The dictionary defines faith as a noun, meaning a belief in someone or something: simple as that. This week is Holy Week if you are a Christian, it's also Passover ( which is connected to what happened to Christ as he was home to celebrate Passover when they finally caught up with him. The Last Supper was probably a Seder gathering, but I digress, as usual)
I have been thinking this week a lot about the difference between faith as a noun and Faith as a Religion. You can HAVE faith and be an atheist, a belief in something, just not God or a god. To be honest, faith that it will be ok is what gets me out of bed in the morning. I am, if you have not figured it out by now, a Christian, but I don't follow any particular form of it, I just believe. I know there are those among my readers who do not believe and that's ok. As the kids says , you do you. Just leave me alone in my faith. I don't like those among the Christian "Faithful" who condemn others. I often think "who would Jesus hate?" Since his greatest command was "Love ye one another"I'm gonna say no one. So if you are a practicing Christian, please check yourself, maybe refer to John 13:34 if you are unclear on the concept.
I kind of got preachy here, sorry.
I think in these times, we all have some sort of faith; faith in each other, faith in ourselves, faith that it WILL get better. It does not have to be a faith in the sense of an Almighty. I think we need to lift each other up in these times. That's the best kind of faith there is.
Hang in there.
Thee is a yard in the block to north of me and I sometimes go there on one of my little neighborhood walkies. The yard is pull of placards with Biblical citations, including the John 13:34. I had to look it up. It's a good one, most people choose to ignore it when they point the finger of their "faith" sat another. My other favorite one, so often forgotten ignored is Matthew, 22:40, "Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself." And then Jesus said on that hung ALL the law and the prophets. I am guilty, too, I condemn, and even, alas, sometimes say I hate. Does hating trump count? Well, here we are, it's going to be a different kind of Easter this year, for church goers like me and everyone else. No See's candy! WHAT would Jesus do? (Is it sacrilegious to imagine he could turn some old grocery store crap into See's?) I will be reduced to "attending" Easter morning church in front of my computer this year (but I still plan to wear my new linen blazer!) and certainly no gathering of pals around my spring-decorated table (eat your heart out, Martha Stewart!) with a big leg of lamb or a spiral ham. But I plan to observe and celebrate somehow. Easter is a festival of hope and rebirth. Whoever we are, we need that now!
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