Fearless Faith

Valorous and noble, our dogs crested the tops of the largest snowdrifts in their quest for adventure. Peak after peak, formed of biting wind and snow, brought them unrelenting joy. Their relatively lighter frames made it a breeze for them to move in and out and over the top of the wind-hardened surface. What a rare and altogether wonderful opportunity to explore drifts in excess of fifteen feet high. Desperate for moisture, the locals’ coffee shop mantra was that precipitation in any form would be welcomed. When the storm knocked at our door, however, we were unsure what slipped in.

Of course, the furnace waited until this particular storm to burn out a circuit board, the likely result of numerous power outages accompanying the wind. As long as power remains on, radiant heaters distributed throughout the house manage quite well. Untested is the latest forecast of sub-zero temperatures with high winds.

Such occurrences, including storms of everyday life, leave us feeling more grateful in their aftermath. Most of us do not handle abrupt change as well as we like to imagine. Perhaps those are the moments when we realize the value and continuity that community has to offer. When disasters occur, when power is off, when storms challenge our very survival, we are quite often at our best. We might not understand how to articulate personal theologies or piece together the complexities of scripture, but we know what to do when our neighbor’s house burns or is lost to a storm.

We offer compassion, kindness, and empathy knowing it need not be wrapped in religious finery for it to make sense. Holiness is present, not because we call and God answers, but that even when we do not call at all, God is present. How do we identify such omnipresence? Must we always demand a name?

The Divine is not beholden to human ideology or dogmatic conclusion, no matter how we couch it. Neither does it find expression in immovable unyielding ways that must be adopted (or else!). We are, however, called to be present, to live in service to others in this day while refusing to mortgage the good of our tomorrows.

The mystery of creation is evident around us. The drifts we encounter are never static, our questions seldom stilled from generation to generation. Ralph Waldo Emerson intoned, “The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?”

The world is not yet so large as to dismiss our unique presence, nor its value to modernkind. Human topography shapes our beliefs and faith in uncertain ways, yet there is always value to be found if we choose to seek and acknowledge it. Our value, unabashedly declared in the scriptures of Advent, is based on communities of care and common purpose, the hope and anticipation of something greater than ourselves.

A common denominator striding forward is the openness to meet and to embrace change as a crucible moment. What better time to consider a novel sense of watchfulness, newness, and expectation? Running atop a massive snow drift or two cannot help but inspire.