Leap of Faith

May the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.


This past Thursday all the clergy of this region met here in our parish. Each month when we meet, one of the things we do is celebrate the Eucharist. Instead of a sermon, we all share our thoughts about the readings for the coming Sunday.

Before we started our meeting, I had a pretty good idea what I was going to talk about today. After the meeting? – not so much. In fact, after the meeting, I couldn’t even remember what I had been planning to say. It was just gone.


I was left with lots of ideas swirling around in my head, no clear direction to go in, and a vague recollection of something important that I’d planned to say.

I spent way too much time trying to get back my plan so that I could write my sermon for today. It just wouldn’t come. Finally, last night I just decided to give up on that and write something else. I started over from the beginning. Read the readings again. Looked over my notes about where they came from and what words might mean something different that I would expect. Prayed for direction and sat down in front of my computer.

It wasn’t until I started writing this that I realized this is exactly what our Gospel today is talking about. As long as I was focussed on the past, I had no clue how to move forward.


Our Gospel today is a grim message of hope. Jesus is telling us that there is always a way forward. There is always a path that will lead us closer to the Kingdom of God. No matter how bleak things are, there is always a light shining in the distance.

The problem is that heading toward that light might mean giving up something which we are attached to. Something that gives us comfort or stability. Maybe just something that we are used to. We have to leave these behind in order to get closer to God.

This is a constant struggle in every one of our lives. Change is always happening around us and it would be much more comfortable if everything would just stay the same. Life isn’t like that. Kids grow up and move away from home. The jobs that sustain us disappear. New jobs take their places. New jobs that can’t be done by the same people. We grow older and can’t do what we used to be able to do. It is an endless list.

In the church today this is especially true. Less and less people are coming to church. Many churches in Canada are closing or merging. Many more are struggling to pay their bills and still maintain at least a bit of mission. The old model of church in North America just doesn’t seem to work anymore. Or at least not very well.


Jesus’ message for us today is that there is a way forward. There is a way for us to get closer to the Kingdom of God.



This is very good news. This is a grim reality. In order to move forward, we have to let go of the past. This does not mean we have to forget it or throw out everything that makes us what we are. Our tradition is a great strength. Tradition is like the arc of an arrow flying through the air. It is always moving forward, moving toward its final target. But you can look back along its path and see where it’s been. It doesn’t take any sudden, sideways leaps.

No, to let go of the past, we have to acknowledge that our past got us to where we are. It is from this point that we move forward. Letting go of the past means that we don’t look back to see what we are doing wrong. We don’t look back to see what we could change to make things better. Letting go of the past means that we look forward to find where we need to be next. We look forward to see where our next step should be. We don’t make a sideways leap to become something we have never been or a backwards leap to become something we used to be. We take a small step forward from where we are now. Step by step into the future.

Looking back is deadly. Looking back is indulging in nostalgia: longing for the way things used to be and lamenting the loss. Looking back locks us into pain and despair.

Looking forward we can see the light. It might be dim and way off in the distance, but it is there. Looking forward we can live in hope that things will get better. Looking forward we can take that leap of faith and move step by step toward the Kingdom of God.

Thanks be to God.