Readings: Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 9:1-9; John 1:29-42
What is Faith to us? I hope we are gathered here because we have faith that God is the sacred mystery of life, part of us and our world. I hope we are here because we have faith that God is ever active, drawing us into a harmony with each other and all of creation. And I hope we are here because we have faith that in Jesus we somehow encounter this God in a life lived for us. This faith is more than a belief in words and rituals, or a belief in a system or a hierarchy. This faith is like bread and water, sustaining us throughout the trials of life. It is a faith in relationships and community, a faith in love and compassion, a faith in new beginnings and possibilities. God is not out there or up there, but a transforming power within, binding us to one another as we journey together.

This is the faith of the fourth Gospel. John`s Gospel is so different from the others, and is overlaid with such imagery and multiple meanings it is often difficult to understand. It was written a generation after the Jerusalem temple had been destroyed and when Judaism was renewing its commitment to see God in the Torah and the law. The community was fighting for Jesus on two fronts, against the Jewish authorities who had already rejected Jesus and his message 60 years before and other Christian groups who saw Peter as a new symbol of Church authority. For them Jesus was the man who spoke God`s word, not John the Baptist and not those from the religious establishment, old or new. It was Jesus who they believed revealed the light and spirit of God, and in whom they found their faith.

Our faith, too, is not just in a set of beliefs or rituals but in a spirit of life that is present to us even in our darkest days. Jesus speaks to us of a God who brings life and the transforming power of love to our world. In God all things are possible, even a new beginning when all seems black and without hope, whether through the loss of a loved one, the loss of one`s future or the loss of one`s home and community as we have seen happening in Queensland. For we know, as people of faith have always known, that God journeys with us, while we journey with each other.