i went through all the pieces

trying not to tear it apart

Martin Luther once said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”

A living, daring confidence in God’s grace…

Saul had lived his life atop his high horse; defending the faith, capturing those deviant christians and jailing or even killing them. 

Until one day, from left-field he was knocked from his perch because he heard the voice of the one he’d been hunting. Only this voice wasn’t declaring vengeance but asking, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

In the face of God’s unlikely and unexpected declaration, Saul’s only recourse, really, was empty-handed trust. 

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

Long before Paul had come to experience such a profound change that he needed to change his name, though, Sarai and Abram were doing what they could to carve out a life. Without any children to support them in their old age and living as immigrants, however, life didn’t have much to offer. 

Until one day, from left-field God burst in declaring that these two, without a country and old as they were, would have more descendants than they could count, and not only that, but they would have their own nation for these descendants to inhabit.

In the face of God’s unlikely and unexpected declaration, Abram and Sarai’s only recourse, really, was empty-handed trust.

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

That’s always how it goes for folks who hear God unlikely and unexpected declaration, though, isn’t it?

Against all appearances, empty-handed faith trusts there must be something else, something more…

As Saint Paul put it, this God who speaks, gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that are not.

Martin Luther once said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”

Mary Young was a saint here at Trinity. 

She never had much, and after she drew her final breath it was apparent no arrangements had been made. 

When it appeared that Mary would have no funeral, but instead be directly cremated; members of this little congregation came together, made arrangements and raised money.

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

We all knew that while the world may take little notice of her passing, God intended, out of left-field, a royal funeral for this woman. 

Mary had spent her life following this Jesus, and there was one last bit of her journey she needed to make; only now it was our duty to make sure she made it.

And so, Mary came here one last time, only this time it was by hearse. 

And so, Mary came to one last service where communion was shared, only this time communion wasn’t brought to her, as we passed her one final time to receive the body of blood of the one Mary put her hope in. 

And so, Mary left this sanctuary that housed her for so long one last time, only this time she was carried.

Although, Mary made her final steps following Jesus nearly empty-handed, we trusted God would not refuse her.

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

That’s always how it goes for folks who hear God unlikely and unexpected declaration, though, isn’t it?

Against all appearances, faith can’t help but see something else, something more…

As Saint Paul put it, God gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that are not. 

That, finally, is why Faith is such a living, such a daring confidence. 

The God faith places all trust in, is the very God who has the authority and power to call the dead to life, and to speak existence where before there was nil.

Abraham and Sarah, the Apostle Paul, Mary Young - they were chosen, not because they had a so much to offer, far from it. 

No, they were chosen simply because God called them, and in the face of God’s unlikely and unexpected declaration, the only recourse is empty-handed trust.

And the same goes for you, sisters and brothers…

For those of us who have been knocked from our high horse, who have heard God’s impossible promise, who have committed our empty-handed sister to God’s grace; there is no other recourse but empty-handed trust; 

there is no alternative to looking up, as Paul and Abraham before us did; and see, yes death, but ultimately resurrection.

For those of us who have heard God’s impossible promise; Death, at long last, has been looked square in the eyes, and resurrection is glimpsed behind the cold blank stare; the terrible endless blackness, finally, is peered into, and creation is sighted behind the veil.

For those of us who have heard God’s impossible promise, we can’t help but insist that since God has brought this Jesus back from the dead, and us along with him, then God is most certainly about to do it again. 

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

See, you are here today, and it isn’t because God thinks you need one more thing to do; far from it.

No, you are here because God has decided to speak, God has decided to knock you down and bring you up, God has decided to make an impossible promise with you, God has decided that the faithful should carry you here one more time, God has decided to call you into existence where before nothing existed, God has decided to give you new life.

That’s why you’re here.

But, that’s always how it goes for folks who hear God unlikely and unexpected declaration, isn’t it?

Here you are, going about your day as if it were just another Saturday/Sunday and God has spoken up, creating new life, life freed from the bondage of Sin and Death; 

and in the face of God’s unlikely and unexpected proclamation, the only recourse, really, is empty-handed trust.

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

God has has spoken up and you can’t help but be knocked from the beast you’ve been riding upon that’s been galloping recklessly to death; God has has spoken up and you can’t help but hear a promise of new life, poor and enfeeble as you are; God has has spoken up and you can’t help but be carried to God’s promise, dead as you are.

Nothing but death and new life is on the horizon for us who have found ourselves in this sanctuary…

This congregation we form simply by our empty-handed presence and God’s resolve to send a preacher to proclaim God’s Word that has always killed and always raises, was started over 130 years ago.

Over those years much has changed; this place has faced its shares of joys and sorrows, successes and failures. 

As our attendance shrunk and the budget tightened; God has continued to call into existence things that do not exist and raise the dead.

As our neighborhood has changed; struggled with poverty, crime and the blight of drugs; God has continued to call into existence things that do not exist and raise the dead.

Here we are, worrying, and God has been speaking new life, creating new opportunities. God has done everything: surrounded us with neighbors to serve and love; neighbors dying to hear the Word that kills and the Word that raises. 

Here we are, worrying, and God has been speaking new life, creating new opportunities. God has done everything: bringing us to the waters of death where new life abounds,
God has even brought a family seeking these very-same baptismal waters into our very midst!

In the face of God’s unlikely and unexpected declaration the only recourse, in the long run, sisters and brothers, is empty-handed trust.

Against all appearances, empty-handed faith trusts there must be something else, something more…

Sisters and brothers, the God who made an impossible promise to Abraham and Sarah, the God who knocked Paul from his high-horse, the God who surrounded Mary with saints to carry her to the fulfillment of God’s promise to Mary, the God who brought you from the dead and speaks into existence where before there was naught, isn’t done.

After all, faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

Look around you, these are the fellow folks who have felts God’s Word speaks life into bodies that were dead under Sin’s power. Look around you, this place is a place where God has decided to show up, speaking the Word that calls into existence the things that were naught. Look around you because this neighborhood you came into is the place where God has decided to speak life to the dead.

Martin Luther once said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”

A living, daring confidence in God’s grace…

That’s a good way to put it, because as people who follow the God that Abraham and Sarah did, as Saint Paul did, as Mary Young did; we have no other choice but to be confronted with God’s Word that creates existence when before there was only liability, but to be confronted with God’s Word that brings us back to life - again.

Amen