May 19, 2024
A JOURNEY OF FAITH
Faith is a journey. We do not believe today what we believed five, ten, twenty or fifty years ago. Our hearts, our minds, the call of God’s Holy Spirit on our hearts has led us in many different directions. Some of us may have lost our faith somewhere along the way, and something led us back to God. Some of us may have been members of different denominations; some of us may have gone years before finally finding a fellowship of believers to which we were called to belong and in which we could feel comfortable.
All of us have been challenged in so many ways and pulled in so many different directions that in the final analysis, we can only go where our hearts, the call of God’s Spirit, and our intuition will lead us to go.
Faith is a personal journey. No pastor can give you faith. No pastor should demand what your beliefs ought to be. God has created us with minds that ought to think and question our beliefs. God will lead us in the right direction. In spite of what all of us may have heard at one time or another in our lives, it is not wrong to doubt, it is not wrong to search, and it is not wrong to be led in a direction where we feel our beliefs resonate with us. Our personal spirituality, in the final analysis, is much more important than what we call religion or doctrine. But spirituality also demands a much greater commitment on our parts to seek the truth of what we may or may not believe.
To our confirmands I can only say, “Follow your hearts, pray, and listen for the answers you seek.” For all of us who in this place call ourselves Christians, we are also called to guide our footsteps in life by the words and actions of Jesus. When all else fails, the age-old questions, “What would Jesus do” coupled with “what would God want me to do” will lead us and guide us to the answers we seek.
As we all move through life, God’s Spirit will always be with us and within us to lead us if we ask for direction and if we follow our intuition and our hearts. When challenges come, when trials come, when we are faced with sickness and loss, God is with us, we are not alone. Thanks be to God.
May we all remember the life, the words, and the works of Jesus as we go through our lives and may they be a guide for us and for our confirmands. Amen.
