We must distinguish between our beliefs and how we live –
our operative faith. Beliefs are ideas
in the head, cognitive expressions, maps of the world, our best
conceptualizations of how things are, our credos. Faith is in the gut and the heart; it is
trust in action, a disposition to behave as if something were true…
Sam Keen,
HymnsTo An Unknown God
Don’t talk of love, show me.
Eliza
Doolittle, My Fair Lady
______________________________________
The Bible says,
The Creeds insist,
I believe
A lot of us, it seems,
Believe
We hold in that somewhat vacuous space in our heads
Notions of a God
We might be right,
We might be wrong
But we believe
And we hold on to those beliefs tightly
Desperately
As the winds of change buffet us,
As the world threatens to suck us into its maw
And consume us
Faith, that is a different thing.
Faith moves beyond our desires and fears
Into the kingdom of trust
If we believe in God, but do not trust God
We will be fearful hoarders
We will walk through life defending
Grimly hanging on to things past
Traditions
And worse
Entrenched biases
Old patterns that do not work
Because belief without faith
Leaves us fearful
We are afraid of failure or losing
Worried that we did not do enough
Cannot do enough
Do not have enough
Life is trying to follow the rules
And looking over our shoulder at
Retributive people
And a vengeful God
But if we have faith, if we trust
That God has this
That God has us
We are freed
To catch the joy as it flies
To take risks,
To give, and forgive
To welcome
To love
We live faith
Faith is what we do
It is living life forward
Living as if
The kingdom is near
Already, almost, here
Belief without trust is a burden.
Belief, powered by faith and trust
Is Gospel
This is the question we must ask
As we wake and face another day
Do I have faith?
Do I trust God enough
To live as though Love wins,
Each and every day?
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