A reading from Luke 17:5-10, New Glide Liberation Version of the Bible.

So Luke says, the people in church (like Glide) said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (You would think that the plural of faith is “faiths”, like, “Increase our faiths” but no, the plural of faith is still singular, as if to say, if we all believe in liberation, if we all believe that an end to homelessness is in sight, if we all believe that everyone is entitled to liberty and the pursuit of self-designed happiness, then our collective faith, our one faith in this vision, that we have all put our hearts, minds and souls towards, will happen.

So, the people in church said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” So, the people in church said to one another, “I Increase my faith in you and you increase your faith in me.” The Lord replied, “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. (Now, this ain’t even the sermon, but I’mma stop here for a minute because I love me some mustard greens…)

Okay, the size of a mustard seed…imagine you are holding a seed between your thumb and index finger, a mustard seed that’s an inch thick…can you see the 1” mark on the ruler? Smaller… Imagine holding a mustard seed between your thumb and index finger, a mustard seed, that’s a half of inch thick, can you see the 1” mark now divided by two…that’s ½” or .5”… Smaller… Imagine that line on the ruler that divides the one into halves, the half inch, divide it, now the seed is now a ¼” or .25”… Smaller… That quarter inch seed, divided in two, into 1/8th” seed or .125, That eighth inch seed, divided in two, into 1/16th” seed or .0625 That sixteenth inch seed, divided in two into 1/32nd” seed or .031

Did you know that mustard seed is only 1/32nd  – 1/16th in diameter, What does that feel like between your thumb and your index finger? Have you ever had you ever experience faith in something so small? Have you ever given up on someone? Have you ever thought that your time has passed you by? Have you ever thought that you have been passed over?

The Lord replied, “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. A mustard tree can grow to 2.7 meters that’s almost 9 feet tall! That is around 2,700 times the size of the seed. No miracles here. This is a botany lesson.

However small your faith is, it can grow… However small your hope is, it can grow… However short your recovery is, it can grow… However short your pay is, it can grow… However little time you got left, it can grow… However little patience you got left, it can grow… You start small. You only need mustard seed faith. Increase is not amassing more, but saying allow my faith and my belief in justice to break through and begin this cycle of life.

But how? Not magic, nature and nurture… Seeds need water, oxygen and the right temperature to germinate. Now, dormancy is a state of suspended animation in which seeds delay germination until conditions are right for survival and growth. Maybe your faith is dormant, and delaying til the conditions are right for survival and growth… Maybe your love life is dormant, and delaying til the conditions are right for survival and growth… Maybe your dreams are dormant, and delaying til the conditions are right for survival and growth…

Maybe you here at Glide Memorial Church because we water dreams here… Maybe you here at Glide Memorial Church because we clear the air here… Maybe you here at Glide Memorial Church because the right temperature for love, and peace, and hope, and possibility, and second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances, the right temperature for survival and growth is 98.6 F… That’s the average body temperature. 98.6 F… And maybe you are actually, living the right conditions you been waiting for… Maybe your dormant stage is over…

Okay… The Lord replied, “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. We have taught you how to move mountains here. We have taught you that love is the answer. We have taught you while on others thou art calling, you won’t be passed by.

And what if we reminded This homeless person, this drug user, this victim of domestic and intimate partner violence, this person living with depression, this person not just on their last rope but final thread, with circumstances more visible than their hope, what if we reminded them that they don’t need more faith, just some faith, the size of a mustard seed, what if we could convince them to believe that the tree would uproot for them…

The tree: • The root system. • The Tree trunk. • The crown. • The Leaves. • The Branches. • The Flowers. • The Fruit. • The All of it. Remind them that the tree, that we the privilege trees, will do everything to remind them that their faith is enough to make us move from our comfort and become seaweed, and driftwood for them, if that is the proof that they need, if that would be enough to make them see that same faith that the lighter to light the pipe will work, is the same faith that the they need to move the mulberry tree.

Luke goes on to say, “Who among you would say to the help, who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in your field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at my table’? Don’t you usually say to them, ‘Now that you have finished plowing or tending sheep in my field, now go prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; and later you can eat and drink’? Do you thank the help for doing what was commanded?

So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do— Restore hope to the hopeless… Trouble the comforted… Comfort the troubled… Supply the peace that surpasses all understanding… Be open and affirming… Be radically inclusive… Be extravagantly welcoming… Be unconditionally loving… So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do— Can your faith withstand you saying, ‘We are the help; we have done only what we ought to have done!'”

The people of the church said, “Increase our faith!” 2700 times the size of where we started. “Increase our faith!” so that we can do what we are all called to do, no matter how small we think we are, in the face of the seemingly insurmountable suffering: Grow hope, healing, and justice, from something so small that you don’t even believe you have the patience to see it through… But you can, and you will, trust and believe,

Your faith is increased.

Amen.