John 14: 23,27; Acts 16: 9-15

The moment of truth

Last week we talked about what things we do really matter, as individuals and as a church.  Today I want to talk about what we believe.  More specifically I want to talk about how and when we confess our faith.   We just talked about the Dutch parliamentarians and how they had to decide whether to acknowledge God in their vow to support the new King.  It is something they may not think about very often.  This time they had to, because there on national television they had to show whether or not they believed in God.  They faced a moment of truth.  Once I got a phone call from one of our Parkview members who was distraught about her daughter being hospitalized.  She exclaimed: “Reverend, there is no God, please pray for my grandson.”  I think I have shared this with you before. It sums human ambivalence about a God we believe in but not always, a God we can feel at times, but never see.   In the Gospel of John Jesus is getting His disciples ready for his departure. “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. ” In Acts Paul evangelizes in Macedonia.  There a woman named Lydia confesses her faith in Christ by being baptized.  She invited Paul into her house.   This woman was from another city.  “She was a dealer of purple cloth and a worshiper of God,” the text says.  It goes on:” The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.”

Friends, I think that we can learn from these texts. They are moments of truth.  It is a moment of truth for the disciples who would see Jesus disappear from their midst in a physical way finally.  It was also a moment of truth for the business woman Lydia whose heart was opened to listen

Several months ago, other women had a moment of truth. They were women in our midst. May Lee, Marilyn Champa, Betsy Eskridge were women who were up front here to confess their faith. They were moments of truth.  But who knows how they felt.  Maybe they felt that the truth of the Christ was the truth they had known all their life and this was the moment to finally sign on the dotted line and make it official.  Maybe they were like the child I described a few weeks ago who was told to jump in the water even thought he couldn’t really swim and just closed his eyes and jumped.  Maybe they were excited because this was a culmination of a spiritual journey.  Who knows, friends what any of us feel about our faith. Perhaps we are relieved that there aren’t many moments of truth when we have to say what we really believe.

One could  say that Billy Graham only has one sermon and he’s preached it all his life. There is usually an altar call of sorts when people who feel moved have an emotional moment, but that doesn’t have to be sustained.  In many Christian traditions people are asked when they first felt faith come to them.  Like the little child who was riding her bike and saw the light. But that’s not really the Presbyterian way.  Perhaps, friends, we fall in and out of faith the way we fall in and out of love. Perhaps that moment of truth is not sustainable, even though the commitment that comes with it is sustainable.  Would we be willing to listen eagerly, willing to wait and search for Jesus’ peace, which is not the peace of the world? What would we say?  Would it be a moment our faith would fail us? Would it be a moment it shines?

The Presbyterian Church has a confessional tradition.  That means that we have a tradition of specifically stating what we believe. But then as a Church we tweak and update those confessions.  At the heart what remains is faith in the Triune God, God, Creator, God as liberator, God as Holy Spirit.

So, friends, what can we do to prepare for that moment of truth when someone asks us what we believe?  Well, coming here might help.  If we spend no time when those Who seek God in the Christian way, we are not likely to have much faith in the same way we will not find love of another person we become a hermit in the desert.  But beyond that there isn’t that much we can do. We cannot will ourselves to have faith anymore than we can will ourselves to fall in love with another person.  The key is to have a heart that is open.   The key is have a heart that God can open.  That is the lesson from Lydia.  It takes being open to find that peace that only Christ can provide, for it is a peace that the world we know cannot provide.  It’s that simple.  There is no need to feel guilty about our level of faith as long we are truly ready to be spoken to.  Thanks be to God.