"The opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear." (Verna Dozier, The Dream of God, 1991)
These economic times are fearful. Organizations and churches are facing serious financial crisis and cut backs in staff and programs. In states and local communities, government officials struggle to make budget decisions that will likely cut funds for education, early childhood support, mental health, public health and other programs and services that support some of our most vulnerable citizens. Nonprofits, United Way agencies and churches that depend primarily on individual and corporate giving are seeing huge discrepancies in income. Anxiety is high. Every day on the news you hear of an increasing unemployment rate and everyone knows someone who has been affected by recent job loss. With increased fear there may also be an increase in conflict - in families, in churches, in workplaces. Fear tells us to flee or fight . . . to hunker down, hide, escape or to attack. Faith tells us to hope and to create.
Faith is (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith)
- having confidence or trust in something or someone
- belief in God
- belief in anything
- the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person or belief
Faith is not intellectual or physical – it is spiritual. It is rooted beyond our physical response of fight/flight and beyond our analytical response of pros and cons. Faith in God, faith in yourself, faith in your company or your church or your family, faith in friendship, faith in community, faith in our government, faith in humanity, faith in possibility, faith in the future, faith . . . is what moves us from fear to hope. And hope is what inspires creation. And creation births new life, new ideas, new solutions, new growth, new innovation, new reasons to have faith. Hope is the motivation to stay connected without fighting or fleeing. Hope is the avenue to intentional rather than reactive responses to the crisis. Hope gives reason to work for something better. Hope gives strength to endure change and the time of chaos that always precedes the new beginning.
Keep the faith!
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2 comments:
I love the definition of faith as "fidelity." Too, I think that this is closer to what the original Greek meant any way.
Not only does faith move us from fear to hope, but is the evidence of our eschatological hope in God's coming kingdom (Heb. 11:1ff). Understood as fidelity, Heb. 11:1 makes sense.
This economic crisis provides the perfect opportunity for the church to be the church and tangilbly demonstrate our hope through fidelity.
Great thought for today, Beth. I hope that you are doing well. God bless!
Thank you Tim, for emphasizing fidelity. In my work as an evaluator, fidelity is a common word used to measure how well an organization is implementing a particular program model - it really opens a window to think of faith as "fidelity" (how well we are following the design) to the coming of God's kingdom.
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