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From its beginning, the Christian community has
perceived the purpose of its educational efforts as the promoting of a
lived Christian faith. Christian faith as a lived reality has 3
essential dimensions: it is first, a belief and a conviction; second,
a trusting relationship with God our Father through Christ Jesus in
the Holy Spirit; and third, a life of self-giving love.
First, faith as belief and conviction: at the
celebration of the Liturgy, when we are invited to profess our faith
in the common recitation of the Creed, we begin by saying "I
believe in one God, the Father Almighty..." even though it would
be equally appropriate to say "I commit myself to one God,
the Father Almighty..." or even better, "I trust in
one God, the father Almighty..." Our faith as believers is
certainly more than mere "belief" especially when that word
is reduced to nothing more than an intellectual assent to certain
propositions or statements. Bishop Kallistos Ware, in his book The
Orthodox Way, writes that "Christianity is more than a
theory about the universe, more than teachings written down on paper.
It is a path along which we journey - in the deepest and richest
sense, a way of life. As Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow said, the
Creed does not belong to you unless you have lived it." So, while
our faith implies this intellectual dimension, it is - in the end -
much, much more than that.
Second, faith as trusting: the English word
"faith" comes from the Latin word "fidere" meaning
"to trust." At its very root, having faith means trusting in
the living God. This dimension of trust is the fruit of our
relationship with God our Father who has saved us in His Son Jesus
Christ and given us the gift of the Holy Spirit. This trust is
nurtured in personal prayer, community worship, the disciplines
necessary for living a Spirit-filled life and obedience to the will of
God. It finds concrete expression in our loyalty, love and attachment
to Christ and His body, the Church. Because the Lord God is faithful
to us, we can commit ourselves to Him in confidence and with complete
trust. His faithfulness to us has been expressed in the life,
crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our response to this
love is trust, awe, reverence, gratitude, love and adoration. Are we -
and our children - being shaped by these values?
Third, faith as the living of a life of
self-giving love. In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus explains that simply
professing "Lord, Lord" is not sufficient for admission into
the Kingdom of God. The will of God must also be done (Matthew 7:21).
Christian faith, as a response to the commitment of God towards us,
must include the doing of His will. Faith and love can be
distinguished in the Christian life but cannot be separated. Of
course, as sinful and broken human beings, we often know what is good,
right and true but don't actually do it. But a genuine and deeply
lived Christian faith demands not only that we know what is good,
right and true but that we do it, as well. To put it in another way,
the faith is in the doing. In the biblical understanding of what it
means to know the Lord, there is an entering into a trusting
relationship with the Lord and there is a doing of God's will.
Or, as James, the apostle and brother of the Lord put it, "Faith
without works is dead" (James 2:26).
Thus, a genuine, lived faith has at least 3
essential components: believing, trusting and doing. Does your faith
include these 3 dimensions and if so, how deeply? Now that our Sunday
School program has begun once again, does the faith that you are
transmitting to your children at home have these 3 dimensions? These
are important questions to ask and to answer. As we pray for our
children each year during the service of blessing that opens each new
year: May the Lord open their minds and hearts to turn from what is
evil and seek what is good that they may live wise and virtuous lives
and grow in their understanding of the true faith!
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