The Faith to Fail

Faith is a powerful force. It offers direction. It inspires confidence. It can give one, in the words of one popular personality, "the strength to do what needs to be done." All of this assumes we have the wisdom, foresight and luck, to place our faith in people, events and ventures that will succeed. What happens when faith fails? When faith is poorly placed or is insufficient? It strikes me that important aspect of faith becomes evident when the thing we would invest ourselves in is not guaranteed of success. Betting on the dawn shows little faith. Being in the "Dark Night of the Soul" and wagering that the light of day will show opportunity where none seems possible requires faith. Faith, it is said, moves mountains. If you are in possession of faith and a bulldozer then faith can take a back seat to skill and assuredness. Real faith has to allow the possibility of failure or it is not faith. Faith does not obliterate doubt—it requires it, it assumes it, it balances it. To have faith, and to employ it in life, requires the possibility of failure and loss. The faith to succeed demands that we possess the faith to fail.

Is Faith Funny?

A Priest, a Rabbi and a Faith Healer walk into a bar… This template for a joke (actually many jokes, you take it from there) arose when a trusted colleague advised me to let my sense of humor come through on my Blog. I have dedicated this exercise to F-A-I-T-H and many of the letters in H-U-M-O-R can’t be found in Faith (only the H to be exact). I’m not an advocate of numerology of Kabalah or anything like that but today I am struck with the fact that the last letter of "Faith" is the first letter of "Humor." In this sense Humor picks up where Faith leaves off. That seems somehow right. The task is to discern the demands of faith and set a life course from there. In the western tradition life is seen as pulled between tragedy and comedy. It seems that a sense of humor is one of the prime tools we have to deal with life’s "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." Faith tells me how to live. It does not make me immune from evil or pain or tragedy. One of the tools to keep faithfully engaged in life is a willingness to laugh—and be the subject of laughter. So I guess you have to spell Faith with a "T" for "Tragedy" but if you live fully in "Faith" you end up with the "H" of "Humor." Or not!

Where Does Faith's Horizon Beckon?

I have begun to feel faith making demands that pull me in new directions. I have tried to live into the demands faith makes on me--but I generally focus witting the horizons of the covenanted community I serve. I give generously and try to invest my time and talents in productive ways. I have though begun to feel that while my gifts are earnestly given they fall short. Since I benefit--both directly and indirectly from the growth of the community--then my actions, while faithfully taken, fall short of their highest goal. Faith demands that I do what I can to make the world more caring, more loving and more just. I worry that if I only take actions to these ends within the church I serve then I fall short of faith's real demands. To this end I have begun to support other organizations and other causes in response to the monitions of faith. I still feel called to offer generous financial support and engaged presence to the community I serve--but I also feel called to look farther on the horizons. I still understand the mission of the church I serve as "Transforming People Who Transform The World." I am now convinced I have a deeper need to transforming the world through my own personal transformation. Such is the demand of faith.

Is There Faith Without Risk?

Yesterday I had someone tell me that their life scared them. This person, an intelligent and friendly, passionate and outgoing woman, has been thrust into an adventure in the attempt to make her life better. She knows that her son needs more stability than her frequently nomadic life style has produced. She has taken risks to try and get a permanent home in which to live and raise her on. Now she is scared. A landlord seems willing to let her apply sweat equity to help move in--while she can work there are still enormous financial hurdles. She doesn't have all the funds for a deposit. The house needs a refrigerator. There is no guarantee that Section 8 will approve the deal. Even if they do, how will area residents respond to their first neighbor on public assistance. $2500 might as well be $250,000 to her right now. I have to wonder when was the last time I took such a leap of faith. She has bet her (and her son's) life on a plan. What if it doesn't pan out? I realize that I am largely insulated from this kind of risk. I can talk of Transforming Lives--but what am I prepared to risk? I expect my transformations to be well planned, exquisitely executed with a guarantee to success--or at least a logical expectation of limited loss. What does it mean to have such faith--or is it necessity--that I would abandon the comfort of logic and do what life requires with no guarantee (and even good reason to doubt) success? Can one possess real faith without accepting great risk? Must all faith be Blind Faith? What am I willing to risk in service to the Faith I possess?

How Free The Faith

The title of this Web Log implies something of a contradiction. "Freely" invokes freedom and liberty. I have spent a lot of time asking what further realities "Faith" evokes. In an interesting way Faith brings in a set concepts and metaphors that may point in different directions than "Freely" implies. When I use the word Faith I think of commitment and responsibility. Being true to faith means harnessing a bit of freedom in the way I chose to live my life. My faith, while dependent upon freedom, means that I am yoked to certain concepts and realities that I have discovered to be compelling and I chose to live with a commitment to these binding realities. As this Blog emerges and evolves I will reflect on the demands that Faith places on me as a Free Person. I am delighted you have popped in for a look. I look forward to our walking together, in the Spirit, Freely in Faith.