Minute of Exercise on Faithfulness

Wednesday Evening, 6^th Month 10 2009

We Quakers have in our hands two jewels: a unique way of listening to God and a unique way of reaching decisions.  Can we open our treasure chest and spread those jewels abroad for everyone to know and gain spiritual enrichment?  Query: What would happen if we were truly faithful?  What happens when we are truly faithful?

 
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)  "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 10:17)  Being faithful is walking with God, heart open to Christ, and listening through our hearts where Christ does dwell.   "Be still and know that I am God."(Psalm 46:10)  Within that stillness faithfulness arises, and all private agendas - all strife and greed and selfishness - are emptied, so that we are able to go, as Abraham and Sarah went, in complete trust to a land that we are shown.

 
"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:6) The road may not be easy.  We may be led to shake the dust off our feet, or we may be criticized for being too careful in discernment - for being too faithful. Sometimes being faithful leads to feeling out of touch with God.  Later we realize that we lost only our own image of God, but not God Himself.  We are called to follow God's leading and to leave the outcome in God's hands. If we can keep within the certainty that Christ can direct our thoughts, no matter what we are doing, we do not have to know why or where we are going.   We leave any fears or doubts at the feet of Christ and step into the place of unknowing.  "I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God." (Isaiah 41:9)

When we are faithful, something may pop up or pop out that surprises us. The working of one's own will can be blown apart by obedience.  We find we can love the unloveable, and forgive the unforgiveable. We experience a power working through us that is greater than our own abilities; being faithful often leads to unexpected change that ripples far across time or space.  We see those ripples in the history of social reform begun by faithful individuals; we see those ripples in our own experience. 

 
Being faithful can lead us to be a fool for Christ.  God's wisdom is foolishness in the eyes of the world.  When we struggle against letting go of our dignity, our faithfulness is diminished and our joy suffers.  But when we let go of our dignity for God's sake, we feel a release of joy pouring over us.  We are then grounded in a deep peace, even in the midst of chaos.  We can lay down the childish things of the past and of self, and our prayer becomes  "Oh Lord, I would gladly know thy desires and be taken into whatever form of wholeness thou desirest for me and be obedient to walk thy path with thee."

We are told to "ask and it will be given you. " (Luke 11:9) Asking means to beg, as a beggar, out of poverty of spirit with no shred of result in mind. That begging is only possible through the active presence of Christ.  The gift to be obedient is waiting for us and will direct us.  It is for us to pick up and accept that gift. "They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  (Isaiah 40:31)

- recorded by Susan Smith