by Gordon Street, SWC Commissioned Minister for Reimagining and Connecting with the God of One’s Own Understanding
Faith and spiritual practices sustain me during this uncertain pandemic era and unprecedented election season. Because my ministry focuses on helping people connect with a God of their own understanding, I want to share a few thoughts about what has helped personally these last many months.
The solution always is faith. But what does faith really mean? A quirk of the English language is that faith can be only a noun when it really should be a verb because faith is not what I think, it is what I do. Paul, in Hebrews, says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That means faith is the result of hope, the evidence of the unknowable. How I choose to face each day and what I do during the course of each day produces faith. Faith does not guide my actions. Actions produce my faith.
Here is what I have done every day during the pandemic. Each day I begin with a prayer for wisdom, strength, willingness and courage to face the things I must face. I also pray for the world, my family, my First Church beloved community, and my friends, to help them in all their needs. Most important is my prayer that God’s will be done in their lives as well as mine. I don’t pray for outcomes. I pray for attitudes in circumstances.
I, like most people, am cooped up at home. I reach out the friends, family and even strangers every day to see how I can be of service to them and give words of hope and encouragement.
In other words, I pray for faith for myself, and the rest of my prayers are for everyone else. Take the focus off of me. I believe my prayers and actions embody Jesus’ suggestion that we love God with all of our being and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Faith doesn’t mean everything will be alright, and I’ll win the lottery too.
God doesn’t necessarily make everything all better. God grants me the willingness, strength, and courage to handle whatever I am facing. God is with me and embracing me through it all. Especially during difficult times. I am comforted by knowing I’m not alone in difficulty.
Gordon: Thanks for this inspirational blog post! I can learn to do what you do. For the rest of this pandemic (and beyond), I shall be intentional about not praying for outcomes. I can work harder at praying about attitudes in circumstances. I am grateful for your helpful suggestions which shall enhance my prayer life.
Gordon,
You help in so many ways and this is just another. So often we just ask (pray) for an outcome when we should be asking for the ability to deal with and understand whatever that outcome may be.
Thank you for sharing.