Friday, August 04, 2006
Faith
Rev. Mark Christian asked the question "Is there faith without risk?" on his blog (see link for Freely In Faith). He states, " I expect my transformations to be well planned, exquisitely executed with a guarantee to success--or at least a logical expectation of limited loss. What does it mean to have such faith--or is it necessity--that I would abandon the comfort of logic and do what life requires with no guarantee (and even good reason to doubt) success? Can one possess real faith without accepting great risk? " This comment of Mark's is upon reflection of a member taking a leap of faith that may fail.
I tend to see faith as always including risk. But then all of my most satisfying moments have been when I risked all to make a change. So that is just me, I suppose.
As I read Mark's reflection, I was reminded of when I stepped down as board president of a relatively young non-profit that I helped co-found and into the role of director of that non-profit. We had gone through 3 part-time directors in about as much time. Each time we had a new director it was as if we were starting once again from zero and I simply did not want to loose the momentum that we had again begin to have. Our budget for the year was just over $20K. We were talking very part-time. I was able to reduce my full-time clinical hours to part-time at the developmentally disabled habilitation center I worked for because of Governor Weicker's abrupt slash in the state budget which laid off a dozen or so of our employees. My going part-time allowed the agency to keep on a full-time worker during this crisis. It wasn't a long term solution but it helped.
As I began to work part-time as the director of this developing agency, I came to the conclusion that the only way to keep the agency moving forward was if I quit my other position and work full time as director. I did not know if I would be hired as the director of this agency on a more permanent basis. Nor did I know if there would be funds to support me on a full-time basis. Or if the agency would even survive this latest transition from the previous director.
My friends at the time all told me not to do this. They were devout Charismatic Christians as I was at that time. And they believed that they had the gift of discernment and assured me that God would not want me to make this kind of a risk. That did not make sense to me. I mean, Abraham was asked to risk his son at the altar and the risk I was contemplating didn't involve killing my own flesh and blood. I was still weighed down by this decision. I knew what needed to be done if the agency was to fulfill its mission.
Then one hot July morning, I was pumping gas and a song came on the radio, Jeffrey Gaines' "Hero in Me." I had never heard the song before and it blew me away. I broke into tears at the lines "Here in my security I don't make a move unless my friends approve. I do what's expected of me" I thought here was as much assurance as I was going to get and I drove to my clinical job and gave my notice that day. And my friends told me I was crazy--worse they told I was being disobedient to God.
I began to work full-time on part-time pay. At one point the agency had no money to pay me and I continued working. Somehow my needs were met. People gave me money, food, etc., and I trucked on knowing, deeply knowing that this was what I needed to do. The agency began to grow. I began to win sizeable grants to build programs. I hired staff. And the people we served were grateful for our being there for them when no-one else would be, their congregations had thrown them out, their families had thrown them out and there was no where else for them to turn. It was a remarkable journey towards where I am today and I am filled with gratitude for life's possibilities.
So back to Mark's provocative question: Is there faith without risk? What my experience has given me is an incredible knowing that all is well. That the physical plane does not reveal all that is going on. The physical plane is only one piece of the puzzle to this mysterious thing we call life. I don't think I was acting out of blind faith... I wasn't blind in what I did, I had a clear vision of where I was going. Blind faith is only looking at one set of indicators and not seeing it and acting anyway. I saw what could be and it came to be.
Is faith with no or limited risk, faith? I would like to say, of course it is. But my gut is saying no. So what do we have faith in--absolute faith--no resistance to the notion of it being true that doesn't contain risk? Faith that the ground I walk on is stable? Or that my house/apartment is going to continue to provide shelter as long as I desire it--even in the face of a Hurricane or a Tsunami? Or that my partner/my friends will remain in my life? Or that I will always have sufficient income? Faith that my workplace will continue to exist and not disappear due to a plane crashing into it? These are everyday aspects of faith that we, most of us, take for granted as being there. Sure things in the minds of many. So are these not acts of faith? We know that all of these things could change in an instant; that we could discover that our partner left us, the house destroyed by a hurricane or earthquake, or suddenly we are found unemployed. There is risk. It might seem slim to us but risk nonetheless. But to the people who discovered their house, their employment gone because of Katrina, where is their faith now? Is it stronger? Is it weaker? Is it non-existent? Or has it shifted to faith located somewhere else?
Doesn't it all depend on how they think about their life? Doesn't it depend on what they think about their current circumstances as to where they go from here?
Do they think... I am a survivor, I have always been a survivor, things have always worked out for me and this will too? Or do they think... my god my god, why have you forsaken me? I am ruined, I will never make it through this.
