While my faith in God informs who I am and who I am becoming and is woven into the words I write, I don’t often write specifically about faith. It is a simple story on many levels yet also complex, and I’ve struggled to find words that share not just a story of faith but my heart.
When I decided to write words to share in public spaces, I desired to create spaces that were welcoming and encouraging to everyone (and I still do). Also, I want my faith to be something other than my platform, a way to gain followers and instead serve as a bench, a place where we can sit and contemplate together. Faith should inform who I am, lived out in real life, not simply be a title I wear.
But also, if I am honest, I struggle with identifying with the larger Christian faith culture. I am ashamed of some of the ways people who call themselves Christians behave and the words that come out of their mouths. I don’t always want to identify myself with the broader church that has not always lived well the message they preach. And I carry personal wounds from the church that feel more scabbed over than fully healed.
And yet I also love the church. I love gathering in community and long for spaces where people from every background and stage of life, regardless of where they find themselves in their faith journey, feel welcome.
The story of those who call themselves Christians feels messy, even ugly at times. Yet, there are beautiful people and beautiful stories weaved into the damaged and broken places. And I often wrestle with how to best identify myself and my faith in a way that feels welcoming without expectation. So I pray as you read my words, you hear my heart.
I’ve always had a firm belief in God. At a young age, I just knew there was a “God.” He created me, loved me, and wanted to have a relationship with me. It was enough for me, and although adults often doubted my ability to understand faith, I was confident and not easily swayed. Adults make everything so complicated, don’t they?
While there is definitely a place for theology, and I believe it is important always to be working out what it is we believe. We may, on occasion, need to re-focus on the basics or hold more childlike wonder in our faith. Maybe, to live out our faith well, we might start back at the beginning.
In the beginning,
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of earth.”
God created human beings; he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female.
And there it was.
God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!
(Genesis 1:26,31, The Message)
From the beginning, we were created by God to reflect God’s nature and be responsible for the earth itself, and all that moves on the face of the earth.
Things didn’t go according to plan, we as humans haven’t done such a good job of tending the earth or reflecting God’s nature. We might not even be sure what God’s nature is, God is Love (1 John 4:8), God is Peace (Judges 6:24), God is Light (1 John 1:5), and so much more.
Some will spend much of their time working out their salvation, focused on all the do’s and don’t, rules, and regulations Christians should live by, but let’s look at Jesus. Might we consider Jesus, what he said, and the example he set of how we live on this earth? A reflection of God’s nature.
In Matthew’s gospel, a religious scholar asked Jesus, “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”
Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” (Matthew 22:36-40, The Message)
We don’t need to have it all figured out. I believe God is ok with us coming just as we are, holding more questions than answers. I like to think that God cares more for our hearts than our religious accomplishments. That he is strong enough to handle our doubt and theological debates. At the core of faith is loving God and loving and caring for all that moves on the face of the earth.
Weaved throughout my words shared, you will discover I am on a journey of learning what it looks like to live loving God and his creation, co-creating with him to bring beauty into this world, and learning how to live well in every season. Often taking cues from the example of nature’s rhythms. All while continuing to hold more questions than answers and carrying wounds not yet healed.
Regardless of your faith journey, beliefs, or doubts and questions, I want you to know you are so welcome here. That you are loved, just as you are, and all your wounds, doubts, and questions are welcome here too. That there is always a seat on the bench and a place at the table just for you.
And I hope that you find this a safe and encouraging space where we can walk together, learning how to weave our faith into this one beautiful life we’ve been given.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you:
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,
and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Romans 12:1, The Message
