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just recently about a little more than a week ago I had the privilege of teaching the bible study one of the bible studies for the polity benefits emission conference of the presbyterian church. Usa Now this conference is

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one of Presbyterian leaders and stated clerks across the denomination , about 200 people were part of this conference. And at the end of my bible study the moderator ask me a question she asked as you teach during

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the pandemic at Austin seminary, what brings you hope about the future leadership of the church? I took a few nanoseconds to think and then I responded their resilience, take a moment to think about all the

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changes, the shifts, the transitions experienced Since March 2020 life as we knew it changed schools, businesses and even churches had to close their doors and you had to transition with the faculty and staff from learning

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in person in classrooms to online via zoom all the while many of you had to learn on the fly how to build virtual worship spaces, maintain community and provide pastoral care over the web or through plexiglass and

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behind mass parents among you became online teacher aides while figuring out how to work from home and grandparents spent months if not a year away from their grandchildren. We also enjoyed or maybe not too enjoyed a whole

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new closeness with our family. We were home mostly all the time with the same people all day and all evening and then we cooked, we baked, we ate and then we beg some more, which

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in turn meant that we ate some more We may do. And although we were in a pandemic life usual gifts and requirements continued. We found love. We lost love. We cared for family. We

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went to doctors and had procedures, some of us even adopted pets. We may do. We endured and we also discovered the frailties and our public health system, the holes and our health care systems and

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the lack of resources in our hospitals. Many of us felt vulnerable and scared of catching or dying from covid of food shortages and even running out of toilet paper. We were lonely, stressed and sad.

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We miss family gatherings during holidays and celebrating life's milestones with one another. And many of us mourned the closure of sacred neighborhood spaces, our sense of normal scene and most painfully the loss of loved ones,

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neighbors and friends, we may do. We prayed for doctors and nurses, teachers, frontline workers, the church and even for ourselves. We endured the first readers of Hebrews had to endure as well while

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often title and a pistol to the Hebrews. The book is a more of a long form sermon written to encourage greek speaking jewish believers of the gospel of jesus christ and the people were distressed and they were

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discouraged by another pandemic that was spreading through their land . One of persecution and execution due to the policies and the politics of the roman emperor Nero hebrews, give words of encouragement to help the people through two

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great traumas that also shaped all of the new testament writings, the death of jesus christ and the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. Both you see were Rome's attempts to silence God's message of salvation and liberation

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not only for spiritual healing but also social and political and economic freedom and to crush the people seeking freedom from the plight and terror of living in the colonial conditions of the empire. The Hebrew writer gives his

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readers examples of figures and characters and jewish scriptures for inspiration and guidance and faith impatience to endure. In addition to a public health crisis, we were forced to face the reality of racism, political turmoil and

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economic peril of those who depend upon the activities of Main street versus Wall Street we met witnessed police brutality that turned into the murder of George Floyd. We hope for justice for the family of Brianna Taylor.

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Nonviolent protests were the songs of summer of 2020 is not only black but white Latin X Asian and indigenous people of all ages filled the streets crying out for justice for equal protections under the law and for the

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right to live and move and have our being Without one Skin colour and ethnicity being a crime. And the many of us we studied books and listen to podcasts and read think pieces on systemic racism and others

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among us, especially communities of color, engage in perennial conversations about the homeless idol tendencies of racism and white privilege that murder our kin folks and skin folks along with our finances, our civil rights are spirits

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and even our bodies. And that wasn't enough. We all watched some with horror and others unfortunately with vindication to stop the steal protests on January six which turned violent, culminating in an attack the U.

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S. Capitol building and attempted harm to our elected officials. But we endured. We either witnessed or experienced the effects of lost wages or lost revenue under employment, unemployment. Some folks, threats of eviction

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or even have to be the ones to do the evicting lines upon lines of cars with families making their first voyages to food lines. All the while the stock market continued to rise, widening the gap between

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the rich and the poor. The gap between thriving and barely surviving. Like the first readers of Hebrews , we are called to persevere and faith. Today's scripture begins with one of the most quoted verses of

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the bible. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen or is often recited for the king James version crew . Now, faith is the abundance of things hoped

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for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith has different meanings throughout the new testament scriptures, paul's writings include various interpretations of faith. The book of James offers another idea of faith and even hebrews gives

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us a few understandings. So for example, in chapter 10 verse 22, faith is the assurance of the heart about what's true, a subtle mind. And then in chapter 10 verse 23 and 36 and

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38, faith is described as a personal response to God's promises like action. And here in 11 1 , James Earl Macy explains that faith is an attitude of commitment by which one persists and endures when all

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things seem to be contrary. I translate this verse as now faith is the confidence of things being hoped for the proof of actions. Not seeing the writer of Hebrews here is either testifying to the current faith

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or speaking their faith into existence by declaring the people's confidence in God's work among them through them and for them, the verse speaks of the people's confidence in God's kingdom, promise for justice for them, and

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the most vulnerable members of society against policies that disregard human lives, the people's confidence in jesus as the pioneer and perfecter of their faith. The people's confidence of being called into God's kingdom. God's family.

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The author gives a roll call of faith forbearers who lived by faith with the confidence of things being hoped for, even though they did not receive what was promised. Their testimony is a reminder that if God

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guided them through the trials and tribulations of then God can certainly help them. Now we are called to bear witness with our faith and confidence in God's ability to heal heal and to restore even in a pandemic

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, our faith in God's justice for communities, ravaged by racism. Sexism, Classism and God's work to rid continue pay disparities and irrational fears of educating youth about the ugly truth. Alongside the inspiring narratives of

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our country, God's ability to rid laws that disenfranchise voters and take away the rights and agency of pregnant people. We are called to a resilient faith, a faith that helps us to endure current circumstances and

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anticipate future possibility, jesus, who endures the ultimate suffering at the cross and comes into his glory on the sea, at the right hand of God's throne is our greatest example. He shows his faith and

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sustains us in faith because of him. We can endure in him. We can be resilient. Our resilience is not solely though for our comfort, but also for our conviction In Hebrews 12. The authorised

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. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance. The race that is set before us looking to jesus , the pioneer and perfecter of our faith with resilient

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faith. We are to persevere in the race that took jesus to the cross and vindicated him in the resurrection. The race to proclaim the good news and bear the gospel with our words, our decisions,

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our interactions and our actions. A resilient faith helps us to obey God's will and leads us to act now for the common good. A resilient faith bastos upon us, a discipline to live God's love as

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purveyors of God's judgment, injustice. A resilient faith gives us courage to endure the challenges before us and empowers us to the Holy Spirit to participate in God's plan of salvation. A resilient faith compels us as

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disciples of jesus and practicing christians to bring the good news to the poor and the policies we support as well as the philanthropies and the non profits to which we give to proclaim the release to the captives and

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our advocacy for criminal justice reforms to let the oppressed go free by committing to live by the words of Fannie lou Hamer, descendant of slaves in the Mississippi , a sharecropper and a civil rights leader who was

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once known to say nobody's free until everybody's free. A resilient faith. It's not a passively waiting to see what God will do for us, but a call to action for God to work through us.

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A resilient faith is a confidence of things hoped for and proof of God's action, much of which have been seen and much that remains to be seen because by the love of jesus, the grace of God

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and the power of the Holy Spirit, we're still called to do the work to the question, what brings me hope is your resilience. It has been a privilege and a gift to be a faculty member

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at Austin Seminary. I have been inspired and even transformed by your professional vocation by your resilience in faith and for that. I give you thanks and for you to know the Church needs you, for you

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to know society needs you Now, I meant.