By Martha Martin
St. Andrew's United Church, Halifax

Faith Like Potatoes

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

I’m going to ask Ande to come up and do a reading with me to begin the sermon. Some of you will recognize that one of the voices is reciting the Apostles Creed …

“Creed” (from www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worshipstarters.htm; Rev. Roderick Hamilton, Clydebank, Abbotsford)

I was truly blessed in my theological training, because the woman who taught me theology at the Centre for Christian Studies, Dr. Pauline Bradbrook, an Anglican woman who is now among the communion of the saints that the writer of Hebrews talks about in his letter today, taught me to think like the second voice in that reading.

For those of us who are clergy in the United Church of Canada, our ordination and commissioning vows are still rooted in the Articles of Faith from the founding of the United Church in 1925, which are in turn rooted in the words of the Apostles Creed. For many of us, it becomes a question of integrity and honesty as to whether we can in all good conscience say, in one of our vows, that we are in “essential agreement” with the Articles of Faith, without planning to have to have our fingers and toes crossed. At least, that’s the way it was 10 or 15 years ago. Perhaps things are changing for theology students today.

Pauline used to encourage us to do the translation in our head, when we were asked the question “Do you believe in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit?”

“yes, I give my heart to the love that holds and cares for us … to the one who became the face of God for us on this earth … to the face of God that brings inspiration, restlessness and transformation …” Her course was one of the highlights of my theological training, and helped not only demystify theological thinking for me, but enabled me to begin to articulate my faith, my theology – something that I believe everyone is capable of doing.

Facebook and the internet were abuzz last week with the news that author Anne Rice was leaving Christianity. Anne Rice is the author who wrote all the Vampire books – dare I say, forty years ago, and then most recently, in her embracing of Christianity, a trilogy of books about the early life of Jesus. This quote is from well known theologian Brian McLaren, who was asked to write a response to the situation:

Anne was raised Catholic, left the faith at 18, described herself as an atheist for most of her adult life, returned to Catholicism in her fifties, and then last week announced—via Facebook—that she is no longer a Christian.

She has concluded that she will never truly belong to the “quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group” known as Christians unless she becomes “anti-gay … anti-feminist … anti-artificial birth control … anti-Democrat … anti-secular humanism … anti-science … anti-life.”

That cost of membership simply isn’t worth it. So she’s opting out.

McLaren goes on to quote Rice as saying that “My faith in Christ is central to my life” and that she is still “an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God”, and that “following Christ does not mean following His followers.”

This reminds me of a button that I have in my collection that says “Jesus, save me from your followers.”

McLaren says that Rice’s reasons for leaving the church aren’t that different from those of Martin Luther, 500 years ago … which of course led to the Protestant … and note the root word protest … Revolution.

In the article, titled “My Take: Why I support Anne Rice but am still a Christian”, McLaren in fact says that he reached a conclusion very similar to Anne’s in his book A New Kind of Christianity. He says “I do not believe in Christianity the way I believe in Jesus. I am a Christian who does not believe in Christianity as I used to, but who believes in Christ with all my heart, more than ever.”

Marcus Borg, in The Heart of Christianity, talks extensively about the differences between the concepts of faith and belief. He says that most people in modern Western Christianity understand that the word “faith” means holding a certain set of “beliefs”, and “believing” that a set of statements are true, whether they are biblical teachings, or doctrines, or dogma. (p. 25)

Borg goes on to say that the notion that being Christian is about “believing” is a modern development of the last few hundred years. Many of us will remember the memory work of the Sunday School of our youth – memorizing bible verses, questions and answers. Borg says that this has had profound consequences, because it turns faith into a matter of the head. Prior to the modern period, the most common Christian meanings of the word “faith” were not matters of the head, but matters of the heart. He says:

In the Bible and the Christian tradition, the
“heart” is a metaphor for a deep level of the
self, a level below our thinking, feeling, and
willing, our intellect, emotions and volition. The
heart is thus deeper than our “head,” deeper
than our conscious self and the ideas we have
in our heads. Faith concerns this deeper level
of the self. Faith is the way of the heart, not
the way of the head. (p. 26)

The title for today’s sermon, “Faith Like Potatoes”, apparently comes from a famous American lecturer who used to tell his students that they needed faith like potatoes. He meant that their faith needed to have flesh and needed substance. (www.shalomtrust.com.za). “Faith Like Potatoes” is also the title of a movie made in 2006 which tells the true story of South African farmer turned evangelist Angus Buchan. It’s an interesting story.

