World Communion Sunday
October 5, 2025

Sermon

Camille Cook Howe
Pastor

2 Timothy 1:1–14
Luke 17:5–10

Increase our faith! The disciples had been on the road with Jesus for some time at the point of this exclamation. They had already heard many sermons and parables. They had seen many miracles and healings. They had traveled with him, prayed with him, and dined with him. So why this sudden outburst? 

The answer is revealed in what happened before the outburst. The preceding chapters and verses outline what has been termed “the cost of the discipleship” — the cost of being a follower of the Way of Jesus of Nazareth. Throughout their travels, Jesus had been telling the disciples what would be required of them, and he makes it clear that it is not an easy thing to be a Christian. After Jesus outlined all the things he needed them to do, they make their outburst. “If you want us to do those things, loving our neighbors, and giving away our money, and standing alongside the vulnerable, forgiving people when they wrong us, not returning evil for evil, then, Jesus, you better increase our faith!”

I kind of like this as a response. It is certainly better than having the disciples just saying, “No way, we can’t do those things.” It is also better than having them say, “Sure thing, Jesus, we are on it!” It is almost as though they understood that faith was going to be required for the days and the challenges ahead. “Increase our faith,” they plea.

Last spring when I was talking with the search committee about coming here, I read through the long-range plan developed by this congregation. It struck me that one of the four things you said you wanted to do was to increase your faith. The actual words used in the report were “Be a faith community that supports individuals and groups in exploring and growing their relationship with God in Jesus Christ.” Or, in other words, “Increase our faith.” 

That is one of the four things you said you wanted to do, along with deepen your relationships with each other, serve your community, and ensure the systems, facilities, and finances for the future of this place. This long-range plan is inspiring and daunting and necessary. Effectively, in that report, you are saying you want to do and will do very hard things. 

• You want to grow in relationship with each other at a time when relationships are strained, as the social fabric of our time has worn thin? 

• You want to serve the vulnerable people of Chicago and throughout the world when the needs are vast and endless? 

• You want to ensure the future of a 154-year-old institution that is expensive and complicated to run in a time when institutions are not in fashion? 

Lord, increase our faith! We are not going to read that long-range plan report and say, “No way, we are not going to do it.” Nor are we going to read it and say, “Sure, no problem.” Instead, we are going to first focus on the pillar that asks God to increase our faith so that we can do the hard things that are outlined within it. Increase our faith so we do not grow weary in doing good. Increase our faith so we can hold onto hope in the future and not give in to despair. Increase our faith so we can be inspired by our history and excited about the future. 

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s autobiography he told a few stories about using prayer when facing very serious challenges. One situation involved King’s personal safety and him questioning his ability to carry on with his work in the civil rights movement. After being awakened in the night by a threatening phone call, Dr. King decided he could no longer sleep, so he brewed a pot of coffee and sat down at his kitchen table. He was alone, worried, and fearful for himself and his family. 

“Oh Lord,” he prayed, “I’m down here trying to do what is right. But I’m afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter.” Then as he leaned on the table with his head in his hands, he heard an inner voice: “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And, lo, I will be with you, even unto the end of the world.” The memory of this moment is one that never left King and served to strengthen his calling and to calm his fears. The Lord increased Martin’s faith, and in doing so fortified him for the work that had to be done. 

We all have our own middle-of-the-night worries where we wonder if we can go on without God’s help. We all make these outbursts, like the disciples made, when we feel tested. 

• When you are the primary caregiver for your aging parents, and you are running on fumes. Lord, increase our faith.

• When your teenager is in a swirl of a mental health battle, and you do not know how to help. Lord, increase our faith. 

• When you must provide for your family, but your income is not keeping up with the needs. Lord, increase our faith. 

• When your schoolwork and social pressures mean every day feels like an uphill battle. Lord, increase our faith.

• When you have poured yourself into a relationship that now has ended, and you are overcome with sadness. Lord, increase our faith.

• When your prognosis is not good, and you have to decide how to spend your precious days. Lord, increase our faith. 

There are so many times when we must face our own limitations, our own struggles, our own mortality, and in these times we are called to turn to God, even with our outbursts. Harry Emerson Fosdick, a prominent Protestant preacher in the 1920s and 1930s, preached, “God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things.” This is not our posture before God in asking for our faith to be increased. When we say, “Increase our faith,” we are asking for strength, patience, understanding, forgiveness, and perseverance. 

Dr. King said he believed the church was primarily a house of prayer. It is here in this place that we can sneak into these old wooden pews and ponder the eternal. We can sit and reflect on our lives and seek connection with God. We can seek forgiveness for mistakes we have made. We can listen for wisdom from God’s Word for the things we are facing. We can humbly admit to God that unless our faith is increased, we are not sure we can carry on. This congregation has been an important house of prayer for many generations.

And as the newest preacher to the church, I will say that I am filled with great hope and excitement about the things we will do as a church in the years ahead. Your long-range plan will guide us as we seek to do God’s will and take the next faithful steps together. We will respond with courage and compassion and creativity to the challenges we face as a city and a congregation. But as we do so, we will continually be asking for God to increase our faith. Increase our faith that we might do God’s will. Increase our faith that we might serve God’s people. Increase our faith that we might joyfully share the good news. Increase our faith that we might endure our own personal challenges. Increase our faith — may it be our daily and humble prayer! 

Jesus responded to the disciples’ plea by reminding them that all they needed was the faith of a mustard seed and it would be sufficient. For our Lord was not looking for perfect people to be his followers. He was not looking for those with the most polished doctrines. He was not looking for those without questions or doubts or temptations. Jesus was looking for those who would bring hearts and minds and souls in service to God’s purposes. 

Strength and perseverance and compassion are built into the very fabric of this faith community. The story of this newly formed congregation worshiping in its newly renovated sanctuary only to have it immediately burn down in the Chicago Fire of 1871 is almost unbelievable. How could that happen? Not only how could it happen but also how could they ever recover from it? How did the people of this church, whose own homes and businesses and schools and neighborhoods were in disarray, how could they rebuild Fourth Presbyterian Church from the ground up? Why didn’t they just throw their long-range plan into the trash and walk away? They must have prayed for wisdom and strength and generosity to grow from the mustard seeds of their faith, and I guess God answered their cries. The Lord increased their faith and from those seeds the church grew like a mulberry tree, with deep roots, and fruitful branches, and shade where others could rest. 

Later today, I want you to look up the painting called The Mulberry Tree by Vincent Van Gogh. I want you to see the beautiful colors, the contrast of the bright yellow branches and the striking blue sky. The mulberry tree looks so healthy, so inviting, so strong! Van Gogh painted that tree when he was in the depths of his depression and mental illness. Yet even from his hospital he could have a vision of such a tree, have a vision of such a place, have a vision of such a life. Let us hold fast to the image of the mulberry tree and believe that our mustard seeds of faith will be enough for each of us and for this great church in the hopeful and joyful days ahead. Lord, increase our faith! 

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sermon © Fourth Presbyterian Church