We have an olive tree before our altar today. Olive trees were highly prized in biblical times and centuries  afterwards for oil that nourishes and heals. They bring life. For the ancients an abundance of olive trees was a sign of God’s blessing; their destruction or lack of fruitfulness was a test of faith.

The Prophet Habakkuk, for example, saw the disappearance of olives testing his faith, yet still he rejoiced in the Lord, “though the yield of the olive fail, and the terraces produce no nourishment, though the flocks disappear from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.” (Habakkuk 3)

Faith is tested in different ways in different times. In the first three centuries Roman persecutions led to martyrdom. By the 4th century, Roman authorities drove Christian bishops who disagreed with them into exile and tried replacing them with more pliable leaders. For bishops like John Chrysostom– whose feast we celebrate September 13 – Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, exile was their test of faith. 

Faith is always tested. How is it tested today? Are we being tested by radical change affecting our society, our church and creation itself?

“Though the yield of the olive fail, and the terraces produce no nourishment, though the flocks disappear from the fold and there be no herd in the stall, I rejoice in the Lord.”