Lesson 7--Faith

They say one shouldn’t discuss politics or religion in polite company, but I’m breaking that rule today since today's lesson-learned concerns faith.

I promise I’m not going to try to convert you to my religious beliefs, but if you’re not up for a discussion of faith and religion, you won’t hurt my feelings if you go away now and come back tomorrow.

Just so you know who you’re dealing with from the outset, let me tell you a little bit about what I believe. I am a practicing evangelical Christian and a member of a Presbyterian church. During the BYE I became an ordained officer in my church after the congregation voted me to the office of deacon for a three year term. Teri and I tithe, and we’ve done so for years. That means we give ten percent of our income to our local church. I know a lot of people, even a lot of Christians, believe that practice is just plain weird.

Evangelical Christians believe the Bible is the Word of God. They also believe Jesus Christ, a man who lived in the Middle East about 2,000 years ago and was executed by the Romans at the urging of his countrymen, was (and is) the incarnation of God.

That’s enough theology for one day and enough background for what follows.

I don’t know who all of you are, so I can’t possibly know what you believe. I know enough of you personally to know some of you are Christians, Muslims, Jews, Roman Catholics, Confucianists, atheists, agnostics and Democrats. I’m sure other faiths have also been represented by the Discerning Readers who have dropped in over the last year, and I’m delighted to have had such a wide range of theological viewpoints represented among our readership.

About this time last year I attended Sunday Mass at St. Germain des Pres, a large Catholic church on the Left Bank of Paris. A proud church with origins dating back to the year 558 AD, the building was sturdy and cavernous. Inside there was room for thousands, yet only a couple of dozen worshippers showed up for Mass that morning. That near-empty church made me sad, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks afterward.

The same thing is true for Catholic and Protestant churches all over Western Europe today. Most are more museums than houses of worship these days. More people visit them to enjoy their architectural beauty and the priceless works of art they house than to lift up prayers to God.

The decline of the church in Europe in recent decades has been stunning. One by one, people all over Europe have stopped going to church as they decided organized religion has become irrelevant to their lives.

It’s happening in America too. The number of people who say they don’t affiliate with any religion is now approximately the same as the number who actually go to any church on any given weekend.

Maybe you think that’s a good thing and a sign that we’re becoming a post-religious, more rational society. I don’t think that at all. I think it’s awful.

Today's lesson isn't something I learned this year as much as it is a reinforcement of what I already knew. Since I haven't been on the road non-stop over the last year, I've been able to do more with and for my church, and I have reaped the rewards of that closer bond.

During the course of the BYE, I’ve become more convinced than ever that close affiliation with an organized religion, any organized religion, is important for health of the individual and also the society they live in. I exclude radical religions that advocate violence from the previous statement on the grounds they are dangerous and not valid religions at all, but any other faith is fair game.

Why?

Looked at from a purely selfish perspective, I’m convinced being a practicing member of some religious faith makes you a better, happier, more productive person and a better you makes for a better, healthier society for all of us. I’m sure of it.

Being involved in your church can be a pain sometimes. For starters, being an active member of a church takes a lot of time.

Going to church eats up all of my Sunday morning. Every Sunday. Then there are our Sunday night small group sessions, my Wednesday night men’s Bible study, my regular Friday morning meeting, Teri’s weekly choir practice, other church “business” meetings, etc.

There’s always something more to do. Even though it’s Memorial Day weekend, we had a church workday today where volunteers showed up early in the morning to spruce up the grounds and do some painting inside. Tomorrow I’m one of the “deacons on duty,” so I’ll be up early to unlock the church for our first service and will stick around long after the second service is over and the last person has gone home so I can lock it back up again.

Once in a while I resent the intrusion on “my” time. Like last Sunday night when I was trapped in church for a communion service with the Lost finale only moments away. Why, I wondered as I fidgeted in the pew, did the guest preacher decide this is the night he’s going to share everything he’s ever learned and extend his sermon by eighteen sub-points and an additional half hour? I love the guy who was preaching that night and ordinarily enjoy his teaching, but why that night of all nights did he have to go into triple overtime?

I stewed in the pew that evening for two reasons. First I was annoyed at the length of it, but I was equally mad at myself for not being able to control my feelings during a time when I should have been worshipping.

The same thing happened with a different preacher a few months before that when the Saints were deep in the playoffs and I missed the entire first half of their game against the Vikings. Most of the scoring came in the second half and the Saints won the game, so all was quickly forgiven.

So why go through all of that work and inconvenience when I could simply stop going to church any time I want? If I did, I’d never miss another conflicting event, I would add hours of extra free time to each week and give myself an immediate ten percent raise in income. Why not just quit going and save the hassle?

Theology aside (and there are deep theological reasons for being an active church member we won’t explore here today), I’m a better happier, more productive person for it. And the society I live in is better for my participation in church.

Trust me, it’s true. Make all the arguments you want about the evils organized religion has inflicted on the world. They’re all bogus. Religious people of all faiths are flawed humans like everyone else and don’t always practice what they claim to believe, but I’d rather live in a world filled with believers (in anything) than in a world absent hope and where no one held any faith-based values.

I can understand the concept of being an agnostic. There’s something honest and appealing about saying “hey, I don’t know” when it comes to God and religion, and that’s the way I felt for a long time.

But there’s something unfulfilling and disconnecting about taking that position too--like you’re missing out on something important. And you are.

I don’t “get” atheism. I don’t get it at all. If there is no God and everything is random and pointless, why even bother? With anything. And how and why is anything here in the first place?

Discerning Reader, I promised at the outset I wouldn’t attempt to convert you to my faith, and that’s true. But it doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to convince you to at least believe in some faith. Any faith. Pick one. If you believe in something, you will be happier for it and society will be better off. Believe me.

Want to be Jewish? Great. Hindu? Have at it. Mormon? More power to you. Muslim? Join the club, just not the branch that blows up innocent people.

Presbyterians believe that faith in Christ is the only way to salvation. This can make us preachy sometimes, since we want desperately for others to have what we have. I sometimes wish my faith were more democratic like the Unitarians and taught there are multiple paths to the same end. But that’s not the way it is, and I have to accept the whole truth of my faith or none of it at all.

If you want to know more about what I believe, drop me a line. I’d be happy to share more with you. If you live in the greater Suburbingham area and would like to visit our church, I’ll be happy to give you directions and show you around. Just don’t come on Sunday night during the playoffs. We want you to come back.