Embracing His faith

In defending our Christian faith, I think it’s important to know who we are in Christ and what it means that we embrace His faith so we can share the good news properly. Basically, really… when you think about it… it all boils down to love. What did Jesus say? The greatest of these is what? LOVE. And why is that important? For one thing, Jesus draws us into community (with all our shortcomings) so we can build each other up and keep his light in the foreground of our lives through shared experiences.

A few weeks ago, my friend Karen called me in a panic. She had been in a minor fender-bender in a rental car. In all the confusion, she had locked her home keys in the rental and had to spend the night alone in Riverside. On top of all that, she had some work issues that were overwhelming. I also had a difficult day and when she asked me to go online and find her a room, I was happy for the distraction. As we chatted and I searched, she commented that it was the anniversary of her sister’s death and she was feeling pretty low.

As we spoke she drove by the Mission Inn and decided to shoot the budget and stay there. She asked me to join her. So, at 9 p.m. (way past my bedtime!) I packed a few things and away I went. We had a delightful evening dining under the stars, toasting her sister, praying and comforting each other in our difficulties. We really needed each other and God threw us together. We even spoke about how our personal struggles actually ended up bringing us closer together, binding our friendship in a depth blessed by God.

When I got home and was researching for this column, I came across the following passage by Michael Casey in a great book entitled “Jesus, Fully Human/Fully Divine”: “The humanity of Jesus is a mirror in which we can see our own humanness more clearly. Because he was willing to be associated with us sinners, we find in him no trace of that attitude typified by the Pharisee who congratulated himself on not being like the rest of men. We are saved by the initiative of Jesus who incorporates within himself the totality of our race. We cannot hope to receive salvation if our relationship with God is confined to a private chapel from which others are excluded. Community corrects individual defects; what one lacks another supplies; what one breaks another repairs; when we fall there is someone to lift us up (Eccl 4:10). If I design my life in such a way that I do not need anyone else, I am almost certainly condemning myself to an affective wilderness.”

And that my friends, is what is called a God-wink!