Saturday. Paper Reading Day. One thing I look forward to in the Saturday paper is the “Faith & Values” section. Call me crazy, but I enjoy reading inspirational accounts of people’s unique faith journeys. I even find the articles regarding divisions, developments & decisions within the church interesting. But lately, I find less interesting and more disheartening in this section.
Now, in a section with FAITH first in its title, there is but ONE article on faith of any kind. The “Values” portion of this section consist of various “Dear Abby” type questions & responses. And then, there’s the real meat of the section… the FUNNIES. That’s right, you find the comics in the “Faith & Values” section (along with the horoscopes, of course). And not only that… but the FUNNIES compose TWICE as much print-space as the ONE faith-related article.
If that trend weren’t bad enough, today’s article left me saddened, and… I don’t exactly know what else… You see, today’s “FAITH” article is about atheists who wrote a book about ministers who have lost their faith…. Making it a double no-faith article no less. And if you aren’t sad yet, get this… these “faithless” ministers still preach & haven’t admitted their drastic faith-loss even to their spouses. I find that very sad, in and of itself, but what left me really disturbed by the article is that the self-proclaimed atheists argue that churches looking for pastors do not really care about the faith of their pastoral candidates.
Well, let me just say… I CARE… about the faith of my minister… my congregation… my spouse… my child… my family & friends… & even that of strangers. I, being the crazy person I am, would want to know if my minister was having doubts, NOT to interrogate that person as to their fitness to be leading BUT to be able to pray for them. And I would like think that more Christians would want to see their pastor seek spiritual help & guidance to RESTORE their faith, rather than turn a blind eye to a problem far deeper than any social embarrassment or financial difficulty that could arise as a result of their honesty.
I CARE about the faith of others… because the faith of others I know & others I’ve never even met affects my faith. I believe in Christ because someone showed me their belief & His Love. I follow because they taught me how to follow. I own my faith because others owned theirs. And I, crazy person that I am, want to read about FAITH in the FAITH & VALUES section.
I can’t think of a week that passes that I don’t encounter some real-life account of great faith AND the power that faith has in the lives of so many… stories of endurance, healing, restoration... in spite of pain & suffering, death & grief. I hear the stories. I see the faith. I see the awesome God at work in EVERYTHING that we open our eyes to. Can’t you? Can’t they? Those are the stories I want to read. Those stories… could fill volumes… not just one forth of a page. Maybe they won’t put the faith back in front of the funnies, but I think we can…. Guess we’ll just have to show them how to fill a page with real FAITH. Faith like a child… Teeny, Tiny mustard seed faith… that moves mountains… and doubters… and even atheists. Move over Charlie Brown! We’re taking this page back!
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
~ Hebrews 11:1
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