Are You Ashamed Of Your Personal Faith?
Good Morning Friends,
What we say we believe collectively and what we actually believe as individuals can differ substantially. One of the problems is that it is not always easy to understand exactly how or why it is that Jesus dying on the cross makes us right with God. Maybe it was the Spirit’s way of engaging us in discovering that the nature of faith is something more than a philosophy we can figure out on our own. We need a teacher. We need someone to fight for us. We need someone to help us realize that we cannot fix things in isolation. Friends, there is sacrilege going on when theology is separated from the Spirit and sacrilege when our belief is separated from other people. There is so much sorrow in the world and so much to reconcile. Thankfully the good news is that the Word became flesh so we might have and share in something both holy and functional. And here what we truly believe we cannot keep to ourselves. Are You Ashamed Of Your Personal Faith?
Scripture: Jesus said, “If anyone is ashamed of me . . . the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:38 (NIV)
Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, “Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
Luke 22:54-62 (NRSV)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Galatians 2:20-21 (NIV)
O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
Psalm 34:8 (NRSV)
Message: Following worship and handbell practice on Sunday our family took a holiday to experience some Florida culture and history. We went to Tampa, and Sarasota, Florida, we told elephant jokes on the way and stayed in a hotel where the book in the bedside drawer was the Bhagavad Gita. And yes it had an elephant head on the cover. So you need to understand that there is a cost for traveling the Lawson’s way for we dive into an experience practiced with more than thirty years of logistics. So first we walked five miles of the Tampa riverfront hearing the last of the Gasparilla Music Festival. Then we toured the Tampa Museum of History learning about the Seminole Wars and the Tampa economy. Then we experienced the Aquarium (they had some amazing dragon seahorses) and nearby a vintage World War II ship, American Victory. This was followed by a trolley tour of Ybor City to watch people roll cigars. Finally we visited the Ringling Museum of Art and Circus Museum, now making up our own elephant jokes. And the message in all this is learning that in our earthly life we always have a choice to follow or not to follow. Submitting to the collective belonging as a family and still asserting our individual gifts. And this is true in our spiritual journey as well. But there is a strange logic we Christians have that sometimes does not really serve us well on this trip. We forget the importance of process and buy into something that hurries what we think is God’s will into completion. I cannot predict the motions of your mind but I think we have been left signs of unintended consequences that mark the false trails. Traveling with my family I have developed a sense of this and now see through multiple eyes. I have given up on secretly wanting to be seen as being better than others. But even if I do seek a boost of self-esteem at the expense of others, God uses that too. The way of the process goes something like this…from guilt…comes grace…then generosity. That is what happened to Peter and that is what happens to us too if we allow the process to come to fulfillment without substituting our own claim on it. The way to reduce sorrow takes time and discipline and a commitment to others. Friends, giving back to reduce others sorrow is so difficult for here is the forethought of loss and the obligation of grace both looking at us demanding attention. Friends, we cannot impose the answers on a seed as to why it must sprout. We can only nurture it with a spiritual direction that is both holy and functional. The work here is not just thinking right or creating a new theology but in reconnecting our personal faith to the energy of our collective faith with an honesty we feel comfortable in sharing. That is the way my family travels and it is beautiful and serendipitous.
Pray we stop building theological castles in the air and then attempt to live in them. Pray we stop being so idealistic, self-absorbed, or otherwise out of touch with reality that we make the critical mistake of failing to live and love. Pray as our illusions are shattered that they are replaced with something even better giving us direction and power. Pray we affirm each other. Pray we truly become the body of Christ…even the one crucified on the cross. Pray we live our life as a prayer.
Pray we are thankful for the inspiration but also for the realization that this is so much harder than we first thought. Pray we not be deceived into thinking we have succeeded. Pray we keep on doing all the good we can. Pray we are generous when it comes to building community that sustains. Pray we not think we deserve grace. Pray we appreciate family.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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