What do I do with my faith?

Christ Church Charlotte

What do I do with my faith?

August 21, 2024

At the most recent vestry meeting, parishioner and vestry member Laurie Howell offered this wonderful and thought-provoking devotion. I’m grateful for her reminder about how our weekly experience of worship calls us to wake up to the reality of God moving in the world and how sometimes re-imagining our beloved words of worship can help us to do just that! Enjoy.

I have a confession to make. I often zone out during church. Yes, I do. I said it.

I zone out during various points in the service, but I am almost guaranteed to zone out as we recite the Nicene Creed. I think it was during Christian Essentials when our group spent an evening pondering just how surprising it is that we so quickly profess that Jesus was born of a Virgin, was crucified, died, was buried, and then He rose again. We can all recite the rest of the creed. The question for me after saying it is: What do I DO with my faith in this Jesus who was born, crucified, died, and then rose again? What do I do out there in this world where there is so much pain, loss, death, destruction, division, war, violence, and suffering?

Some of you may remember that Bishop Sam read from the Prayer Book of the Anglican Church of Brazil during his recent visit for confirmations. Here are the words from the Brazilian profession of faith:

We believe in GOD

We believe in the gifts of poor people

In the audacity of the poets

In the boldness of the prophets

In the inspiration of the artists

We believe in JESUS

We believe in the humility to serve

In the courage to change

In the joy of celebration

In the respect of differences

In bread for every table

In comfort for every sadness

We believe in the SPIRIT

We believe in the hope to begin again

In the beauty of solidarity

In justice for every oppression

In compassion in the face of pain

In love, the human divine gift.

I don’t know about you, but I was really floored by these words. They are so meaningful to me; and instructive too. I can recite those words and wonder:

Am I recognizing and looking for the gifts of poor people? Am I paying attention to the poets and their audacity? How do the prophets speak boldly to me? What artists in my life inspire me? Do I show humility when I serve? Do I have the courage to change? Do I believe that others can change? Do I show joy when I celebrate? How do I respect differences and encourage others to respect differences? Do I make sure there is bread at every table and appreciate the bread at my own? How do I honor and seek comfort for sadness? Do I look for the SPIRIT? Where is my hope in beginning again? With whom do I seek solidarity? How and when do I demand justice for oppression? When and how do I show compassion in the face of pain? And then there is LOVE. Do I remember daily that love is THE human-divine gift?

I’ll be honest again and make another confession. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how much I would prefer for us to recite these words on Sundays. Don’t worry, I am not attempting a liturgical coup here. I am simply exploring for myself how to pay better attention in church. The truth is it is my own work to focus on the words that we DO HAVE in our beautiful book of Common Prayer. So, I am going to try and improve my concentration on Sundays, and I am ALSO going to find a way to incorporate the instructive, meaningful words from the Anglican Prayer Book of Brazil into my own daily life. After all, church isn’t just on Sunday.

Heart Prayers and the Living God

August 29, 2024

Over the course of my life, I’ve prayed countless prayers. “Help. Thanks. Yes! Wow! How long?” and “Why?” are just a few. I have prayed these prayers in the silence of my heart, while weeping at the bedside of friends and family, and in public places all over the globe. Looking back, I can say that often undergirding these prayers is a deep, abiding sense that no outcome is fixed, that God is as engaged in real time with what’s happening as I am, and that often all I have is the hope that what God has said is true; namely, that no matter what I face, I will never walk alone. If you’re anything like me, maybe you too have come to realize that where our feet are planted is often the hardest place to pray. Our minds often get stuck somewhere between the experiences we’ve had and the things we most hope for. But to pray in the now, to be here, to open ourselves all over again to the possibility of divine intervention – that is the holy stuff of faith – tested, proved, and ever being worked out in real time. This dance of hope, real life, and prayer is one of the reasons why I’m a Christian. Without an incarnational and God-can-be-God kind of faith, my spiritual practices and ego would get trapped, rushing forward to thinking the outcomes of my prayers depend on me. But my baptismal priesthood and my vocational priesthood call me to let my prayers be shaped not only by life itself but by life in very specific times and places with faith in a God who can fill them all over again. I wonder, if you pause and look around, or maybe close your eyes and just listen with your heart, what prayer are you yearning to speak today? What are the desires of your heart, or the lament of your soul, or the dreams yet unspoken? What might a prayer sound like that trusts you are not alone and that God can open a way? Try it. Y’all, we know that God is not a God of quick fixes or easy answers. AND, we can and should always pray for the miraculous. After all, if the Bible and the Church stand as witnesses to the presence of a Living God, what else do we really have, other than our faith, our community, and hope in a movement of God’s Spirit yet to be revealed? Amen.