In the late 1970s, Buchan, of Scottish descent, was forced to sell his farm in Zambia at a huge loss because of political unrest. He moved to South Africa with virtually nothing, exept three kids and his wife Jill, who was 6 months pregnant. Buchan, 62, is a household name in South Africa, famous for his down to earth preaching which has packed stadiums across the nation.

In his early days in South Africa, Buchan was transformed one day in church – a true altar call that enabled him to give his life, his heart, his family and his farm to Jesus. His story is a study in contrasts between the hardships that he and his family and co-workers endure, and the miracles that happen around him. I would be skeptical if it weren’t a true story – the spontaneous healing of village girl; rain that puts out a runaway brushfire, a stadium of 35,000 farmers, black and white, who gather to protest escalating violence and pray for good crops … all things that Buchan has fervently prayed for after his conversion experience. And, the biggest miracle of all, a crop of potatoes for the whole village when everyone said he would be ruined for planting potatoes in the dust, with no irrigation.

So what are we to make of Angus Buchan’s story? After doing a little digging about his life and ministry, I have no doubt that Angus Buchan has made a difference in the lives of many over the past 25 years. He and his wife have built a huge ministry, Shalom ministries which began when they opened their farm to 24 Zulu orphans, who were then raised as the Buchan’s own children.

I also have no doubt that Angus Buchan and I would most likely have to agree to disagree on many, if not most, theological issues. There is lots to read about Angus Buchan on the internet if you are interested, including praise and critique of his ministry in South Africa.

What I’m interested in is his faith, and how Angus Buchan made his “faith like potatoes” … how he made his faith have flesh and substance.

The writer of our passage from Hebrews today is writing to an early Christian community, encouraging them to stand fast in the midst of difficulties and challenges to their faith. He says “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” By its very nature, faith is not seen in and of itself, but only as one acts out of their faith. Faith can only be defined by showing examples of faith. The writer of Hebrews gives us embodied examples of faith – the story of Abraham and Sarah, who time after time showed faith in God by embarking on a new journey, by taking on new challenges, like parenting, very late in life.

At one point in the movie, Angus’ minister begs him not to plant the potatoes. He says “There’s a fine line between faith and foolishness.” Now I can’t say if Angus Buchan’s prayer for rain that day of the brushfire, or his prayer for potatoes were actually the reason that the fire went out or the potato crop was abundant. There is also a family tragedy in Buchan’s story when his prayers are clearly not answered.

It’s unexplainable. It’s not for us to understand, or explain. It’s a matter of the heart. Diane Bergant says that “faith is more an openness of mind and heart than a set of theological propositions.”

(www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/august-8-2010)

Last December, I completed a 2 and a half year program out of Tatamagouche Centre, The Atlantic Jubilee Program in Spiritual Guidance and Spiritual Direction. Spiritual guidance and direction is the art of assisting another person to notice and respond to the presence and leading of God in the middle of ordinary life. It is an ancient tradition taking on current form with the assistance of twenty-first century knowledge, skills, and language. An image that we were offered very early in our program was that of antelopes in the desert – apparently it is customary for one antelope to blow the dust out of the other antelope’s eyes, which enables them to walk together. That’s a helpful image to me as I try to explain to others what spiritual guidance is all about. It suggests that the answers we seek are in our hearts already.

At the centre of a spiritual guidance relationship is the belief and conviction that God is at work in each person, and in the world. When one intentionally takes time to sit in the presence of God with another, to turn oneself towards the will of God for that person, I am amazed at what happens. Every time I sit down with a person to offer spiritual guidance, I am gifted with a presence and experience of God that touches my heart.

The great contemplative theologian Thomas Merton wrote a prayer that complements our readings today. It says “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are every with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (Thomas Merton)

(http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/august-8-2010)

I think this is “faith like potatoes” … trusting what lies buried deep within, what you know to be true, what you give your heart to.

Jesus said in today’s reading “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Remember Marcus Borg’s words – “In the bible and the Christian tradition, the ‘heart’ is a metaphor for a deep level of self … Faith is the way of the heart, not the head. To what do you give your heart? Thanks be to God?