Thursday, December 21, 2006

Out of Nowhere

A few months ago, I became a subscriber to Lane Denson's Out of Nowhere. His essay today, simply titled "Thomas," came by e-mail, this being the feast day of St. Thomas. It's a moving meditation on the doubt with which Thomas is so often charged, turning then to the role of doubt and evidence and faith and risk and trust in our lives. Including this quite powerful (to me) insight:

Faith is risk, and risk wouldn't be risk without doubt. And faith that comes only after evidence is no faith at all. It is trust, yes, but not faith. Faith is that act of the will, that daring commitment that climbs out on life's limbs and leaps. And that is all the evidence we get. Faith creates trust.

It works two ways. My leap of faith is a kind of evidence for me and maybe also for you. And your leap is a kind of evidence for you and also maybe for me. Our faith as a community – all that touch and go – is what makes church church. The ekklesia – the called – doesn't even deserve the name if it is not first and foremost a community of this kind of faith – and probably of doubt, as well. And there is no evidence for that – even the kind that moves mole hills, let alone mountains – until there is a pulsing, dynamic, non-judging heart of love at its core.
Something about those words speaks to me most deeply this week as I ponder the role of faith, trust, and love in my personal life as well as my spiritual life. Thank you, Lane.

You can find his archived meditations at Out of Nowhere. If you like what you see, send a blank e-mail to join-oon@go.netatlantic.com to subscribe to his almost-daily messages, which you'll receive by e-mail.

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