ON FAITH AND SCRIPTURE . . .
The Revd Deacon Polly M. Bowen
It has been a long and busy summer. Thanks to the Damons and the Bartholomys, my bedside table has been piled high with books to read, so my evenings have been filled with vicarious adventure. My days have been full of preparations for another year of EFM and another year of the Journey to Adulthood program, which almost didn’t get off the ground this year. But God provides, and in the end there were students for EFM and some (though not enough) teachers for J2A, and most of our young people will indeed have Church School this year.
God provides. I should have known that – should have had more faith – shouldn’t have been so anxious . . . And so I have pondered faith this summer, and searched the scriptures for answers . . .
The Hebrew word for faith is ‘aman, and in its various forms it signifies the acceptance of something as trustworthy, firm, dependable. According to writers of the Church Teaching Series, faith implies a deliberate and positive existential involvement; it precedes belief, which is an intellectual expression of faith. This echoes the Aquinian definition as “the act of the intellect when it assents to divine truth under the influence of the will moved by God through grace.”
But Aquinas is ponderous, and the writers of the Church Teaching Series can be challenging as well. So if you’ve bothered to read this far, let me say that in a simpler way: the difference between faith and belief is that faith is eternal, while beliefs are relative to our history and therefore bound to time and space.
For the Biblical Literalist, however, faith and belief have a more convoluted pattern; faith depends largely on acceptance of a literal inerrancy of scripture. If the Bible states that Peter leaped from the boat and walked on the water, then it must be exactly so, and the glorious truth of God’s loving concern for us may get lost in the waves. If it says that Jesus fed multitudes from one boy’s lunch pail it must be believed without regard to the delightful possibilities of teaching people to share with one another (at a time when such provision was approached legalistically rather than lovingly), much less the deeper message that God provides manna in many forms and through many sources. (The conclusion to be drawn here is NOT that the writer does not believe in miracles. Quite the contrary; I believe in miracles seen and unseen, tangible and intangible – far beyond those given in the written accounts.)
The non-literalist Christian sees things another way, and sees this other way as being entirely compatible with the truth of Holy Scripture. To these people, the equation of truth with precision limits truth to the scientific approach, and is therefore seen as limiting God. God simply will not be confined to the pages of a book, however inspired that book may be, any more than he will submit to a test-tube existence. He bursts out and spills over into a multitude of other approaches; he dances in the music and soars on the wind, he is art and literature, technology, philosophy and imagination. He is a sparrow’s song and a baby’s cry, the roar of thunder and the still, small voice. He is an old man’s memory and a little child’s dream, and both embrace the hope he promises to fulfill.
In short, we can be certain of only one thing: that God can and does reveal himself to his creation. He revealed himself at Moriah and Sinai, at Horeb and Carmel, at the Mount of Transfiguration and finally, tragically and triumphantly, at the Hill called Golgotha. And although by common agreement the canon of scripture is closed, his revelation continues, for it cannot be limited to these accounts. The Spirit blows where she will, and fresh winds stir the pages of scripture and the pages of history.
And in the end, we can search the scriptures for answers and we will find none. We will find only questions, for the answers are in us, as God reveals himself in the hearts of those who search for him.
And, oh, yes – God’s manna may even appear in the form of a teacher a teacher willing to help impart spiritual nourishment to our young people as they find their way through the difficult teen years. So thank you, Mugs, Greg and Carolyn. You are the answer to prayers. Thank you, Bill, for your valiant efforts as co-coordinator, and for stepping in as teacher when nobody else would do it. Thank you, Rowland and Anna, for stepping up and organizing a Youth Group for our seniors who don’t have a Church School teacher, and for Ed and Eveline, who have agreed to act as Youth Group advisors. And as always, thanks to Linda and her corps of teachers who do such good and dedicated work. Let’s have a great year!
