I’ve had wonderful interactions with the folks of the University District Interfaith Alliance, which have led me to reflect on what it means to be a person of faith:
As people of faith, we have grasped at some time in our lives the presence of an all-loving power for good. We have felt the power as something that reframes the meaning of our lives. We have sensed something deeper, more important to us, than the smorgasbord of offerings on the secular plane. So we can’t go back to living as if that power did not exist. Sometimes we struggle with how to access it again. But we know it’s there and we keep trying to find it. I go to the lunches of the Interfaith Alliance and see this in the faces of the lovely people around the table.
Being a Christian
Other sincere people of faith probably share the “defining qualities” of Christian-ness:
• The notion that life is precious, that all people are God’s children, and therefore sacred and holy, that all nature proclaims the glory of universal good.
• That it is the awesome responsibility of all those that feel the touch of God’s love to give that love to others.
• That the Christ demands that we live true to our identity and heal the world.
Christians are followers of Jesus. Jesus is very clear about what he asks his followers to do:
• love each other
• love their enemies
• heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils, raise the dead
• do the works he did, and greater works
Also, in studying the people that Jesus commended, it’s clear that he approved of boldness, or proactive compassion that doesn’t care what others think, of fearless willingness to step forward into the scary place of action and self-transformation.
No comments:
Post a Comment