There's little glass block on my desk, which Tami Shields gave to me once, on which is written, "Faith is knowing that there is an ocean because you've seen a brook." Everyday, I look at that and am reminded that God's kingdom is like an ocean and that our church is a brook that is moving by faith towards it.

I talked to several church leaders in Sri Lanka. One of them was Eran Wickramaratne. He is the Hill Hammock of Sri Lanka to me. He was until this month the Executive VP of the National Development Bank. This month, he left that position to become the president of an brand new bank, interestingly, started on the premises vacated by Hill's bank ABN AMRO. Eran is also a pastor. He is on the pastoral team of an old church with a brand new name - - The People's Church. It used be called the Assembly of God. At a time when mainline churches are in serious decline and morale is low, the People's Church just last year built in the heart of the city, a church building that seats over 5000 people, and their church is packed for three Sunday services.

Back in 1980, I was the Religious Work Secretary at the Colombo YMCA for a short time (another chapter of my checkerd career!). By the way, the YMCA in Sri Lanka and in other parts of the world is not just a poor person's health club -- it’s the center of ecumenical activity. At that time, I came to know Eran's father, Rev. Coulton Wickramaratne. He was pastor of a small AOG church and at that time he had been there for at least 10 or 15 years. Anyway, Coulton came to the YMCA with a group of people and preach at our chapel and from time to time have outdoor meetings on the side walk. Back then, AOG was nothing more than a trickle of water. Today it’s a mighty river -- its the mega church of Sri Lanka.

And here's the interesting thing about Eran. He is highly politically connected. He told me how just last year, the United National Party, which is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka had actively sought him to become their General Secretary, its chief executive post -- and you know why? Because his credentials are impeccable. They had a secret meeting with him, and he said to them if I were to take this job, certain corrupt practices must end and named several items. They turned him down, because they couldn't meet his demands.

So, I asked him, Eran, you are an evangelical Christian, a pastor of a charismatic church -- how can is it possible that your faith can mix with politics? He looked me in the eye and said, "I am trying to be as much a biblical Christian as I know how." "But don't the leaders of your church have trouble with your politics?" "Of course," he said, "you should have seen the fuss when the story was leaked to the news papers. But, the church knows that in order to be People's Church, we have to address the political issues and act on them. In fact, the name itself communicates that we are a grass roots church."

I am not sure you would understand the impact the name "People's Church" has in Sri Lanka. The concept first popularized by Mahatma Gandhi's swaraj, or self-rule movement which present President's father, SWRD Bandaranaike, one of Sri Lanka's most honored Prime Ministers picked up in the 1950s as an antidote to the colonial bondage of some 500 years and its neo-colonial aftermath. It’s a word that politicians use, and community organizers use. And Eran reminded me that saying People's Church is not really that different from saying Assembly of God! I couldn't believe that this was the same little AOG church that Coulton Wickramaratne pastored 20 years ago. "Faith is knowing that there is an ocean because you've seen a brook."

The Sunday I left for Sri Lanka, you may remember my pledge to you that while I was in Sri Lanka, in a different environment, I would pray and reflect about what new things God is going to do among us. Well, I did. The stories you are hearing from Sri Lanka have something to do about that reflection. I hope you all thought and prayed about this too. The deacons and the pastoral team have read Rick Warren's book, Purpose Driven Church and we are going to get together and talk about it. It is a serious conversation about being a new kind of church -- even an agitational conversation! Rick Warren though is unabashedly about growth. That's why his book is good for us to read. And I said to you, that Sunday: God's agitation to us is to embrace growth.

Just consider the new things that are going on for us right now. We have a brand new name -- Ellis Avenue Church. That communicates a new identity. It highlights a street that runs through our several south side communities and lets people know that on this Ellis Avenue there is a church, a beacon of hope to the community. What kind of a church is it? That too is very clearly and visibly stated. It is a church that celebrates diversity and builds community in Christ. That's our new identity. And in addition, we now have Amy Dodson Watts, as our new Children's Minister. I think she is an answer to our prayer. I have no doubt in my mind that the population we need to reach out to are families and clearly if we want to reach out to families we need a first class children's program. I think now we are getting set up for that.

