FAITH AS A QUESTION MARK
Yesterday, we heard the writer of the book of Hebrews recount for us how many had gone before him and his audience in obedience to God through some rather amazing and quite, honestly, nonsensical acts not by their own strength, not by their own abilities, not by their own plans, but simply 'by faith.'
I've been thinking a great deal about that text not only in preparing for yesterday's message and the challenge that we, the members of the North Cross community, face in how we will live during this next season of our life together. This text has been on my mind through the lens of how I am approaching things in my personal journey.
You may recognize the graphic above from our summer series where we explored one Sunday the idea of whether or not it is ok to doubt or have doubts about God. I use it in the context of tonight's message because I think that it many times represents how we practically live out our faith. If you were sitting here with me tonight, I'd tell you in no uncertain terms that I have no doubt at all about the power of Christ and how it is simply by grace through faith that I live each and every moment. Honestly, I think I would say that I am 100% sincere in making that statement.
I'm reminded of a speech Ronald Reagan gave in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra affair, where he had to address the country and issue a mea culpa, admitting in fact that his administration had engaged in the arms for hostages arrangement. I don't have the exact wording in front of me, but it went something like, "In my heart, I still don't want to believe it is true, but the facts simply indicate otherwise."
The above graphic with question marks I believe is the honest illustration of how we functionally live out our faith sometimes, even when we in our heart of hearts believe we are being faithful.
What does this have to do with anything? We've now finished six weeks of worship exploring why we are here as a church community, and come off a great day where we were confronted with the fact that we come from a long line of people who have done some truly remarkable (some would say foolhardy) things simply by faith even when the evidence showed that they were engaging in what was, to be charitable, impossible.
As we move into the end of the Christian year this week by observing Christ the King Sunday, and into the season of Advent, it will be easy for us to simply allow this past season of our church's life to slip on by in our collective memory. That would be most unfortunate, my friends, because the reality of our situation is that very often even when we mentally and emotionally believe that we are living 100% by faith, our actions will show otherwise.
It's when the otherwise happens that it is vital that we are deeply involved in the life of this great church and it's people, for by God's grace, we can be used by Christ to carry one another when our faith simply isn't where it should be right now. We can be used by Christ to remind one another that it is by faith our ancestors gave us the gift of the faith.
We can be used by Christ to snap out of our functional atheism, and brought back into the life of faith, which, as we heard from the writer of Hebrews, "...[I]s the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don't see."
May faith be now, and always, more than a pipe dream, more than an emotion - may it be a way of life.
Grace and Peace, Lamar