MY FAITH & PRACTICE

My faith is what I believe in; my religion is how I practice my faith as I live my life and how I interact with the world I live in and the people I live with in this world.  While it is very personal it is also very communal.

My faith is centered and built on a firm foundation in relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and the Holy Spirit.  My practice maintains that relationship.  It also builds and maintains my relationship with all that God created, nature and all human beings.  In the world that God created there were differences but there was an overriding harmony; and it was very good.  That is the state that all human beings are born with; it’s our DNA, so to speak. 

That state of harmony was broken when human beings tried to usurp the authority of the Creator.  Religion is about human beings trying to get back to that original state of being; a state of harmony and peace.  Some believe that can only be done by repairing the breach in relationship with their Creator.  Others believe they can do that on their own by Practice and discipline.  We can learn from one another’s Practice even though our faith is our own to believe and Practice and can not be compromised or coerced.  My faith is built on the necessity to repair the breach in my relationship with God through the work of Jesus and maintained by the Holy Spirit.  I believe that true peace can only come when that relationship is made whole.

I have a great deal of respect for men and women who practice their religion very seriously and are dedicated to harmony and peace with others.  They have developed ways to achieve those things that I have found helpful in my Practice, even though they are different in their faith.  I am aware of the differences but I can learn from their way of being.  In hearing them speak they are also in that place of understanding; finding helpful common ground without compromising their own beliefs or coercing me to change mine.  We live in a world that necessitates that ability to respect one another in our differences.

The concept of coercing people to convert them to a faith is foreign to me.  That is not the way I see Jesus doing it or teaching it.  I believe God’s desire is to have all His creation in a harmonious relationship with Him as He created it to be.  But God created us free to choose and will never force Himself upon us.  Force is not love.

My faith is built on the Truth that Jesus is more than just another good teacher.  I believe he is God’s Son, a part of the Three in One that remains a great mystery to the human mind.  I don’t believe this because of any man’s teaching; I believe this through personal and inner experience that is beyond words to explain.  If my faith and belief was the result of mere human teaching I would probably be a Zen Buddhist Monk.  I have done a lot of study of their religion and my sensibilities lean in the ways of their Practice.  There is a natural drawing towards the Oriental philosophies, much more that the Western philosophies.  While I like their Practice and their simple ways of life, I didn’t find in them a Rock I could build my faith on.  I found that Rock in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit alone.  I have no trouble incorporating some of their Practices into mine; but my faith is centered and certain in the God of the Scriptures I have found to be True and who I am committed by love to worship and to listen to.