I remember that part of what would happen at some point in the get acquainted portion of my camp and conference experience we do a trust walk. A blindfolded person would be taken by the hand and be led over the river and through the woods, across the swinging bridge, back behind the lodge, all the while turning us around a few times so that we would not be totally certain of where we were. Last Sunday, one of the Church school classes led a student on a blind folded tour of the church. It was a trust walk. When we walk in trust, we will follow a path even if we are not quite sure where it is going because of who is leading us.

        What are we doing when we give our trust to someone? According to the dictionary, when we trust we are relying on the integrity, strength, ability, and surety of a person or thing.

        Trust is hard to come by. We are a few weeks from the end of a political season that at best is about supporting the leaders we trust to take us into the first years of the new millennium. But at its most cynical the process is about doing all that can be done to undermine trust. As glorious as the Olympics were, there was about them a layer of distrust; as we wondered which judges would be unfair and which athletes were drug free. Distrust and all-consuming cynicism leaves us feeling isolated, bitter, unhappy, disconnected, overly rebellious, and refusing to be happy. Then we find it hard to walk in trust with people. Certainly there are times when we have legitimate reasons for our distrust. None of us like being made to look foolish, and that is exactly what happens when our trust is not respected.

        Still, there is indeed something about we humans that moves us toward trust and companionship. We know that we are better off when we can put our trust in healthy relationships, especially between spouses and partners, children and parents, government and citizens, and a pastor and people.

        In the Psalm for today, we eavesdrop on the prayer of one who trusted God enough to expect that God would help in the time of trouble. The claim could be that of the hymn, "I love the Lord, who heard my cry and pitied every groan. Long as I live and troubles rise, I’ll hasten to his throne."

        John tells us that Jesus trusted his relationship with God so much that as much as he loved the world, and his disciples, he would not entrust himself to all the people who followed him. He knew that many were with him not because of who he was, but because they were impressed by the signs that he performed.

        He reminds us again that if we are going to walk in trust, we need to be sure who is leading us, we need to be sure that we are not just following the flash, like we follow celebrities, and where we are going.

        We are freed to join him in ministry when we understand that the fulfillment of our mission is not only about signs and wonders, but about hard work and dedicated service. Jesus never relied on the crowd for approval. In fact much of his ministry was spent with the crowd trying to figure out what he was up to. Why did he restore that blind man’s sight? Why is he talking to that Samaritan woman who we all know is not the kind of woman a reputable rabbi should approach? Why does he say let the children come to him, doesn’t he know that they have no standing on their own? How is it that all these people rich and poor, rural and urban, men and women are following him? What does he mean that he will die, but rise again? What is he talking about now?

        What Jesus is doing is pointing us toward God who alone is worthy of our absolute trust. We are invited to take on as much as we can the faith of Jesus who relied on God and so was neither shallow or unstable. He was indeed strong enough to walk with God all the days of his life.

        As Jesus walked with God, he found himself with strength enough to go all the way to Jerusalem, to Calvary, to death on a cross, burial in a borrowed tomb, all the way through his resurrection.

        John tells us that he knew what was in the heart of people then, and if we believe in the living resurrected Christ, we believe that he knows what is in our hearts now.

        Like the followers of Jesus, we can entrust ourselves to walk with those who dazzle us without learning or seeing what is beneath the surface. That is the whole point of advertising, never mind that the product may not be what we want or need. It is why we see movie trailers that tease us or show us the best parts when the whole movie might be terrible. It is what happens we see the exterior of a building, then go inside and discover that the atmosphere is not inviting, welcoming, or even really there. That is what some TV and movie houses are like. On TV, they look great, but if you were on the movie backlot, you would see that they are nothing more than a great façade, there is nothing really there beside a great looking front.

        We too can get caught up in crowds, in bigness, in growth more concerned with filling the pews than fulfilling our mission. We can have a worship service that dazzles us, it can be multi-sensory, it can make us feel good, but we are merely amusing ourselves unless our worship helps us to heal the hurt we see, engage in acts of ministry, and leave here encouraged rather than entertained. We can forget that people will join us as they look for community and a place where they are free to build and maintain a relationship with God. We can forget that it is not a crowd but a community that makes a congregation.

        He knows that sometimes we have beating in us hearts that have grown hard and closed and so are in need of changing so that once again we can know the joy of generosity and compassion. He knows that we have souls that need redeeming and so are led to redemption.

        He knows that every now and then we have minds that need to be transformed and renewed, do that the best that is in us can be called out of us.

        And he knows that we have strength that needs direction, so that we can use the energy and power we have not for dominance, but for service.

        Things happen when we walk in trust with God. Frank Thomas, the pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis makes these three points.

        First, when we walk in trust with God, we come to understand that faith can be genuine and superficial at the same time. It may indeed be real faith, and it may be based only on what makes us want to stomp and shout and clap and whistle. It is easy to have real faith when life is good and all is right with the world. But when it gets tough, is our faith deep enough to sustain us? Will it keep us when the late night phone call wakes us up with bad news? Is there enough there when the job is lost, or the doctor looks at us sadly and delivers the diagnosis that will change our lives forever? A superficial faith will take a ways down the road. But a deep faith will help, hold us up, and encourage us.

        Second, we know that we will our share of betrayal, of hurt feelings, and dashed hopes. It is all part of the cycle of life and of faith. So will we walk in trust with God and own both the reality and the struggle of this walk we have begun? We need not dwell in fear and uncertainty, rather we can own the struggle and trust that the God and Christ with whom we walk will give us what we need to find safety and to begin to find healing in our lives.

           Third, Frank Thomas says that we are walking in trust with God when we learn to live by principle and purpose and not by personality. Some congregations actually decline when the pastor or some dominating personality leaves it. But when Frank Thomas left his congregation outside Chicago to move to Memphis, he discovered that the membership of the Chicago congregation continued to grow. Giving actually increased, and is still increasing, leaders continued to emerge. All of that could happen because beyond the personality of the pastor, the church had a purpose and because it stood on the principle of sound teaching and bold witness with each generation of members teaching the next. It was not pastor – dependent, but purpose and principle defined.

        Finally, like some varieties of birds, some of enjoy flying solo, and that is great. A majestic eagle, or a soaring hawk is a graceful and beautiful sight to behold. But the church is not a solo act. It is a community. Let’s trust that God has brought us together so that we can be like those other birds, the community oriented one that look great as they make their wedge in the sky while flying in formation.

        I know that when we entrust ourselves to God, we can walk in trust with each other. We can walk in trust with each other when we practice the disciplines of prayer, study, and action. Then having entrusted ourselves to God we can speak truthfully and lovingly to each other and we can look beyond what we can see and what can merely dazzle us, and learn to keep our eyes on the prize of community as we celebrate, share, support, and serve each other and the community outside these doors.

        Then we can walk with each other because we have walked with the God to whom we have entrusted ourselves. We can be tested and confident of God’s love. "Vindicate me O God for I have walked in my integrity and have trusted in you without wavering (Psalm 26.1)."

        May it ever be so. Amen.