I'm full up of spiritual thoughts and feelings at the moment, having just gotten back from a really cool spiritual formation program I'm participating in at the National Cathedral.
What I took away from the lecture tonight was about how the essence of connecting to God in Christian faith is NOT: doing the "right" religious activities, believing the right things about God, or even treating one's fellow human beings in the right way. All of these are part of the life of faith, but none is adequate as a way to "get to God." Rather, the essence of faith is knowing oneself loved by the reality that is at the heart of the universe. Giving up on trying (and trying and trying) to be good enough and realizing that you are accepted (I think Paul Tillich might have had a few things to say about that).
This all makes good sense to me, but I'm wrestling again with a question that I ponder from time to time. If faith is, essentially, a gift from God (that we can't earn by working at it), why do some people "get it" and other people don't? That seems as arbitrary and unjust as a God who requires us to follow a set of rules that we're doomed to fall short of, or an insistence that one believe a certain set of things, or even a very rigorous moral ethic (again with the doom and falling short). I get a very strong sense from some people that they want to believe, but skepticism or upbringing or terrible experiences with religious folks and the things they do get in the way. I am quite certain that such people make excellent fellow-travelers on the journey with people who are more certain or less afraid of faith. But it seems a little unfair.
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