Religion in Daily Life

By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

Rector, All Saints' Church

(215) 637-5225

Sunday, 2 March 2003

http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org

What or who do you put at the center of your faith?

Some people put the Bible at the center of their faith. The books of the Bible were written over a thousand year period by many different authors. These authors wrote as human beings. They wrote out of their experience and understanding of God which "breathed into them" (inspired them). Nevertheless, for Christians, the "Word of God" did not become paper and ink, but was embodied in the human life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Some people put the Church at the center of their faith. The Church is the community of faith -- the community of Israel in the centuries before Jesus' birth and the community of Christians after Jesus' death and resurrection. Out of these communities of faith came the sacred scriptures we call the Bible. Nevertheless, the Church is a community of fallible, imperfect human beings. Although we value this fellowship of believers across the centuries, we cannot let the Church eclipse its Lord.

Some people put holy men and women at the center of their faith. These "saints" can include Mary, the mother of Jesus, the well-known saints of the early days, or other outstanding personalities through the centuries. Nevertheless, to put a human being at the center of faith is to substitute worship of the creature instead of the Creator. Of course, the saints preserve us by their witness and their wit, but they ought not to be at the center of faith.

Some people put Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ at the center of their faith. A former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, wrote: "The central fact of Christianity is not a Book but a Person-Jesus Christ, himself described as the Word of God." Nevertheless, the first Christians were careful in the titles they used about Jesus. He is called "the Son of God", "the Wisdom of God", "the Word of God", and "the Image of God". Jesus was always pointing beyond himself to "The Father."

I believe that Jesus put that Eternal Being whom he called "The Father" at the center of faith. At age 12, he replied to his parents, "Didn't you know that I had to be doing what my Father wanted me to do?" (Luke 2:49, TEV). At the moment of death, he cried out in a loud voice, "Father! In your hands I place my spirit! (Luke 23:46). To the woman at the well, Jesus said the time was coming when "people will worship the Father as he really is" (John 4:23, TEV). At the Last Supper, Jesus said his way of love was the way to the Father. I believe at the center of faith is "Our Father."