As the book of Hebrews says in the New Testament:  “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen”. I’ve always thought that was a bit of a conundrum, especially since we live in an age where people seem to believe in a ton of “stuff” without ever having seen or have evidence for it period. It seems you can make up anything these days, remain unaccountable for it and still convince a whole lot of people out there to believe it hook, line and sinker. For those of us who believe in God, then, it becomes a whole lot more complicated. For me as a Christian, I wonder, can anyone know what it all really means? While I take no issue with all the different Christian denominations out there, I do take issue with those that seem to contort the essence of the Christian message into one that serves a deeply nefarious purpose…not that anyone should just take my word for it. They should, however, note that every element in the gospels support some simple axioms…many of which have been circumvented by a human desire to use God as a mechanism for power, control and material wealth, i.e. world domination.

Faith can also be complicated, because of the alarming amount of bullshit that I’ve heard some say is part of Scripture’s message when its not. I’ve listened to preachers insist they know the mind of God when it comes to condemning the least among us as righteous, Christian behavior. I’ve listened to another who claimed expertise in eschatology (study of the end times) stating they were a Greek scholar and mangled basic syntax and pronunciation so badly, I couldn’t focus on anything else. I’m frustrated, because it appears, that anyone can claim expertise on God’s word, just because they decided they could. I mean, anyone can become a minister online, for the sake of being an officiant at a wedding, and anyone can start a church. I find that the greatest hubris of our time, especially when I worked my ass off studying theology, and working in ministry and education for years. While I am proud of my academic achievements and efforts in answering what I believe is God’s call, and that faith would lead me down the appropriate road, I also know that I’ve made plenty of wrong turns along the way, enough for me to never tell another human being that they are not what God intended, because we are all gifted with unique talents, and it is up to the individual to figure out how to develop and use them. What I absolutely do know is this: none of us know the mind of God…but based on the expectations that Jesus laid down specifically in his teachings, we should clearly know what action is required of us moving forward.

So. This is my year of faith. And I would venture to say that it is smaller than a mustard seed right now, and according to Jesus that is enough of a start to move a mountain, a hearty goal, but one I embrace nonetheless.