A faith that is not tested is a faith that should not be trusted

I titled this blog from notes that I took when I attended the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood Kansas. I was so struck by this message that I wanted to share the notes of what happened. But before I begin, I need to let you know about what had preceded this time.
Nancy and I decided that we wanted to take a weekend away and decided to leave for Kansas City Saturday morning. Our original plans were to go to the art museum, check into our hotel and then to go to the contemporary service at the Church of the Resurrection Saturday evening. Sunday we were open to the possibility of attending a baseball game with the Royals and then come home.
As we arrived, we spent most of Saturday afternoon at the Nelson-Adkins Art Museum. We barely covered the modern art and decided that we would come back Sunday afternoon. We checked into our motel and made our way to COR. We did not know that Adam Hamilton was doing a mission trip in Africa and was not going to preach. Sunday Dr. Zan Holmes was preaching. For those who have taken Disciple Bible Study, he is the one who introduces that studies. He is a professor of preaching at Perkins School of Theology. I did not think that he would be preaching Saturday. This service the praise band also was taking time off. When the service started with an organ prelude, I questioned what was I doing here.
That feeling continued when they had a hymn sing from our UM hymnal. Actually it was good and certainly upbeat to hear the hymns. The whole atmosphere changed when the special music performer came onto the chancel area. It was Twila Paris who throughout the service sang four of her top hits. She was putting on a special performance Sunday evening at COR. As great as that was indeed Dr. Holmes did preach and I must say that I was fed that night.
He was preaching from Mark 6:41-44, 48-52. The title of the sermon was "Have we learned the lessons of the loaves?" I wanted to share some of what he had to say especially since I preached from the Matthew scriptures the previous Sunday. The title of the blog came in that sermon that faith that is not tested is a faith that should not be trusted. The last verse of the text was after Jesus entered into the boat after the storm," They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened." As Dr. Holmes stated that J.B. Phillips translated the text as they had not the sense to learn the lessons of the loaves.
So why do we not learn? Dr. Holmes discussed that somehow we might feel that we are exempt from understanding and service. For instance the feeling that when Jesus says to us feed them it really does not apply to me. The other concern could be that we feel we are self righteous and don't need to learn because we think we already know the lesson. Another reason was that we lose sense of connection with those who are in need. Sometimes we prefer credentials over Christ. But the biggest reason we may fail to understand is that we fail to grow through what we are going through. The thing is that God will keep sending us back through the course until we get it right. God doesn't want to waste anything. The other thing is that there is no failure with God's grace. No matter how many times especially in the gospel of Mark the disciples seem to fail to understand Jesus never gives up on them. Just as he never gives up on us. That is the power of love. So whether we deserve an F in the course of life, God's grace gives us an incomplete and we can try again. As the old hymn states God's love has lifted me up.
I went away uplifted by the service. I also was amazed about how the service which was not packed but probably had over 400 attendance worked. We met and were greeted more from the people who we sat around who shared their story of faith with us. I have come away with some ideas about worship and may implement some of those starting with the early service in September. Stay tuned.