"That song will never sell," he thought to himself.
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Today is Palm Sunday he’d heard the radioman say. Two thousand years ago they lined the road with palm fronds as Jesus rode into town on a donkey. He was on a roll. The events at the ending of this Lenten season go quickly now. In this short week we see the celebration turn to betrayal, suffering, and death. Then back to celebration as they roll away the stone and find their leader has risen again.
It’s a good story. You have to have faith to see it as something more. Faith – the belief in that which we don’t have proof of. In our scientific world we like proof, give me the data, the facts, the figures. Show me.
There are lots of things in our lives that demand faith if we are to live as compassionate, caring, loving, and eventually - transcendent human beings. Not creature-like only concerned with the here, the now, but rather with faith in things beyond what we see.
Faith in love. Faith in the goodness of all people. Faith that something, someone, is looking out for us. Faith in fidelity. Faith in friendship. Faith in family. Faith in our leaders, teachers, ministers.
So many times our faith is tested. The data doesn’t support the hypothesis. But that’s the story. Jesus loved the world and all the people in it. God so loved the world that he gave his only son to suffer and die on the cross for us, for our sins, so we can be forgiven and forgive others.
If we give up our faith and stop accepting the mystery, then what?
Then we live in the here and now, and it’s often an ugly place. You can find all sorts of things to wring your hands over, obsess over, hate – everyday. There are lots of facts that show us this is an ugly place to live in. Without some way to transcend this life we are stuck in the muck. People killing people, hurting people, starving people, betraying the trust of those unable to take care of themselves. It’s all on the news. We have to look out – look out for ourselves. Make sure we get our piece of the pie. There isn’t enough for everyone.
Faith, the ability to transcend our rationality – to be irrational, exuberant, joy-filled in the face of the ugliness that is brought into this world by human creatures. That simple faith can allow us to do things that would be unthinkable otherwise. Certainly there have been cases of very bad unthinkable things done in the name of faith. But because we have faith in the good we can care for the sick, the poor, the imprisoned, the addicted and forgive the wicked – having faith that all can be redeemed.
Faith to sit and listen, to work, to fight for goodness – even in the face of unbearable sadness – to witness, not to proselytize with words, but to live lives of faith.
To show, not to say.
To be.
He wrote as he sat - in his comfortable chair.
