek. It was such a vision that bolstered Abraham’s faithfulness to the God who called him. It was such that enabled him to live as an resident alien in a new land and to see with fresh eyes the goals, values, and relationships of the society encountered in the new land. The faith of Abraham and Sarah was more than simple assent. It was more, even, that right thinking. The faith of Sarah and Abraham was about right acting – about faithful loyalty and trust to take the pilgrim journey into an unknown future.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

If you’re thinking, “This is all too much on a hot, August morning,” allow me to offer an image that might be useful.

Have you made pancakes or waffles lately? Or muffins? Or any sort of quick bread that involves a batter with a minor leavening agent like baking powder? When you mix that batter it isn’t very appetizing, is it? Could you imagine serving the batter to your kids before cooking it? It doesn’t look like much, certainly nothing like the waffle or pancake or muffin. Yeast breads at least give a hint of what they might look like before you bake them. The magic in them lies in the proofing or rising before baking? But with quick breads, like waffles and pancakes, there is a surprise in the baking. There they sit, batter in a bowl. But when the batter hits the sizzling pan or the iron and the steaming stops, voila! Breakfast! Slathered with butter and anointed with maple syrup, it becomes a feast!

When you try to wrap your mind around faith or think that you don’t have any or enough, remember the waffles. What goes in looks and tastes nothing like what comes out. Buechner reminds us, “Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than as a possession. It is on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all. Faith is not being sure where you're going, but going anyway. A journey without maps” (Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABCs of Faith, Harper San Francisco 2004 , 109).