Fearless Faith

When is a palm a palm? Is it a palm if it is only a few feet tall or do we need to see it in our mind as towering high above? Does it matter if its trunk is rough or smooth? How about the fronds? Does one style of frond say “palm” and another doesn’t (even if it is)? What if it looks like a palm but is taxonomically something else? What of the fruit it produces? Are date palms more “palmish” than coconut palms? What if it merely flowers, producing no fruit at all? Does that make it more or less of a palm? If a plant doesn’t fit my idea of a palm, does that invalidate your understanding?

One of the fun things about visiting different climates and geographical areas is the newness that the surroundings bring to the senses. We may not appreciate or understand the differences before us, but we can in some objective way see things as clearly as those who are present every day. We might even notice things that remain unnoticed by those who live there. It is newness and change that brings our senses alive, allowing us to move to new places of understanding.

One of my church denomination’s annual gatherings occurred some years ago on the west coast, providing the setting for a variety of debates which challenged and inspired, bringing our theological understandings into sharper focus. Choosing to gather in different locales each year is important. When we change the location in which we experience Christ, our cultural senses are invigorated, our faith stirred. Not unlike other denominations, there are discussions and challenges to our theology as peculiar people of faith that quite possibly may never be reconciled. When we encounter those situations, the church must then inquire whether it can live with such ambiguity and still retain its integrity. If we find ourselves unable to do so, then more decisive action lies on a horizon toward which the church must move. How will we view ourselves when we get there?

In a few short months, following in-depth formalized discussions in each of our national districts, we will once again arrive at a crossroads where we will determine the amount of ambiguity we can live with and still respond faithfully to God’s call upon our lives. We are but one of many denominations struggling with common issues that are changing the face of Christendom. Yet, as our time in palm tree climates reminded, there is tremendous work to be done, issues to be explored, work that is urgently, desperately needed. It is humbling to share with many others who care so deeply, and with great passion, regarding the future of the church.

A recent member of Standing Committee, the group which determines the business agenda brought to the floor of the conference body, suggested that the time for action is always now when we address faith and fear. We should be in no hurry to jettison even the smallest stream of thought, however, to avoid the risk of forming a stagnate lake that will never dry up, filled with the sediment of bitterness and resentment.

Walk in new places this week, as we walked among the palms, alive to the possibility of transformed living resulting in generous and extravagant expressions of faith.