London Commuters by Ian Britton: courtesy of Freefoto.com

To have faith in the risen Lord is to have been embraced by him in love. While this is a life-changing moment, in other respects nothing has changed. To be alone, jostling with the crowds in London, is one example of how there is still with each one of us - at different moments and situations - anxiety about the outcome of things, a sense of one's unacceptableness, even un-faith and a feeling of meaninglessness in our lives. When we responded to the Lord, in faith as we say, certainly we knew that we had been accepted in all our unacceptableness. While that bond of love remains and cannot be shaken, yet to have faith often assumes that we are able to exhibit 'the courage to be' in every circumstance - or at least everyone else assumes that we are so capable as Christians! Is there a 'dark' side to our lives as Christians? How can faith in Jesus the Lord enable us to have The Courage to Be?

The faith that we are considering here is what people have called 'absolute faith'. That does not mean, as some have said, making a 'leap in the dark'. It is an entering into a relationship with the Lord who has come to us. It is not, in the end, dependent upon our acceptance of the creeds of the churches or theological statements or even our acceptance of the Scriptures as 'revelation'. All these things may have helped us but in the long run we are, as we say, 'on our own' - except for the risen Christ to whom we have said 'Yes'. To put it another way, faith is built on our need for acceptance, our fears and anxieties of living and our fear of death and annihilation.

So there are two aspects of the life of faith in the risen Lord - and of the Father. There is the undoubted relationship we have through the faith that has replied to their coming to meet each one of us in love. But, secondly, all of us are still aware - if we are honest - that there remains in each of us the sense that un-faith, anxiety, doubt and perhaps a feeling of residual 'meaninglessness' still dog our footsteps at various times in our lives. The first was clearly set out by Paul -

... I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 9: 38-39)

Faith and our commitment to the risen Lord is, in an essential way, upheld by him. This is a strong statement but it represents how the initiative is always from his side. Certainly it makes faith seem like an invulnerable part of our lives as Christians. Without his 'upholding' in this way we would easily fall away. And that brings us to the second aspect of faith. Our vulnerability was well expressed by the psalmist -

I remember the days of old,
I think about all your deeds,
I meditate on the works of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
My soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

... Do not hide your face from me,
or I shall be like those who go down to the pit. (Psalm 143: 5-7.)

Alone among the crowds, alone in my own family and pursuits, we can be vulnerable to un-faith. Seeing the meaninglessness of existence for many, seeing the pain and suffering of others and our own un-acceptableness, the future can sometimes only seem like 'the Pit' looming ahead of us. It can happen to any one of us. Faith then can seem like a sham put up simply to shield us from the inevitable failure that lies ahead. Churches in the West have for centuries placed a lot of emphasis on our getting rid of this failure on our part by asking for repentance in church services. This was directly influenced by the Western emphasis on the saving death of Jesus on the cross. The Eastern church has sought to show the other side of the redemption in the victory of God in the death and transformation of Jesus as the Christ. But the actuality is that we are called to live a life of repentance outside the community of faith where we meet what I have called the darker side of our faith.

The strange thing is that in confronting the inevitable, daily 'crisis' in faith - we are able to respond in terms of the love and strength of the risen Lord. We are all aware that, in daily life, opposition from whatever source can strengthen our resolve to fight on for what is right. In the relationship of absolute faith in the risen Jesus we are enabled to stand up to the demons that seem to arise on every side. It is this 'cross' nature of daily life as a Christian that actually gives us the resolve to keep following. There are some of us who are more vulnerable than others in the community of faith. But courage comes to us all when we acknowledge to ourselves, as fact, that there will be this opposition to our faith relationship. We can then say to ourselves, confidently, that we can have The Courage to Be, whatever our feelings at the time.

It is in our daily coping with these challenges to our faith that we are always entering into that metanoia, literally turning round back to the Lord, repentance. Perhaps worship in community can then be as it is poetically viewed in the revelation of John the divine -

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure" -- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Revelation 19: 6-9)