Words Less Spoken

Real Live Preacher’s recent blog entry could not have come at a better time for me. It deals with losing faith and finding it again, “St. John of the Cross said that there are paths we travel as children in the faith, but real faith doesn’t come until you reach the end of the path and find nothing.” Well, I think I’m almost at the end of the path.

Most people assume that clergy and Biblical scholars have a depth of faith that borders on naivete. I think for many of us faith exists despite what we have learned not because of it. When you discover truth, you have to act upon it. Either you dismiss it wholesale as blasphemy, or it wrestle with it until you are able to incorporate it into your worldview. I’ve found that the people in the pew have a far deeper, innocent, and simple faith. I’ve always respected the simple faith of the people I preach to, even envied it. I’ve always tried to challenge people’s thinking but never in an attempt to make them lose faith. My focus has always been on the end product of our faith. Does it impact our daily choices for the better? If so, our faith has worth. Tragically, I’ve known many pious people who were judgemental, racist, sexist, homophobic, and power hungry who used their faith to justify and embolden their views. I’ve come to learn that faith is not the sum of what you believe based on experience and fact. It is a choice you make.