Increase our Faith

Luke 17:5-10
​By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector

​Last Sunday, we explored the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus shared this parable with his disciples, then and now, as a means of insisting we take inventory, considering: How are we doing at embracing our call to love God and our neighbor?

Jesus goes on to convey the seriousness of this call by telling his disciples: “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come. It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” (Luke 17:1-4)

The emphatic urgency with which Jesus spoke these words would have caught the disciples' attention. It was noteworthy, even if they didn’t yet understand why. All these years later, we have the benefit of knowing what his disciples could not have known for certain. Jesus’ time was running out. They were nearing Jerusalem, where a trial and capital execution awaited him. 

With this context in mind, today’s gospel becomes a bit clearer. We can appreciate why the apostles’ would have pleaded: “Increase our faith!” 
It is a curious request. Especially if we take Paul’s teachings, which frequently focus on a life of faith, and set them aside to look strictly at the gospel. When we look to Luke’s Gospel, Jesus generally only references faith as something we either have or do not have. Which may be why he responds: “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” 

I don’t know about you - but help with gardening is not high on my prayer list, as cool as it would be to move shrubs and debris with my faith. Some commentators suggest his response is a way of telling the disciples - you're not asking the right question.*  Faith is not something we can acquire and build up a hearty stock of, like toilet paper during the pandemic. Faith is our belief. It is our wholehearted trust; our leaning into something bigger than ourselves. Faith is our obedience.

Obedience is a challenging concept for many of us - myself included. It has historically been used to subjugate those with less power, privilege, and prestige. Our opinions about obedience largely stem from how we understand authority. Authoritarian leadership - particularly in governance - teaches us that when we disobey an order or law, there will be punishment. Irrelevant of whether the order or law is just or unjust. Maternal or paternal authority - better known as clericalism in the Church - teaches us that Mother or Father knows best, infantilizing and disempowering the laity from ministry. Authoritative leaders like Jesus, receive power given to them, and humbly wield it. They expect maturity and cooperation, lean on reasoning, empower others; and in turn, are generally respected and followed.  


Holding all this in mind, what is the role of obedience in faith? In light of Jesus’ authoritative leadership, our obedience is our desire to comply with God’s call to love God and neighbor.  We obey not because we fear punishment, but because we have been moved by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, to live a life of love ourselves. We are compelled by our shared sacred duty to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. The only metric of our faith and faithfulness is our love. 

The question before every disciple is: will we accept our call to love God and our neighbor? Yes or no. Jesus does not demand perfection, but rather our intention.  Will we embrace our call by striving to love God and neighbor, with God’s help and the support of our community? This is why it is so critical that we come together each week for worship - to pray, confess, forgive and be forgiven; to be nourished; to be empowered to go back out into the world, once more, doing our best to live faithfully. 

When Jesus describes how challenging this call is, his apostles respond with the plea, “Increase our faith!” Jesus responds by redirecting their understanding of the call.  Faith is not something we consume and collect. It is something we either have or do not have. It is not something that will give us power to move plants or other cool tricks. Nor is faith given to us as a reward, as Jesus notes in his reference to the relationship between a slave and the one they serve. 

Increase our faith! However misunderstood the apostles' plea may have been, it does reflect a sincere desire that resonates with many of us. There are moments, days, weeks, and entire seasons of our journey where we have a keen awareness that we somehow need more faith. Maybe not because we need to have quantifiably more faith, as much as we become acutely aware of our desperate need for God’s presence, Christ’s love, and the Spirit’s wisdom in our lives. Particularly in holding challenging and painful realities, navigating the unknown, and even a sheer willingness to somehow keep going. This is the spirit behind Paul’s writings on faith, as we see in the letter that is attributed to him from our second lesson - 2 Timothy. It is this kernel of faith, merely the size of a mustard seed, Paul calls on us to guard and treasure with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Increase our faith! The desire behind this plea is that as disciples we may live increasingly in love and obedience to God’s dream for this world. It might be more accurate to plead, Increase our Love! Increase our capacity to trust and love, setting aside our own ambitions, insecurities, egos, and grand plans. Living more fully into the Way of Love, and witnessing the abundance of God’s grace in this life. 

Last December, a colleague I respect encouraged me to be part of the bishop search process. After some prayer, and more than a little reluctance, I filled out the nomination form. I did so indicating I would like to be a member of the Transition Committee, which organizes a variety of events from the Meet and Greets all the way to the new bishop’s consecration. I specifically was not interested in the Search Committee, which without knowing why, somehow seemed like it would require more of my internal life than I was ready or able to give. 

Imagine my surprise when this trusted colleague, responsible for helping appoint the Search and Transition Committees called me and said,  I know you indicated you wanted to be on the Transition Committee, but we are hoping you will Chair the Search Committee. It was a humbling moment. While I did not feel equipped, and was not clear I was called to this role or work, I had experienced a similar juncture before.

I was quite sure I was not called to be a parish priest, and God chuckled. My spouse and I were fairly sure I was not called to serve former St. James as Priest-in-Charge, but the Spirit moved in startling ways through conversations with Search Committee members, and God laughed once more. Each time, even though I couldn’t make sense of what God was up to, I leaned into the ambiguous and confusing space. The only thing I knew for certain was that God is in it, and there beside us. All these years later, I give thanks for being wrong, and for having faith to lean into the ambiguous and confusing space with God beside us. 

It was in the spirit of those experiences, that I said yes. And for many weeks, my prayer life matched the apostles’ plea - Increase our faith! With time it became clear it was not a matter of needing more faith. Rather, the desire reflected an urgently felt need to increase my capacity to love, to mature and grow as a leader, and to depend on God alone by expanding and deepening my prayer practice. It was this expansion and deepening of my prayer life that guided my approach to our team’s work. Through it all, God was with us in the ambiguity, clearing just enough of the path forward to know fully the Spirit was our guide. The experience was a gift. One I will treasure, and hope to keep learning from in the years ahead. 

The most important lesson of our time may have been about communal prayer. Specifically what is possible when the Body of Christ, as a ministry team or a larger body, grounds its work in frequent prayer and thanksgiving, setting aside egos and agendas, sharing our gifts, and listening for the Spirit. One reason we were able to stay so grounded in prayer, is the Standing Committee appointed two chaplains to accompany us in our work. Our own Will Harron was one of the Chaplains, along with Rev. Julie Carson. Together, these chaplains supported us in our efforts to begin and end our work in prayer, to pause and pray at important moments in our conversations, and to return to God throughout each day together.  The experience has made me curious about what it looks like to grow our prayer practice as a community, particularly within our ministry teams? Only time and prayer will tell. 

As we prepare to head back into the world today, I would invite us to continue reflecting on the meaning of faith.

• What is faith? 
• What does Increase our faith mean to us? 
• How might shifting our prayer practice help us to increase our love?

Amen. 


Today’s Readings:
Lamentations 1:1-6
Lamentations 3:19-26
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

* Sermon Brainwave 1044: Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost - October 5, 2025

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