From Rev’d Caroline – carolinesymcox@googlemail.com, 01285 712467
Readings for Sunday: Habakkuk 1.1-4; 2.1-4; 2 Timothy 1.1-14; Luke 17.5-10
To hear Caroline’s sermon click on the arrow below.
The following is taken from the Parish Newsletter for Sunday 5th October 2025.
Our readings this Sunday point us towards the idea of faith. Particularly, they point us to the practice of faithfulness in the middle of difficulty – something we may find we especially want to think about as we journey through the world we find ourselves in today.
We often think of ‘faith’ as being a kind of abstract concept. Faith is that thing we do with our brains when we say ‘I believe in God’. But really, that’s only scratching the surface of the rich depths of faith. Thinking that something is true or real isn’t really faith. It’s just a proposition. Thinking something or someone exists doesn’t mean that we think anything else about them at all. It doesn’t say whether we think they’re good or bad, close or far, interested in us or not, someone we can relate to or not. They’re
just there, in our understanding. Like a rock on the edge of our vision. Faith is about how we respond to that knowledge, and the effect it has on our lives.
We can see some amazing examples of the power of faith shown out in the world. Just this past week the Church commemorated the social reformer Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Earl of Shaftesbury, who used his position in the House of Lords to introduce much-needed social reform legislation – to help factory workers, women and children in coal mines, the insane, chimney sweeps and poor children, to name just a few. Ever wonder why Victorians stopped sending children up chimneys? We have Lord Cooper to thank! He was inspired to do all this directly through his Christian faith. He said, “Christianity is not a state of opinion and speculation. Christianity is essentially practical.” His faith lifted and drove him to challenge the poor treatment of people in his day, and to work to change it.
We see the evils and the harm happening the world today, and it might fill us with all kinds of emotion: anger, frustration, cynicism, even despair. Under these circumstances of difficulty, our faith directs us to a different path. We are to stand up, to watch and live faithfully, just like a night watcher on the walls of a fortress, not oppressed by the darkness around us, but holding on to the assurance that light is coming and our watch is not in vain. It says to us: don’t stop watching, and wanting, and most especially praying, for justice and right to be done in the world. And when we find it hard to keep our heads up, the prayer of the disciples should be our prayer: “Increase our faith!” We may not have a seat in government to make a change, but our voices and our lives must continue to yearn for that goodness and justice in all the ways we can express it. As Paul reminded Timothy, do not be ashamed of your testimony about the Lord, but ‘guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us’. We live it, because we believe it.
Rev’d Caroline
Updated 6th October 2025