Serving Faith

“No one can serve to masters,” this week’s gospel tells us. “You cannot serve the world of God and at the same time the world of hardened materialism.” But do we not do exactly that? We do serve two masters at the same time! Or, to be more accurate: We
try to serve two masters. And so we know, that to serve both the world of God and hardened materialism is, at its best, an uneasy alliance. Often it ends in exactly what the gospel predicts – we either hate one and love the other or follow one and despise the other.

To truly serve we have to serve wholeheartedly. And the gulf between the world of God and materialism is too great for us to serve both of them with all our heart. We might decide to turn fully toward materialism, leaving spiritual matters behind, even fearing and hating them. Or we might reject materialism in all its forms, despising it, living only for the Spirit. The first of these options is undesirable, the second only practical if we decide to live like hermits in a cave.

Maybe the question to ask ourselves, when we stand at the precipice that divides the two worlds, is: What is in our hearts?

The gospel exclaims: ”How  weak is your faith!”.
If we are servants, do we have faith in the master that we serve?
Faith, that there is a world beyond materialism?
Faith, that there is a path for us to walk on. That our lives have a mission and that the world has meaning and goal?
Faith, that we live in a universe, whose very fabric is goodness and love?
Faith, that at the altar the transubstantiation happens and that matter is permeated with spirit?
Faith in the future of the earth and of mankind?
If we start answering those questions, if we carry that kind of faith in our hearts we are on our way to serve the right master.

This contemplation by Rev. Inken Contreras is inspired by Matthew 6.