Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16

Pentecost +12 - Year C 

Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16

Faith is currently defined in Mirriam-Webster as:

     1) allegiance

     2) belief and trust in

     3) that which is believed

How does this differ from:

     1) assurance of that hoped for

     2) conviction of the unseen

     3) a source of approval

After you have played with the intersections of the connotations of the above, we are then given an example that adds a fourth category:

    4) obedience

Now, against what you first came up with between definitions, play again with “obedience”. How does that change things? Is obedience a matter of faith? When? Under what conditions?

Etymologically, obedience is to be oriented (ob- —toward) what can be (-oedire —heard). What have you heard calling to you this week? Something in the news? A community still to be brought into being by our choices throughout the day?

At stake is what is so firmly grounded in you that whether or not it comes to pass in your lifetime, you will live for it to be available for some generation to come. Remember realized eschatology and be glad.

= = = 

realized eschatology: being engaged in the process of becoming, rather than waiting for external and unknown forces to bring about destruction

For extra credit there is this paper to consider.