Why I Believe, II

God intervenes in our world.

And because God intervenes in our world, many people have experienced God in direct ways. Over the course of more than three thousand years, they've passed their experiences along through the way that they've lived, through what they've written and said, and through a respect for the sacred that is the foundation for religion tradition.

The writings and stories that have been passed down to us reflect very different modes of though, and social structures. But a consistent picture is revealed through the old testament of a God who protects and loves us, and a humanity whose receptiveness to that message varied with their need. Finally, in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, we learn God how tried to reach across the gulf that separates us from Him, and sent his son, our Lord. And we killed him. And we continue to kill him, but God loves us still.

The stories were written by men and women who had a direct experience of the divine. They anchor a long tradition. I don't believe that they got everything right, God is too big, and we are too fallible. But they got enough right to make sure that those who followed within their tradition would continue to struggle with what it means to live in relationship to a loving, merciful God.

Finally, am an heir to that tradition, which passed to me from both of my parents, and from my experiences in a succession of churches where the word of God was preached, and his sacraments offered. I believe that my wife and I have passed this tradition on to our children, and that they to struggle to live in relationship to a loving, merciful God. As an heir, I recognize both the privileges and responsibilities that come professing to follow Jesus, and the still greater challenges and rewards that come from actually trying to do so.

Peace