Our One and Only

When it comes to living in peace, we humans fail miserably at times.

Actually, most times, I think.  The reason may be that we fail at understanding others.  We claim to have a good understanding of ourselves, our political positions, our desires, our beliefs, our goals, but I wonder if that is really true.

If I am solid in my self-understanding, I should be open to hearing and understanding others, shouldn't I?

Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior. I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses, says the LORD. - Isaiah 43:10-12

In today's reading from Isaiah, we hear something that can sound threatening to a Christian.  "Besides me, there is no savior," says the Lord.

But Christians don't find this talk of one god to be a problem, even though we believe in a Triune God, one god in three presences or persons.

I am sure you would agree that it would have been a lot easier for the early followers of Jesus to have kept quiet about his divine nature.  Why start trouble?

They could have accepted him as a great prophet who had a deep understanding of the nature of God and stopped there.  If they had done that, they might have avoided persecution and martyrdom.

But rather than take the easy path, they chose to tell a story that turned people against them, the story of the Messiah and his message.

Who would have thought that message would be so threatening to others today, so many centuries after the bloody and gruesome religious battles of the past?

The real question is, do we really believe what we say we believe?

I believe that is the question we need to be addressing in our churches every week.  Because if we truly believe what we profess in our creed, then we should be able to explain it to others, not to convert them, but to have a common language, a common ground for expressing our passion for loving each other, as Jesus commanded.

So long as we are afraid to talk about our faith, and to share our understanding of God's presence in our lives, our silence will keep us from truly living.

There used to be a commercial for a cigarette brand with the slogan, "I would rather fight than switch."  I wonder if that is how the majority of Christians feel about their faith.  By fighting for our faith, I don't mean being aggressive and violent as some are in God's name.  I mean standing up for what we believe and explaining it with conviction.

I think it is worth doing, to show, we too believe in one God, who exists in our lives and in us and will be there for ever and ever.

More to come...


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