All around the world the glad tiding, “He is risen.” is expressed in too many languages to count.
He is risen. He died for our sins and yet three days later He comes back and shows us that there truly is everlasting life. It’s perhaps the greatest story of forgiveness and redemption ever written.
I’ve heard a lot about how there’s an attack on Christianity in the media and how the left particularly dislikes fundamentalists. I don’t think that’s quite it. I think there’s a universal apprehension growing for any sort of fundamental belief in the “God who must be obeyed.” that is expressed in the Judeo/Christian/Muslim tradition. And I’m going to go further and say it’s not belief in that God that’s under attack, but those who misuse the belief in that God. They are the ones that many folks, left, right and center are growing increasingly apprehensive about.
Thanks to whack jobs of all religions who have done things in His name, the word “fundamentalist” has taken on a very dark meaning. I hear “fundamentalist” and I immediately think of Islamic terrorists. If I think Christian fundamentalist, I think of the folks who attack gay people based on Leviticus, perhaps the most sociopathic book in The Bible. Jewish fundamentalists I understand the least. I think the hats and sideburns are way cool though.
I’m a believer. Or, rather I should say, I’m a seeker. I believe that there’s a God and I use that word because it’s easy to say and easy to spell and most folks have a good idea of what I’m talking about. Is that God expressed best by The Bible, by The Koran, by the Tao te Ching, or by The Complete Witches Handbook? I can’t tell you. I don’t know. But I continue to pray and meditate and seek to become closer to that entity that I call God. For me religion simply gives you common guides for community expression and a sense of community.
I respect and even envy people who have been exposed to a religion and immediately say to themselves, “Yes, this is what I believe. This is the set of rules I’m going to live my life by.” It seems much easier than what I tend to go through. I have to admit though that along with that envy and respect, I have no small amount of fear toward those folks. The purely rational part of me screams, “It’s a BOOK. Written by MEN trying to consolidate their power base! What’s the MATTER with you? You may as well live your life based on the Greek Myths.” Christian friends ask me if I don’t believe in The Bible, where do I place my faith?
My prayers are simple. I pray for the knowledge or God’s will for me and the strength of character and courage to carry that will out. If I’m in a particularly brave frame of mind, I’ll throw, “God change me, no matter what.” out there. It’s short, but it’s not a whimpy prayer by any stretch of the imagination.
Where do I place my faith? As a cradle Catholic, I can’t ignore the Christian faith that was programmed into me at an early age. Those symbols are pretty much ingrained in me. They’re a part of me. I use those symbols and stories as guides in my life. My favorite Gospel is Matthew and I would have loved to have been part of his Church. Communal living with the closest of friends all with a similar core belief? How cool must that have been?
But I think I can wrap up my faith in one word and the weird thing is that it comes from the Hindu which I’ve speant very little time studying. The word? Namaste. The easiest translation is, “The spirit which resides in me recognizes the spirit which resides in you.” For me that’s the very best expression of our journey here on Earth. Within all of us is some piece of the devine, the potential for spiritual life everlasting is within each and every human. It’s the ultimate expression of unity. Part of the devine is within me and it sees the devine within you. Namaste. He is risen. Namaste.
My faith is in that someday, somehow, we’ll put all the stories and all the symbols together and use them to unite us all in a true brotherhood of man instead of separating us into conflicting tribes. That’s where I place my faith.
