The temporality of sunrise faith. Or is it a timing faith? (Cilliers 2019) Seeing God with the lenses of an 11-year-old boy
The preacher's title of the sermon was "sunrise faith". In that sermon, there were words like: Faith is pleasing God, a Prayer is a powerful tool, what is impossible to men, is possible to God. Under her voice, there is a little boy who watched and experienced his neighborhood whose trust is in God. The difficult challenging times were called “dark times”. The sermon title, "the sunrise faith" seemed to give everybody in the church hope. Did the sun rose in the eyes of an 11-year-old boy?
Next Sunday, the preacher, preached from the gospel of Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free”. That seemed to be good news for the 11-year-old boy. What does it mean to bring the Good news to the poor? The preacher did an excellent job exposing and unpacking the meaning of the good news to the poor, captives will be released and oppressed set free. This now really sounds like good news to the congregants. Until they go home and find their situation still the same. The preacher is staying in the same community as the 11-year-old boy. She is blessed by her sermon. But the good news she preached about, was its good news to her? How does ALL of it, look like? When the 11-year-old ask the preacher, when is God going to release the freedom to the captives, when are the blind are going to see, and more importantly, when/what are the Good news to the poor? Are the poor, poor because God wants to show off the Good News to them? Is the Good news the crumps of bread that fall from the master's table? Should we say" thank" You God, after all the Bible says, 1 Thess.5:18 “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus”. So, they say!!! The 11-year-old boy wondered, how must be like, to have the actual bread than the crumbs that fall off the table, and quickly corrected himself, "I must not be greedy, I must be content with what I have", so they say!!
The missionaries came to his church and brought toys, bibles goodies, etc. They talked about God who is the Giver of ALL what they gave the children. It was a very nice time for the young people and children of the 11-year-old community. It was called a "holiday club". When the holidays were over, they left. That brought more questions than answers to the 11-year-old. He went to the preacher, who was the person he can talk to and ask questions. The preacher seemed to know more about God than the visitors who brought goodies and Bibles. However, she never provides those. In the mind of an 11-year-old boy, this was puzzling. He helped the preacher with her bags to the car. He stayed inside the car and waited for her. ‘’I want to ask you something about God’’, said the 11-year-old boy. The preacher was so excited, thinking that her preaching yielded fruits. “uhlala phi uThixo? (where does God stay?) "OH, that? Said the preacher with a rather disappointed voice. Before the preacher could answer, the boy continues as if the question was rhetorical. "I don't see him in my neighborhood". The boy continued as if he was thinking aloud. Nobody has those goodies, bibles, etc. that the missionaries give us during holiday time. God must be more comfortable staying in their neighborhood. The preacher realized that the answer she prepared is not going to work. She asked a question instead, “what makes you think that way Mabhuti? The boy replied with the question. "Can't you see? Do you see God in this neighborhood? The preacher realized that she has those questions, but she is not honestly asking them as the 11-year-old. On her way home, the preacher was thinking about her sermon in Luke 4: 18. What is the Good news to the poor? She found herself in her mind, going back and forth. Her mind brought her to this Scripture, Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”. What if EVERYTHING is meaningless in this community? Her experiences with God refused to completely wipe out everything about God as meaningless. Maybe the sunrise faith is temporal, and or maybe faith has time and place. However, she kept the lenses of an 11-year-old boy, she developed more questions, that made her uncomfortable. The preaching was no longer a joy, the lenses of an 11-year-old boy caused her to critically look at her sermons as having the potential to insult the people of this community and God whose home is not in this community.
