Faith is bigger than the mountains it could supposedly move. The word faith might be almost monopolised by faith in God but atheists equally enjoy the gift of faith. We all have something that we believe in because our knowledge is finite and we believe that there must be more.
Unknowable
The most ardent advocates of fact-based knowledge stare out into the universe and wonder whether there is life out there somewhere or not. What difference would it make? The distances are greater than our lifespans could allow us to travel. From the time when humanity gazed out to the sky wehave been fascinated by the unknowable, shuddered at the vastness and felt that we were still part of it in some strange way. Although we don’t think of it all the time, we all have a big picture and we will move mountains to fulfil that image.
That is what faith is and it drives all human passion.
Focus
Faith can never be weak but it can sometimes lose its focus. It can feel like faith has failed but it hasn’t. Researchers upset by a failed experiment do not lessen their faith that one day we will find a cure for cancer. All human enquiry is the same. Whether we are looking for meaning, romance, activity or forgiveness we do it in a framework of things we believe. These beliefs can shift and all sorts of expertise is available to help us to assign them correctly . . . they can still make us do stupid things that we neither realise nor regret. It is a wonderful, often confusing thing. Everything we do, we do within the framework of our faith.
Invitation
The stories of Jesus healing the blind are not recorded as medical case-histories to prove he was God. They have always been understood as invitations to focus our faith on things that are good. Thousands have lived excellent lives by accepting this invitation.
They lived as Jesus taught: give respect and expect it in reply; let love decide your every action; try to keep away from things that harm you; do not be shallow, and, do not judge those who do not live up to your standards. The honours course also requires that you engage in forgiving people and become willing to admit it when you are wrong. A faith focussed on these principles would probably change a person into the most desirable neighbour, colleague, housemate, friend or lover on earth. Many, many millions of people today are also those desirable friends and lovers.
Exemplary
Before we descend into a discussion of those who failed it might be worth considering those who succeeded every once in a while. There are many people who have lived exemplary Christian lives and many of them were not even Christians. The call of all faith is the same. It is the call to choose good over bad, constantly and consistently.
More people than we admit to have lived these kind of lives. They were family members, friends and others we encountered along the way. They are often the people who we remember with fondness. We wereoften blind to their faults even though they were often too acutely aware of them themselves.
Our historical narrative pivots around people of great greed and violence and overlooks the people of good faith. So much so, that they gather in communion, to let them know that they are other lives like theirs in the part of that universe where we might meet them, here.
For the Christian, the life “up there” is here among us; harmony, not novelty, inspires that faith. We live in a world full of it.