We are a brook. I look with the eyes of faith at this brook and I can see the ocean. Now, we may think that ocean means that our church will grow. I have no doubt that we will and reach a lot of people in the city. But ocean, to me, is much more than being a large church. When I say ocean, I imagine God's reign in this city. Many biblical authors imagined such an ocean.

Isaiah imgined a city designed in heaven (65:17ff). The city in which, says the Isaiah, children do not die while they are still infants. A city in which young people are not killed with bullets because everyone lives their lives to the full length -- unlike what happened to Linda Smith's 13 year old student, this week. He was gunned down by a gang and thrown in front of a car, in Harvey. No more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress, says Isaiah. And then,this week a young man decided that he could rob Cheryl Hammock with a gun and get away with it. No, he couldn't. And we are so grateful for God's protection for her. And that young man could not get away from that crime and he will do time. But what agony for a mother, a father of that young man, what a tragedy that young people will get themselves into situations like that. On the other hand, says Isaiah, God's city will be created as a joy and the people will be a delight. What Isaiah is describing is just the opposite of the inner city today. "Where children are not born into calamity." As I meet people in this neighborhood, and come have conversations with people who live in the inner city, I am so aware of children who are born into calamity. Laverna weeps everyday for her grandchildren, and so do others we know, even in this congregation. The vision of the Kingdom is where children who are born into an environment that gives them a chance to live out their lives with dignity, self respect and opportunity. It is a place where they will build houses and inhabit them, and not have another inhabit, in other words they will not have to rent. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit, in other words, they will have abundance.

And then here's John's image about God's city, in Rev. 22. "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kids of fruit, producing its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." Imagine a river flowing down Ellis Avenue -- that's from 39^th Street down through the south side. There are trees on the side of the river that produces twelve kinds of fruit -- that is the full complement of fruits and produces it every month, that is in abundance. And the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. This city was a place of such abundance.

The notion that God's kingdom can be fulfilled in this earthly realm is not at all new to American theology. H. Richard Niebuhr, a noted American theologian in a book called the "Kingdom of God in America." pointed out that the American people have always been excited about God's reign. And that in one way or another we've always been seeking to transform our society into this glorious kingdom. This was the founding vision of our forebears. Charles Finney, the Billy Graham of the previous century articulated this very clearly and strongly. He believed that the task of the church was to transform society in anticipation for the coming king. He believed that in fact we are going to realize kingdom in the historical context.

Tony Compolo, spoke once about how ingrained such a vision is in the American psyche. But he sounded an alarm that we are living in precarious times. He said, that he finds that the church is giving up on that vision of creating the new Jerusalem. That the great concept of the kingdom has become a personalized narcissistic reality; that across America a form of Christianity has arisen that is basically a religious poor man's psychotherapy. Where Jesus is supposed to make us feel good, but not turn us into people through whom he can change the world and the society in which we live. So we turn our theology around to make the gospel of Jesus Christ a purely individualized religion, and we think we can let the politicians take us toward the kingdom goal! Isn’t that a hoot! But I think that is true. We do that because it is easy then for us to give up on our part of the responsibility. If we are talking about God’s kingdom, the responsibility of taking us there rests solely on the church.

I hear that prophetic voice, don't you? We have become a people of little faith. We see the brook, but are unable to imagine the ocean. That should come as no surprise to you. After all, we live and work among people of little faith. And we get inundated everyday by voices and images of the media and popular culture, that we begin to absorb the jadedness, the hopelessness and the cynicism of our world and we think any talk of kingdom agenda is incorrigibly idealistic. I think Jesus would scold us saying, "O ye of little faith."

