Writing Our Faith Prompt #5

 

During the month of May, we are taking time to write down our faith, inspired by the Apostle Paul’s letters.  We are doing this not to be published or receive praise or pontificate to others.  We are writing down because so often faith lives within us unexpressed.  For faith to be faith, it needs to be released from the cobwebbed corners of our souls to see the light of day.  To be sure, this is vulnerable.  Someone may point out that we’ve contradicted ourselves.  We might notice where our understandings are not linear or logical, because faith isn’t always neat and tidy.  We might even write something that we don’t really believe, but think we are supposed to believe.  We might write down something, erase it, and realize we don’t quite know everything.

Remember a few weeks ago that the disciples, standing right before the resurrected Jesus, had faith and doubts.  Why should you or I be any different?  Secondly, as we are writing, I invite you to do this not as an isolated, individual project, but turn this into a group sharing moment.  Call up someone else in church to talk about a hymn that is meaningful and why the words of that hymn make a difference.  Talk to someone about an experience of the sacred, even if you can’t find the “right” words, try anyway.  And then, listen to your conversation partner’s encounter with the holy.

Today, I want to invite you to do a five senses portrait of someone you love.  This person could be still living or now in God’s embrace.  To do this, start by bringing into your heart and mind someone you love.  Now, remember a food that the two of you shared ~ write that down.  Now, remember a sound or song the two of you shared ~ write that down.  Now, recall a moment of touch between yourself and the other ~ write that down.  Now, a smell you associate with that person.  Now, a sight or place that makes you think of that person. 

Here is an example of what I mean.  One food that makes me think of Gina is homemade rolls because she made those for me early on in our relationship ~ from scratch ~ hot from the oven with melted butter.  When I taste a warm roll, I think of Gina.  A sound could be the song we danced to at our wedding, which could also be a touch that comes into my mind as we moved across the dance floor.  A smell could be pine trees in the Boundary Waters of MN where we spent our honeymoon, which could also be a place that the two of us share. 

Why are we doing this?  Thank you for asking!  One central part of Paul’s theology is that we,  you and I, are an embodied/incarnational/in the flesh/living expression of faith.  It makes all the difference that God comes to us human-sized wearing skin.  God, in Jesus, is born as a vulnerable infant.  God, in Jesus, experiences hunger, thirst, sweats, cries, laughs, eats meals, has friendship, and feels love.  God, in Jesus, is betrayed, denied, suffers on a cross, and faces death.  God, in Jesus, shows us new life where faith and doubts can be held together within us.  One of the ways we experience the Eternal is through our bodies, which is why I am asking you to pay attention to your five senses today and this week.  I pray this writing prompt awakens memories and holy moments within you.  Amen.