We Belong to Each Other

August 14, 2024

“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.” - Ephesians 4:25, NRSV “Let’s all stop lying and agree to speak the truth to each other. Because we belong to each other.” - God’s Words, My Voice (GWMV) This past Sunday’s reading from the Letter to the Ephesians got my attention, and it resonated with others as well. The version from GWMV is what we read at the blended service in All Saints’ Hall. I like how direct and non-churchy it is. The focus of the passage (Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2) is about how we are to live into the future, but predicated on a sure foundation: God’s promises from the past. How we live today, tomorrow, and beyond is our response to the grace, mercy, and love that God has shown us time and again. Our baptismal vows remind us that we are “marked as Christ’s own forever,” and that we are called to “respect the dignity of every human being.” Every human being, not just the ones we choose to call friend or neighbor or family. Why? Because, as the GWMV puts it, we belong to each other. This passage got my attention because it feels to me that our culture has reached a point where people often feel free to say whatever we want, no matter the consequences. No matter whether we have verified the veracity of something we are passing along on social media. No matter what harm it might do to relationships. No matter if it takes attacking the character of our ‘opponent’ or bending the data to fit our needs. I think P.T. Barnum is credited with saying, “If you say it often enough and loud enough, people will start to believe you.” As Christians, we face a challenge and an opportunity to speak the truth because we belong to each other, we are members of one another. Socrates, who lived about 500 years before both Jesus Christ and the author of the Letter to the Ephesians, said that before we speak, we should ask ourselves three questions: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary/helpful? I think both Jesus and the writer of Ephesians would agree. We can still disagree with someone without castigating them to outer darkness. We can enter into conversation with a heart open to becoming less rigid in our perspective. We can truly listen without already considering how we’re going to respond while the other person is still speaking. Even when we don’t see eye to eye, we can still see heart to heart. This world, this country, this city need our witness as Christians that truth matters. John Inazu, the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University will be the Faith Forum guest on Sunday, October 6 at 10 am in All Saints’ Hall. He is the author of Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect. Join us for a series of book discussions on Wednesdays August 28, September 25, and October 9 at 7 pm in St. Francis A. May we all be able to feel more connected while still maintaining the strength of our convictions and our faith. +

Quiet Confidence

August 7, 2024

“I could do anything I wanted.” My 17-year-old Goddaughter was in the middle of telling me about a 48-hour solo outdoor adventure spent without a watch and with minimal provisions on a beach in the Bahamas. I’d asked her how the time felt and what she did with it. This was her reply: “It was so fun to be alone because I could do anything I wanted.” She went on, “I dug a huge hole, and I collected trash and then built a boat, which actually sailed.” A hole? A boat? This was not how I expected the story to go. Further, the more I think of it, the more I realize that she was wrong – she couldn’t do everything she wanted. For these two days, she actually had less capability to do things than at any point in the past many years of her life. With nothing but time in God’s creation, she played. Each Wednesday at noon in our Healing Service and Eucharist, we say A Prayer for Quiet Confidence. It offers focus to those of us who won’t find ourselves on a 48-hour solo adventure. It strengthens us to respond to modern life’s relentless march toward more and more. It reminds us that finding time to play turns out to be a grand source of creativity and a reminder of the expansiveness of God’s creation. Let us pray: O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, p. 832) In this changing season, may you embrace moments of creativity. May you remember that God grants us the freedom to enjoy God’s creation and find joy in the simple things. May you rest in confidence that these spacious times offer us glimpses into the Kingdom of God.