Singing in the Rain

“I’m Singing in the Rain….”

What makes this scene in the movie with Gene Kelly work is that it is pouring, drenching rain; and he is getting soaked to the skin – and he’s got an umbrella.  He could have used the umbrella!  But instead – because he is so happy and so in love, the umbrella is useless.  Who cares if I get wet?! he says.   The umbrella is just a dancing partner, a prop.    As a footnote, Gene Kelly filmed this scene when he was terribly sick, with a 102-degree fever.  

When you’re in love, when you’re filled with the spirit, when you have a vision of something better, then nothing is going to get in your way.  You don’t need an umbrella!  No downpour, no mountain, no seemingly impossible thing is going to stop your momentum.   With vision comes power, inspiration, and movement.

Jesus says something very similar in our scripture this morning.   “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” he says, “you could say this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would happen.”  His disciples are complaining – asking Jesus how to increase their faith.  They’re confused, they just don’t feel it, it isn’t clicking often for them, and they feel empty inside.   Many of us can relate…there are times when all this faith-talk sounds like gibberish, like shouting into an empty canyon, or shaking a stick at the moon.  

But Jesus will have none of this. He’s asking his disciples to see beyond their small faith and their modest expectations, to expect miracles, to shoot for the stars, to sing in the rain, to claim the extraordinary.  Miracles happen when we have vision and faith; we can change the world.

A story from the desert fathers from the fourth century goes like this.  A brother in the monastery came to see Abba Joseph, the leader of the community.   He said something like this, “Father, I have a small faith, a simple prayer life, and when I pray I ask for simple things, and feel a warmth within my heart.  Is that enough?”   Abba Joseph rose from his seat, raised his hands into the air, and all of his fingers burst into a raging fire.  “If you choose,” he cried out, “you can become all flame!”   

That is what Jesus is challenging us his disciples – and us – to do today.   We can fulfill our visions and our hopes, we can produce miracles, and we can overcome our fears and low expectations to become the fullness of God.