Saturday, December 13, 2008

It Is Not Complicated

Why is it we make Following Jesus so complicated. When I say we I mean all of us, in particular I mean those of us who are clergy or pastors of the church. I believe some classical training is hard at work here. All through seminary we are taught it is difficult to balance all the pieces of ministry. And it is. We are taught there are many ways to approach a situation, and there are. We are even taught there are different ways of approaching a section of Scripture, and there are. In the midst of all the training, and ecclesial indoctrination, the journey of faith is made out to be much more difficult that it really is.

In Hebrews 11, some would call the hall of Faith, we find recounts of the faithful. The title hall of faith is problematic to me. It makes it seem like only a select few people, who have a special dispensation from God can live a life of faith so noted it is recounted in Scripture. Yet again we are making it more difficult. The simple joy of Hebrews 11 is found in the understanding of who these people were. They were not some religious superhero, they did not have all their stuff together. They were average everyday people. What sets them as different? They displayed simple faith.

We have been trained for years to see nothing simple about the faith of those listed in Heb. 11. Yet the truth is, faith in God is what got their mention. When you research the individuals more fully you find they had some pretty mess up lives. However, at some point they chose to Follow God in spite of the circumstances. Faith as we see in Heb. 11 is available to all, not just super-Christians. It is not complicated. It is a matter of trusting God, for what we cannot see.

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