Fall and faith — different and real experiences

***image1***I looked at my calendar the other day and noticed that we are now in the season of fall. Fall has always been my favorite season.  A new school year, college football, the crispness of the air, and the brilliance of a mountain covered in red, orange, yellow and green leaves means fall to me. 

I grew up in Asheville, N.C. where fall really happened. Fall was cold Friday nights at Asheville High stadium watching the Cougars play football. Fall was no more grass mowing. Fall was leaves changing colors and falling to the ground. Fall was raking up those leaves. Fall was wearing jackets and coats and getting the sweaters and sweatshirts out.  Fall was real. Fall was tangible.  Fall was something I knew and could feel. 

Fall in the Lowcountry is different. The calendar says it’s fall, but everything I know to be true about fall has changed. I mowed the grass last Friday morning and then went to a high school football game that night. I sweated during both events! The little bit of leaves we have around our house might not change colors at all. I brought my rake from the mountains, but have not had to use it in the three years I have lived here. College and high school football are huge in South Carolina, but it’s just not cold enough yet for the really important games. 

I find myself longing for chilly nights, beautiful leaves, and the “real” season. I want something I can point to and say, “That is a sign of fall. That makes it real!” But, we are not always given something to point to or something to prove our point. We must learn to grow and change and accept the new truth. As painful as it may be for me, I have had to accept the truth that my early experiences of fall and my present realities of fall are different, yet the season remains the same. 

Faith is a lot like that. Sometimes, we believe simply because we can. Usually as children we believe a lot because we have an imagination and a want to believe in those things that are wondrous and magical. As time moves one, we begin to lose some of that ability. We learn the secrets to magic tricks. We go “backstage” and see how all the wondrous acts are really done.  We learn the truth.

We know it’s the truth because we can point to it and we can prove it. We can write it down on paper and show our work and have the right answer. We know it’s the truth because it makes logical sense in a world that is logically ordered. We know it’s the truth because there can’t be any other way to do it.

The Pharisees during Jesus’ life thought they had the truth. These religious leaders were in charge of everything right and holy. They could not and would not believe that one person could and would do all the wondrous acts they heard about. 

After Jesus fed the large crowd with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, they came to him and began to argue with him.  \They wanted a sign from heaven to test him.  Jesus “sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”  After saying that, he left them, got into the boat, and went to the other side.  (Mark 8:11-13 NRSV and Woody paraphrase)

We all look too much for what is true instead of looking for the truth. We, like the Pharisees, want to wrap our minds and our hands around spiritual things so that we can point and say, “That is a sign of God. That makes it real!” Jesus tells us otherwise. Jesus is not going to give us signs.  He is not going to give us something to carry so that we can claim our faith and hold up the trinket at the same time. No, Jesus asks us to believe. He asks us to have faith. The faith he asks is something we have to know to be true without being able to point to something to prove it.  The faith he asks is something we feel and experience. 

Faith is knowing what you believe to be true and not needing tangible evidence to prove it. The experience might be different than what we had earlier, but it is still just as real. 

 

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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