I want you to notice, that Jesus never said "O ye of little belief." That is a distinction I have made before and will make again, because that I believe is a critical issue for our times. The words for faith in Greek pistuo, pistis, do not mean believing in a modern sense. For the ancient Jew or Christian to have said, "I believe there is a God" or "I believe that God exists" would have been very strange. Today, when a person says "I believe," she or he means something of this sort: "In spite of the uncertainty of God as a fact of life, I repress my intelligence with sheer will power and give blind ascent to a concept of a God who is somewhere out there." I think that it takes us so much effort to "believe" that we don't have any energy left for faith! Jesus never asked people to articulate their beliefs. Jesus called people to faith. Come follow me. Come trust me. To Thomas following the resurrection, what Jesus actually said was in fact, "do not doubt, Thomas, but faith" This is one of the places where the confusion is really stark. Because faith is not usually used as a verb the translators used believe. But Jesus said pistos -faith. In other words, he is saying, rely on me Thomas, have confidence in me Thomas. Reach out boldly and touch my wounds Thomas, enter into that pain, Thomas. God's promises are good. God delivers -- see I am risen from the dead.

So what is faith? To the author of Hebrews, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In other words seeing a brook and knowing that there is an ocean. Faith it is setting our heart upon God, with the full assurance that the future will be as God has promised. That God is faithful to deliver in full measure and on time. Faith is the trust that we can have in the promises of God that enables us to make real commitments of obedience towards God's future; which are not visible in the present reality. To demonstrate faith, the author spends the rest of ch.11, citing examples of those who lived their lives according to God's promises. It is through their acts of faith that these ancestors "received approval."

In chapter 11, there are loads of examples of people of faith. Let me tell you about everyone's favorite example of faithfulness, Abraham. His faith was not one in which, he just said, "I believe in God," his faith was one in which when called upon, he uprooted himself from his established home to go to a place he did not even know. Then when called upon, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac on the altar; with a tremendous faith that in life and death, we are in God's hands. What the author of Hebrews is trying to point out is this: Abraham's faith is counted in that he was obedient to uproot himself and go, and he was willing to sacrifice his son. Obedience is always an integral part of faith. It is always an active response to God's word and not simply an intellectual, internal assent to the divine. Abraham did not have maps. That uprooting was tough. When he left, he had to take all his people and their families, his livestock, and all things. It was a massive movement of people. Now God had said that there is a place which he was to receive as an inheritance. The writer of Hebrews expresses that inheritance this way. "He looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (vs.10). By faith, and in obedience Abraham stepped out. He was seeking a God's city.

Now, one would hope that these people and the ones to follow in the rest of the chapter, people who stepped out in faith would get to reach that place of promise. But the author of Hebrews is extremely realistic. "All these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance, they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them."

This is the epistle writer's own commentary on the faith of all these great ancestors. That faith enables them to see beyond even their own life span and greet the yet-to-be fulfilled promise of the future as though it were already in their midst. This fervent longing by the faithful was not a vain hope. Faith, for this writer is based on the absolute trust they had in God's promises. They didn't know it at the time, but the writer lets us in on a secret. While it was the hope that kept these ancestors going, the dream of a better, heavenly country, look at vs. 16, it was already a reality. They didn't know it, but God has indeed already prepared a city for them.

So, faith is not about our private spirituality that makes you feel good. It is our public engagement in God's kingdom -- something that evangelicals from Charles Finney to Eran Wickramaratne understand well. It is not something you believe -- it is putting your trust in a God who keeps promises. It is not a mere intellectual ascent, it is a act of obedience. Jesus said, no one knows the hour in which the bridegroom will come, but he is coming -- so "be dressed for action and have your lamps lit."

I haven’t seen the ocean, but I've seen the brook. I have not seen God's kingdom city -- it seems a very long distance away, but I've seen the church. Incomplete as it is, fallen as it is, sinful as its members are, its a microcosm of the kingdom. And I honestly, seriously and desperately want the brook to head toward the ocean. And I know we all do. And we all want to do all that is right and obedient to make sure the brook goes to where God wants it to go. Because we've seen the church, we have faith in God's promise of the kingdom. And because we have such a faith, that God’s promise is true and trustworthy, even though we can greet it only from a distance, we can respond in obedience.