“Let the teenager make the playlist”

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.”

Leon Bloy said, “Any Christian who is not a hero is a pig.” Wrong! Jesus knows you aren’t a candidate for martyrdom. He loves you anyhow. Our backwater Messiah isn’t concerned for the spotlight. Instead, he cares about the most insignificant moments of your life.

Whoever looks a panhandler in the eyes and says “Hello” is also faithful in much.

Whoever puts his wine glass down to play trains with a two-year old is also faithful in much.

Whoever writes get well notes to church members she doesn’t know is also faithful in much.

Whoever let’s a teenager make the playlist on a road trip is also faithful in much.

Whoever helped you move the last time you rented a Uhaul is also faithful in much.

Whoever lets his partner choose the corniest movie is also faithful in much.

Whoever indulges her ten year old’s vegetarianism is also faithful in much.

Whoever keeps her composure when her elderly mother calls her the wrong name is also faithful in much.  

And whoever (ok, me) gets visibly frustrated when the confused old man in front of him at the grocery store takes forever to dig out a checkbook is also faithless in much.  After all, if I believe that God loves befuddled old men, I should strain to see their loveliness. And if I believe that Christ has saved me into eternity, I shouldn’t care about three extra minutes at the grocery store.

Faith isn’t what you say “yes” to in church. It has very little to do with intellectual assent to Christian doctrine. And it isn’t lying dormant, waiting to be proved in some unlikely display of heroism. Instead, your faith is in your life right now. In the day-to-day, where Jesus lives.

Prayer

“O God, you are so grand. And we are so small. So what else but the small things would prove our faith in you? Amen.”

About the Author
Matt Fitzgerald is the Senior Pastor of St. Pauls United Church of Christ in Chicago. He is the host of “Preachers on Preaching,” a weekly podcast sponsored by The Christian Century.