Cat Goodrich
Faith Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD
October 13, 2024
Faith is an Action Verb
Mark 10:17-31
Black Mountain Presbyterian Church is a thriving congregation that sits right outside of the town center of Black Mountain – a vibrant main drag, with local galleries, shops, and restaurants, that was once home to the radical Black Mountain School. The church sits far enough away from the Swannanoa River and its tributary, Flat Rock Creek, that it escaped the worst of the flooding two weeks ago. But along with the rest of the town, they lost power and water, had no cell service, and were suddenly cast into tragedy and uncertainty when Helene swept in.
As the floodwaters receded and it became clear that many neighbors had lost their homes, and many,
many more were stranded by broken roads and failed infrastructure, the church sprang into action. It emptied its fridges and began cooking hot meals outside under tents, feeding the folks who were camped out in cars along the road in Black Mountain. As soon as supplies began to be trucked in, the church became a distribution point, setting up a triage area to receive and share food and other essential items.
Today, two weeks later, they are overflowing with donations. The spacious narthex has become a food pantry, stacked to the ceiling with canned goods, lined with shelves brimming with soups and instant meals. Hallways are piled high with cleaning supplies, gloves and buckets and bleach – all you’d need to clear the muck and mud out of a flooded house. Their open fellowship hall has tables filled with diapers, medicine, and more. Volunteers from as far away as Louisiana are helping sort, organize, and distribute things to the people who need them. They’ve received so many contributions, they’re using a big hall in nearby Montreat as overflow storage. And still, a team is outside – cooking and serving hot meals to their waterlogged neighbors. The congregation has turned into a hub for community needs.
When Jesus says, all who follow me will have plenty of brothers and sisters and mothers in this life and in the life to come, I can’t help but think about that church, and the story of how they have sprung into action to care for their community in the wake of this tragedy. Because what does family do if it doesn’t feed you, help shelter you, make sure you have what you need to get through? Pastor Mary Katherine Robinson observed – “It’s bringing strangers together and making them friends, and that’s beautiful to watch.”[1]
“Good teacher,” the man asks: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Many of us have pondered this question at one point or another. How can we be sure we are saved? How do we get to heaven is a question commonly asked in our culture, or as I’m more likely to phrase it – how can we find our way into the reign of God?
These aren’t everyday, lighthearted questions. These are questions that might weigh heavy on our souls, the ones that keep us up in the middle of the night. The worry over getting it right drove the rich man to fall on his knees at Jesus’s feet, so concerned was he about salvation. Still, they aren’t questions that we as Presbyterians spend a lot of time talking about. And here’s why: as my friend and colleague Shannon Webster liked to say – quoting, I think, his old theology professor, “we believe God loves us not because we are good, but because God is good.”
And we remember this each week as we confess our faults and failures together in our prayer of confession. We name collective shortcomings big and small, and have time to reflect in silence on our personal ones. And each week, with a splash of baptismal waters, we are assured – there is nothing we can do and nothing we can fail to do that will separate us from God’s love. Salvation is to be found not in anything that we do, but rather by the grace and love of God made known in Christ and community.
Still: Jesus tells the man: Sell what you have, give the money to the poor, and follow me, Jesus’s response to this man is typical. Enigmatic. Challenging. It’s so upsetting the man leaves, upset, grieving. The only time in the gospel stories when Christ invites someone to follow and is turned down!
Jesus turns the man’s concern about himself – what must I do to inherit eternal life – outwards, into concern for others. Jesus shifts the focus – from personal piety to community service and generosity. And shifts the time frame – from what might happen one day, in a far off eternity to how the man responds to immediate needs, here and now. Maybe the teacher is teaching us that service is an outward expression of inner convictions – care for others and concern for people who are poor is a demonstration of discipleship. What if it is our generosity and care for one another that saves us?
The core of Jesus’ teaching to this rich man is that wealth is an impediment to grace. Our stuff gets in the way of our ability to be disciples. It insulates us from reliance on God and one another.
I wonder how we hear this truth as American Christians. Evangelical scholar Ron Sider calls us Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. Plenty of interpreters have tried to explain this story away, but I believe we need to hear it now more than ever. Because of our social location. Because of our shared wealth. Because we have enough, and when we have enough, God calls us to generosity.
There is a Japanese theologian named Kosuke Koyama who says that though we live in a fast-paced world, God is a slow God. God moves, Koyama says, at three miles per hour – the speed that Jesus moved as he walked and talked through Galilee. He writes: “The work of God goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice or not, whether we are currently hit by storm or not, at three miles an hour. It is the speed we walk and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks.”[2] The work of God in the world is unlikely to be at a pace of our own choosing. IT seldom happens quickly. But the Spirit is still at work.
We come together in this place week after week to hear and be reminded of the love of God, and the call of our loving God to give and care generously. To look beyond ourselves and see the needs around us, and to discern together what good we can do. Not because our salvation depends on it – God’s got that covered already – but because Faith is an action verb. It is something that we do together. Because we trust God is at work, albeit slowly, we lend our hands and hearts to the task of loving our neighbors, of advocating for change. We give generously, trusting that God will use what we offer. And trusting that our community, this community, will support us when needs arise.
I’m grateful for the wisdom of the deacons in creating the DEAR fund – a resource available to members and friends of this church who have emergency needs. Medical bills, car repairs, rental assistance, help recovering after a fire – the DEAR fund has helped bridge the gap for folks in need in our Faith family.
Yesterday, our kitchen and fellowship hall were filled with folks chopping, sauteeing, prepping casseroles and gift bags for folks who are in homebound, or otherwise in need of a little help and care.
I am grateful for the care and example of Black Mountain Presbyterian Church. But you know what? I am also grateful for the care and example of this family of Faith.
[1] Robinson, Mary Katherine, qtd. By Carter, Darla in “Black Mountain Presbyterian Church and Volunteers bringing ‘beautiful spirit’ to feeding and supporting the community,” Presbyterian News Service, 10/8/24, https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/black-mountain-presbyterian-church-and-volunteers-bringing-beautiful-spirit-to-feeding-and-supporting-the-community/?utm_content=311293034&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-22627435207
[2] Kosuke Koyama, “Three Mile an Hour God,” in Three Mile an Hour God: Biblical Reflections (Orbis, 1979), 6-7. Found on External Word blog, Nicholas Lash, Theological quotes, 9/20/13, https://externalword.blog/2013/09/20/kosuke-koyama-on-the-speed-of-god/