Are the outcomes different based on their thinking about the situation? Does one person have more faith than the other?
Thank you Mark for the question.
Blessings abound,
Protected Peace
I tend to see faith as always including risk. But then all of my most satisfying moments have been when I risked all to make a change. So that is just me, I suppose.
As I read Mark's reflection, I was reminded of when I stepped down as board president of a relatively young non-profit that I helped co-found and into the role of director of that non-profit. We had gone through 3 part-time directors in about as much time. Each time we had a new director it was as if we were starting once again from zero and I simply did not want to loose the momentum that we had again begin to have. Our budget for the year was just over $20K. We were talking very part-time. I was able to reduce my full-time clinical hours to part-time at the developmentally disabled habilitation center I worked for because of Governor Weicker's abrupt slash in the state budget which laid off a dozen or so of our employees. My going part-time allowed the agency to keep on a full-time worker during this crisis. It wasn't a long term solution but it helped.
As I began to work part-time as the director of this developing agency, I came to the conclusion that the only way to keep the agency moving forward was if I quit my other position and work full time as director. I did not know if I would be hired as the director of this agency on a more permanent basis. Nor did I know if there would be funds to support me on a full-time basis. Or if the agency would even survive this latest transition from the previous director.
My friends at the time all told me not to do this. They were devout Charismatic Christians as I was at that time. And they believed that they had the gift of discernment and assured me that God would not want me to make this kind of a risk. That did not make sense to me. I mean, Abraham was asked to risk his son at the altar and the risk I was contemplating didn't involve killing my own flesh and blood. I was still weighed down by this decision. I knew what needed to be done if the agency was to fulfill its mission.
Then one hot July morning, I was pumping gas and a song came on the radio, Jeffrey Gaines' "Hero in Me." I had never heard the song before and it blew me away. I broke into tears at the lines "Here in my security I don't make a move unless my friends approve. I do what's expected of me" I thought here was as much assurance as I was going to get and I drove to my clinical job and gave my notice that day. And my friends told me I was crazy--worse they told I was being disobedient to God.
I began to work full-time on part-time pay. At one point the agency had no money to pay me and I continued working. Somehow my needs were met. People gave me money, food, etc., and I trucked on knowing, deeply knowing that this was what I needed to do. The agency began to grow. I began to win sizeable grants to build programs. I hired staff. And the people we served were grateful for our being there for them when no-one else would be, their congregations had thrown them out, their families had thrown them out and there was no where else for them to turn. It was a remarkable journey towards where I am today and I am filled with gratitude for life's possibilities.
So back to Mark's provocative question: Is there faith without risk? What my experience has given me is an incredible knowing that all is well. That the physical plane does not reveal all that is going on. The physical plane is only one piece of the puzzle to this mysterious thing we call life. I don't think I was acting out of blind faith... I wasn't blind in what I did, I had a clear vision of where I was going. Blind faith is only looking at one set of indicators and not seeing it and acting anyway. I saw what could be and it came to be.
Is faith with no or limited risk, faith? I would like to say, of course it is. But my gut is saying no. So what do we have faith in--absolute faith--no resistance to the notion of it being true that doesn't contain risk? Faith that the ground I walk on is stable? Or that my house/apartment is going to continue to provide shelter as long as I desire it--even in the face of a Hurricane or a Tsunami? Or that my partner/my friends will remain in my life? Or that I will always have sufficient income? Faith that my workplace will continue to exist and not disappear due to a plane crashing into it? These are everyday aspects of faith that we, most of us, take for granted as being there. Sure things in the minds of many. So are these not acts of faith? We know that all of these things could change in an instant; that we could discover that our partner left us, the house destroyed by a hurricane or earthquake, or suddenly we are found unemployed. There is risk. It might seem slim to us but risk nonetheless. But to the people who discovered their house, their employment gone because of Katrina, where is their faith now? Is it stronger? Is it weaker? Is it non-existent? Or has it shifted to faith located somewhere else?
Doesn't it all depend on how they think about their life? Doesn't it depend on what they think about their current circumstances as to where they go from here?
Do they think... I am a survivor, I have always been a survivor, things have always worked out for me and this will too? Or do they think... my god my god, why have you forsaken me? I am ruined, I will never make it through this.
Are the outcomes different based on their thinking about the situation? Does one person have more faith than the other?
Thank you Mark for the question.
Blessings abound,
Protected Peace
# posted by ProtectedPeace @ 10:13 AM 
