I've been wondering ... can faith exist in a vacuum? Or is it possible that faith can only exist in relationship to its old friend doubt? What do YOU think?
Unrelated or perhaps related: something that just popped into my mind:
I remember when I lived in the Seattle area I'd drive across the 90 or 520 bridges and I'd see Mount Rainier looming larger than ever like a pale wraith - as if it had grown since the last time I'd seen it - and I'd slow down and want to pull over and gape, and I'd wonder, how can all of these people just drive by this mountain staring straight ahead with their busy faces on, like they'd seen it before and therefore couldn't appreciate it again?
Similarly, as I type this my child rolls around in my womb and I think, how can this possibly EVER feel like a mundane experience? I've got a living being making waves INSIDE OF ME.
I'm loving my life right now. New intellectual and philosophical challenges to wrestle, new life in the woods and the fields, great conversations, fresh cohesion among the family here, lots of pure hyperactive joy with the baby (the one on the outside).
That's it for now. Thanks for indulging me...
Charis
Friday, May 12, 2006
Sooooo ... faith
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
All I can think of is that "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. "--the start of a long diatribe where Paul, after listing every character in the OT, ends by saying, "and all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised."
Maybe faith is action in the face of overwhelming odds--having a child in a messed up world, living in community when communities almost always fail, putting tiny seeds in the ground when its still 33 degrees, windy and raining.
Faith is countercultural for me. Its a tool for resisting the powers that tell us what we need to have a fulfilling life, how and where we should get our food, how often we should work, where we should take a crap. I have faith that I can abandon this crazy ship and make my way to a much better place. I don't know what that place is going to look like or even how I'm going to get there, but I have to believe I'm going get there.
Or maybe,
Well....
I guess it would be nice
if I could touch your body
I know not everybody
Has got a body like you
But I've got to think twice
Before I give my heart away
And I know all the games you play
Because I play them too
Oh but I
Need some time off from that emotion
Time to pick my heart up off the floor
And when that love comes down
Without devotion
Well it takes a strong man baby
But I'm showing you the door
'Cause I gotta have faith...
Baby
I know you're asking me to stay
Say please, please, please, don't go away
You say I'm giving you the blues
Maybe
You mean every word you say
Can't help but think of yesterday
And another who tied me down to loverboy rules
Before this river
Becomes an ocean
Before you throw my heart back on the floor
Oh baby I reconsider
My foolish notion
Well I need someone to hold me
But I'll wait for something more
Yes I've gotta have faith...
While I realize that faith is a weighty topic. . . I want you to know that I almost peed in my pants when I read George Michael's lyrics as part of Chris' response. . . very classy! : )
Charis, I know I said this to you in an email but I think that faith is in the suffering and fear and questioning and growth . . .
I think it's beautiful that you guys are asking so many questions and have seasons in your faith. "To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring."
God didn't make things black and white and for that I am grateful. We live in a world of grey where some things just don't make sense in our human minds, some things are just incomprehensible. I think it's not only an appropriate time to question but a necessity.
I hope that you find the answers you are looking for. . . whether it's in God's written word, in your garden or new buds on the trees or in the new family around you. Or maybe I just hope that through the questions you find communion with God. I guess sometimes we never really find the answers.
Yeah, Chris' definition of faith enjoys a certain eloquence, but I think we can agree that it's George Michael who really speaks for the people.
Corrie,
I didn't MAKE you derail. George Michael's exquisit prose blew your fricken' mind! Let's get our facts straight here first, and then maybe we can get down to this business of faith.
Post a Comment