- I have defined faith by doctrine - do I believe the right thing?
- At other times, I have defined faith by spiritual formation - am I growing & changing into the woman God made me to be?
Here's my food for thought:
I am migrating towards defining faith by what I pass along to someone else.
Does it matter if I go to church on the weekend or lead a Bible study? Does it matter whether I provide meals for a single mom or volunteer at my daughters school? Does it really make any difference to my neighbors... Tony & Lisa, or Lee & Alisha, or Art & Maria... if I fail to tell them about Jesus?
Jesus was obsessed with the sinners, not the righteous. He said he’d leave the 99 if it meant reclaiming one that was lost.
If we put an obsession for lost people on the forefront of our faith, I believe the doctrine and formation will be obtained as means to that end.
Heard this on a Speaking of Faith podcast as I was preparing a talk on spirituality, faith & religion: where they overlap, where they are different things altogether.
ReplyDelete"And there was a wonderful moment when I actually went and asked for some help from a Jewish scholar at a college where I later, much to my astonishment, found myself a teacher for some years. And he explained to me, for example, the — to me — revolutionary idea that religion was not about believing things. He was telling me the story of Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus who'd been approached by a bunch of pagans who said they would convert to Judaism if Hillel could recite the entire Torah while he stood on one leg. And Hillel stood on one leg and said, "Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you. That is the Torah, the rest is commentary. Go and learn it." And I said, "Well, that's all very nice, but, I mean, what were these Gentiles supposed to believe?" And Chaim said, "Well, it's easy to see you were brought up Christian." He said, "We Jews, we — it really doesn't matter what you believe, religion is about doing things. It's about, say, living, as Hillel says, in a compassionate way that changes you."
And the more I started going into all this, the more I saw that certainly that was true of Judaism, certainly it was true of Islam, whose cardinal practices are not a whole list of beliefs to which you have to subscribe, but rather, that you have to fast during Ramadan, you have to go on pilgrimage, you have to pray facing Mecca several times a day — other words, orienting yourself, teaching your body in the prostration of prayer the humility and surrender that is required of the act of Islam or submission to God, you give alms — these practices that are designed incrementally over the years to change your inner world. Now, this was completely revolutionary to me in one way, but I could also see that this was rather like the training we had in the convent where every one of these practices during the day was seen as a possibility for an encounter with God.
Ms. Tippett: Right.
Ms. Armstrong: And if you look at the Gospels, in fact, there's very little about doctrines as we later know it. I mean, Jesus does not go around discoursing about original sin or the Trinity or the fact that He's the son of God incarnate. He is going out to people who are regarded as beneath contempt, or as traitors to their country, or as irreligious people, sinners, and saying that everybody is welcome."
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/armstrong/transcript.shtml
I don't know taht Jesus was out to "win people for God". Where did that phrase come in. I think all too often we are looking to be right and efficient and indisputable In other words we are looking to win, thinking that people will be impressed, intimidated, something and will submitt to the ruling of God and saving grace of Christ.
ReplyDeleteDoctirine is important, Spiritual Formation critical but loving another in the compassion that transends from the Love we realize from our Creator, Lord Master, and Intercessor. . .essential.
But...what am I passing along? What do I leave behind? Hopeful suggestions or eye-to-eye contact that spoke the love of God?
ReplyDeleteWhere is my 'obsession'? I think too many times I'm caught in the spiritual formation stage.
If you are asking what you personally leave behind. I can tell you what I think. Passion. You leave behind a example of a passion previously unseen. A desire to be God's woman, whether anyone else is on board with that or not. You leave a passion for study and understanding and encourage others not to settle for pat answers and to develop their own questions. The truth. Even if those who you've spent time with no longer have you, they will NEVER forget the lessons you taught, the example you gave and your passion for Him.
ReplyDeleteI linked to you on http://conversationsatintersections.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-i-pass-along.html
ReplyDeleteWhat do you pass on, Cheryl?
An integrity in your life, understanding of Scripture & your faith. What do you pass on? A love for beauty, order, faithfulness, hospitality, family, Jesus & generosity. What do you pass on? A herotage that was passed on to you and that you have guarded well, developed well and demonstrated to your girls and those who come in to your home.
You keep alive the idea of home over 'house'. You keep alive the idea that something made with love is of far more value than something out of a packet. You pass on values that many people have never seen, only read about from a bygone era when everyone did the easy thing. . . bought a mix, or a curriculum off the shelf, or traded in old friends for new when more convenient.
You pass on much, my friend, sanity when mine is in short supply, connection when I feel rootless, love when I think, "what's the point?"
You pass on the very essence of yourself, redeemed and restored, but yourself. I love that.