The
Mystery
“...And
you want to travel with him, and you want to travel blind,
and you
think maybe you'll trust him,
cause he's
touched your perfect body with his mind...”
Leonard
Cohen (from “Suzanne”)
Leonard Cohen described
Jesus as “a sailor when he walked upon the water,” an act of
revolutionary faith. In a world in which faith is considered naïve,
we cannot imagine that we could do such a thing as walk on water.
Have faith, we say, but don't take any chances. Jesus never doubted.
Most of us lose our faith the first time something really bad happens
to us or to someone we love. We blame God and feel angry that God
would let us down after all our expressions of belief and trust. It's
easy to have faith when it's untested. When everything is clicking
along according to our agenda, we are faith-filled people.
“How could a merciful
God let this happen?” That's the question we ask when something
unacceptable happens to us—a child gets sick and dies, an accident
severs someone's spine, or our loved one is shot dead just because
they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. When our faith is
unrewarded by the benefit of a good life, we waver. But that is not
the promise of faith. Even Jesus, Mohammed and the Buddha died. Faith
promises only that we will have the strength to endure the
vicissitudes of life. That we have the Mystery standing with us when
life happens and when death happens. That we will have the internal
resources to navigate all the human errors and limitations that
living brings. Believing, even in the face of hardship, that there is
something more, something immutable, something not bound by human
laws and inequities, and that this Mystery knows, understands and
shares our difficulties and our joys—that is faith. It's simply
there as an inner reality whatever happens. It feels like standing on
solid ground.
I hope that your faith is
strong today. Life is so much better when we have it.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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