Faith

Reading today from A Generation of Faith by Randall Balmer, I am reminded how much uncertainty there is in faith.  Rationally, this seems obvious, yet it is easy to lose sight of, I guess in part because there are so many people of faith who profess to know all the answers.  And while I project that knowing role, in reality I feel most often like Abraham who, Balmer reminds me, “when called to go to a place…obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”  Hebrews 11:8

That is more or less Balmer’s point in his essay – while some may have all the answers and know on their first step of a journey exactly where they are going, he most often feels like he is (my words, not his) “winging it.”

So, I guess the question is how one keeps going in face of the uncertainty, even when he/she does not know where he/she is going.  Balmer provides insight:

“And yet, what sustains me is a sense [or at least a hope] of divine presence, a sense that I am not alone in this pilgrimage but in the company of friends who will pick me up from time to time and point me in the right direction….  I believe because of the epiphanies, small and large, that have intersected my path – small discrete moments of grace when I have sensed a kind of superintending presence outside of myself.  I believe because these moments – a kind word, an insight, an anthem on Easter morning, a hill in the spine, are too precious to discard, and I choose not to trivialize them by reducing them to rational explanation.”

Onward.