Back in July I went on mission with our EYC. Our kids worked extremely hard, gave of their hearts, and had a bunch of fun together—and I got to see it. Every night we would gather in a secluded corner in a circle, play guitar for some songs, and then read the Rite of Compline. As part of the ritual we set out a circle of little tea-lights. Each night I posed a question to the kids about something relevant to the trip. Each one was asked to share an answer to the question and light a candle. Amazing things happened during those most holy moments. In those numinous, sacred minutes life-transformations took place before my eyes. There was a palpable, powerful presence there that Scripture and the Church acknowledge as the very presence of God the Holy Spirit.

We’ve all had times when we knew something was in the air that was not of our own doing, something that we came to know as Someone. The Church throughout the ages has come to recognize that this Presence makes all the difference, and being connected to that Someone, becoming a conduit by which that Someone can be here with us to transform us and our world, is what the Christian life is all about. Your dominion is that sphere of influence you have in the world. As a Christian that dominion is to be submitted to God’s dominion on earth. But it is not merely an agreement by which we decide to work toward the goals of Another. The power and effect of godly dominion far outstrips the Christian who exercises it, for through it flows the very power of God.

This is what Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel. Note the title “Apostles,” to refer to the 12. The word “apostle” means someone who is sent forth with orders. This section comes on the heels of last week’s story of Lazarus and the rich man. At the end of that story the rich man in torment calls for someone to go to his five brothers. Here is an imperative to the Church—the five brothers represent all lost souls. Who else is there to tell them there are eternal consequences for their deeds but the 12? And so the disciples are called apostles—and rightly do the 12 ask for faith. They feel powerless to do what they are called to do and rightly intuit that faith is the key. But the key to faith is understanding the nature of faith. The illustration of the tree being uprooted and cast into the sea is one side of the coin—the side the disciples wanted to know about. But the other side of the coin, equally important, is the rest of the reading today: “Will any of you who has a servant…?” There is a hierarchy of power here, a chain of command. The reason the tree would be uprooted and planted in the sea is not because of any inherent power that faith gives you, or that you muster through the power of your will, but because God works through us when we walk with him in faith. What does it mean to walk with God in faith? It means to take on the role of apostle, to accept the orders for mission He has issued and set about to make all that you do and all that you are and all that you have something that serves the ends of the Kingdom. To the extent that you will what God wills, to that degree, what you do is what God does, and the task is no longer bound by the limits of your power, capacities or resources but taps into the power-grid of heaven. It is ours to offer to God our paltry submission as but a mustard seed. It is His to uproot trees of unproductive living and cast them into the sea.

How do we put feet on that enormous idea? First, we cannot put boundaries on the power of God. I recently received a nice decoration for my desk. It has a lighted pedestal that takes 3 batteries. Without them the decoration is nice, but with them it is stunning! We often think of God as batteries for goodness. Without Him we are “nice," but with Him we do much, much better. In reality God is not the batteries for goodness, He is the batteries for life itself. Hebrews identifies the Son of God as the one who sustains all things by the power of His word. Our existence is an act of His goodness. But as Romans 3 tells us, our existence is broken beyond any repair we can apply. Ephesians 2 calls our state before redemption as dead in transgressions and sin. But in Christ we are made alive by the power of His resurrection. Jesus didn’t come to earth to make bad people good, He came to make dead people alive! Romans 8 tells us that that there is no corner of creation that will not finally be transformed into life by the power of God. Apart from being untrue to His own nature, don’t even try to tell me what God’s not going to do!

Then, we cannot put limits on the love of God. I have a friend who often substitute teaches for KISD, he is highly regarded and always busy. One day he went into class and there were three young men in the classroom. He asked the aid, “Is this the whole class?” She replied, “Yes, and by the end of the day you’ll know why.” At the end of the day one of the young men gave my friend a big hug, and the other teachers were amazed—these young men were NOT the kind to do that! Why did this troubled boy show such affection? It was because my friend loved him enough to show him limits balanced by respect. Good teachers know the transformational power of love in action. And that is but a dim shadow of the love of God. Theology tells us that creation is the result of the relationship between the Trinity. That active, creative, dynamic relationship spins everything into existence: The Father dreams it, the Son speaks it, the Spirit moves it. So when creation was rendered dead by sin, love brought the Son into the world to resurrect it through His own resurrection. The motive that directs the power of God is the love of God. There is no corner of creation, no depth of depravity, no violence of soul that will not ultimately be reached by the love of God. There is nothing you can do to turn His heart away from you, there is nothing you can do that can increase His eternal desire for you. You are already loved so completely that all eternity will not suffice to plumb the depths of it. Don’t even try to tell me who God doesn’t love! All God needs from you is a mustard seed. A seed is not the plant, it is the promise of a plant. A seed is a wish, a desire, and a commitment. Wish His presence, desire to know His heart, and commit to doing what you can, and God will grow you into the plant you could never have made by yourself.

At 2:00 today we will be blessing animals. Why do we bless animals? Because we cannot put boundaries on the power of God, we cannot put limits on the love of God, and we find it our delight to offer to God the mustard seed of our good intention, that He might redeem the whole of creation!

Fr. Paul Moore+