God will honor our search for faith.
It’s more about the search and being a seeker, then it is "finding the answer".
Faith is about moving ahead, not looking back.
These thoughts are random things that I believe….
And are in reference to todays lessons.
In Gen, Abram sets out on a Faith Journey.
He packs his bag, takes his wife and nephew and sets out for a new land…a land promised by the Lord God.
He doesn’t know where he’s going, or even quite why, but He trusts this Divine Presence.
Later, in Romans, we hear the Apostle Paul summarize Abram’s journey…
"Abraham trusted God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
Then, we skip to Nicodemus who has this dialogue with Jesus. He comes to him at night, …seemingly, scared & doing things in a hidden way.
In the discussion, Jesus tells Nicodemus what he must do to have eternal life….
You must be born again, says Jesus. But, how?
Can you go into your mothers womb a 2nd time?
By being born of water & the Spirit answers Jesus.
The passage concludes with one of the most famous sayings in the bible: John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
So, what do we say to these passages?
For me, they give a description of a couple of “seekers”.
Abram was seeking after God, as was Nicodemus.
Both were seeking Spiritual connection, answers to life’s questions, meaningful life.
Or, maybe I am projecting that onto them as a modern thinker.
But, these are my issues and the issues for many contemporary persons.
And, we can easily look back at the hero’s & shero’s of faith in the bible and see our story in them.
So, in summary, I repeat some of the phrases I said at the beginning….
God will honor our search for faith.
It’s more about the search and being a seeker, then it is "finding the answer".
Faith is about moving ahead, not looking back.
At the 1994 North Texas Annual Conference, Bishop Bruce Blake noted the difference between the church as a tunnel and as a cave. A cave is an underground area where one goes in and comes out at the same place, the bishop observed. A tunnel, on the other hand, is where one goes in and comes out in a different place.Bishop Blake then went on to argue that it is important that the church see itself as a tunnel and not a cave. If we come out of church at the same place we went in, then something is wrong. The church leads us in the direction of the light -- knowing that the light at the end of every tunnel is the light of Christ.
Today, people are searching. Seeking. Looking.
We want to experience faith, not just go through the motions of our fathers & mothers.
Paula Poundstone, comedian: says something kind of funny…
"I'll tell you a secret -- adults don't know what they want to do for a living. That's why they're always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up -- they're looking for ideas."
Are we looking for ideas of how we can “meet god”?
Find a satisfying spiritual life? Discover true community & authentic ritual?
I certainly want to try to make The Garden Church that kind of place.
But, in the end, that is not something to be engineered, but is the result of God’s Amazing Grace.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment