Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth, and he said that if salt loses its saltiness, then it is worthless. What did Jesus mean by calling his followers “salt?”

 I think he meant that we are to do what salt does.

 If I add salt to food, the flavor of the food is enhanced. The best cooks add only enough salt to bring out the flavor of the food, not so much salt that the saltiness overwhelms the flavor. Salt brings out natural flavors, much as a light reveals objects hidden by darkness.

 If we know what salt is and what it does, what does that mean for our lives in the faith? I think it means that as we go about our daily lives, we are to have an effect on the flavor of our culture.

 There is considerable evidence that we Christians have not done a very good job of flavoring our culture. One of the big lies of our day is that people love Buddhism, because it is a way of life, and they reject Christianity, because it is a system of beliefs. Jesus never suggested that his followers carry a checklist of beliefs with them and post it everywhere. While some Christians have tried to create theocracies and haul people into court for religious transgressions, Jesus did not teach us to do that. Jesus said, “If you want to be my follower, you must knock SELF off the throne of your heart, pick up the instrument of your own death and carry it with you wherever I lead you.” [my paraphrase of Luke 9:23] A system of beliefs is shaped in a theological courtroom. A way of life is shaped as we go about living selfless lives and following  Jesus. In fact, the last words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven as translated in the International Standard Version read, “as you go, disciple ….” [Matthew 28:19] In other words, “Whatever you are doing, wherever you go, keep talking about me.”

 If we are going to be the salt of the earth, then we need to be sprinkling salt around no matter where we go, no matter what we are doing. The official word for that kind of activity is “testimony.” Our testimony is often misinterpreted as a vehicle for proselytizing. If our testimony is true, then it will almost certainly attract converts, but that is not the only reason for testimony, or for being salt. We testify, because the gospel bubbles up inside and demands to be released.

 The Psalmist had the same experience we have. He said that in the presence of the wicked, he was tempted to shut up and not speak about the Lord. It didn’t work. He said, “I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse, my heart became hot within me. While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue.” [Psalm 39:2-3] We need to speak of our faith and to act on our faith, because it is the truth and because the truth wants out. As Thomas Long said, in Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian, “We would need to talk about God to be truthful, to be whole, for life to be full.” 

 In the book of Revelation, John, the author, depicts world history in a phantasmagoria of flaming violence. His graphic imagery shows us the importance of worship and testimony. His original audience lived in a culture that worshiped human beings and imaginary gods, all represented by exquisite statuary housed in magnificent architecture. We twentieth century Christians tend to focus on the fact that the gods were fake and to forget that they were the instruments of political power. To worship the emperor was to commit oneself publicly to his agenda. Christians were not suppressed out of any fear of their faith or their God; they were suppressed because their unwillingness to worship the emperor made them political enemies.

 It is the same today. The political fear of religious expression is a fear of the way that expression impacts behavior. Our faith is a slap in the face to legalism, political sellouts, and speech deliberately crafted to hide truth.

 We Christians must resist the temptation to shut up about our faith as a polite response to cultural fear of our faith words. We must speak truth, and we must be fearless and resolute about it. I don’t suggest that we march in the streets with placards that read “The End is Near.” Rather, I suggest that just as we would freely talk about a new baby in the family or a child about to graduate from college, we talk about what God is doing in our lives. We need to reject political correctness, which is, by the way, censorship of free speech, and speak truth. We must speak and act with honesty and commitment to our faith in order to protect our right to continue doing that.

 This assertion may sound aggressive. Maybe it is. However, it is rooted in my belief that the founders of this country had it right when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence that liberty is a right given by God to every human. I believe that as a human being, God has granted me liberty to choose what I will believe. God gives me the freedom to be a Buddhist or a Muslim or an atheist or a Christian or any other form of religion or non-religion. I believe that God gives me the liberty to believe what I choose and to act on that belief insofar as it does not harm others, and I believe that when I tell the truth about what God means to me and what he does in my life, I am not harming anyone. I likewise believe that if a Muslim wants to observe Ramadan, he is not harming me. I don’t believe I should be prohibited from praying, and I don’t believe an atheist should be forced to pray. According to our founding documents, and according to the Constitution, we both have the right to free expression of our views.

 We Christians are in danger of trying to be so correct politically that we lose our saltiness. If we shut up and go underground and stop being visible in the culture, we will not add any flavor to society. We need to stop hiding. We need to practice our faith in full view of the world. Jesus told us never to stop talking about him. It is time for us to speak and live the truth in public. We need to sprinkle the salt of God’s truth all around. If we do that, maybe human society won’t leave such a bad taste in our mouths.

The gospel of Matthew opens with the story of Joseph’s dream in which an angel reassures him about Mary’s pregnancy, telling him that it is the fulfillment of God’s promise of the Messiah, whose name, “Emmanuel” means “God is with us.” The gospel continues with the story of Jesus’ life and work. The last words of Jesus in this gospel are, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:20] At the time when Matthew wrote, late in the first century, people who had seen Jesus in the flesh were dying off. The growing community of faith needed to be reminded that the indwelling Holy Spirit was the evidence that God truly was present with them and in them.

All these thousands of years later, we still need that reminder. When circumstances conspire to make us feel afraid and helpless, Satan tempts us to think that God has abandoned us. He makes us ask, “If God loves you, why did this terrible thing happen?” We need reassurance that the Holy Spirit is truly present and that in the person of the Holy Spirit, God never abandons us.

My husband and I recently had an experience that brought home the truth that God is always with us, even when we are not paying attention. It is important for us to remember that God’s presence with us does not negate the operation of the laws of physics or meteorology. God has promised that as long as the laws of nature work the way they are supposed to, his love is sure. We want those laws to work. However, when we become captive to them and unable to help ourselves, then it is very good to know that God is with us and that he will work for our good in amazing and wonderful ways. Above all that, whether or not the outcome is just what we hoped for, he is present with us to give us peace with the situation as it develops for good or ill.

We cruised southward one morning toward a destination about a day’s sail from our departure point. As will happen to sailors, however, along the way, we spied a little cove on the chart that looked attractive. We said to ourselves that we could go to our planned destination the next day as we turned aside to our new adventure. We studied the charts, and we studied the notes in guide books. I stood on the bow to spot hazards, and Larry was at the helm to steer to our anchorage.

As will happen sometimes, we became disoriented in the unfamiliar surroundings. Then, caught in a current and uncertain of the correct course, we ran aground. As we tried to steer off the reef, the engine stopped and refused to restart.

In the US, such a situation is annoying, but not the end of the world. Boaters unable to free themselves simply call for a tow, sigh at the cost if they don’t have insurance, and move on. In the Bahamas, the situation is much different. There is no tow service. The Bahamian rescue service is truly focused on rescue in life-and-death situations. A simple mistake that puts a boat aground is the boater’s problem. Boaters are responsible for themselves, and they are well-advised to stay out of trouble if they don’t know how to deal with it. “Knowing” that is the result of reading how to deal with the problem is not, however, the same thing as “knowing” as a result of having done it. We had read the solution, but we had never performed the solution.

On the off chance that there might be someone around who operated a tow service anyway, we made a radio call. No result. Hoping that the Bahamian rescue service could put us in touch with someone who could tow us off, we called them. They could not hear us, although later a marina manager served as a relay between us and them. Still, that communication only confirmed their commitment to rescue if lives were in danger.

Every day as we sail or motor in our adventures, I pray that we will have wisdom to use our skills and experience in whatever circumstances come our way. I always pray that we will be safe. This day was no exception, but sitting aboard our grounded vessel, not knowing how we would ever get free without an engine, I prayed that we would see a solution. We knew that the recommended course of action involved deploying an anchor in deeper water and using it to pull ourselves off the rocks, but it was going to take time to do that job, because our dinghy was deflated and wrapped up on deck. We could not possibly throw the anchor far enough to help, and we could not inflate the dinghy, deploy it in the water, attach the outboard and get the anchor out very soon. We were in a big mess.

Then we heard a call on the radio. “No Boundaries, No Boundaries. This is Duet.” When we answered the call, we learned that a couple anchored behind a nearby island had heard our radio distress call. They had the “knowing” that comes from experience with grounding, and they were on their way to help. I prayed thanks that someone was coming, even if all they did was keep us company. When they arrived, however, they wasted no time in helping us get started with the solution that would actually get us off the rocks.

I remember that when we first went aground, I began to pray, and even as the hopeless surges of fear arose in my stomach, I also felt reassured that something would work. Most of all, I felt reassured that God was with us, a sense of things that only grew more certain as Bill and Barb from S/V Duet worked side by side with us to get us off those rocks. We all worked for hours, because this was no trivial problem. The wind was blowing at more than 20 mph, a great speed for sailing, but problematic in this situation. The tidal currents at the time of our grounding complicated our problem, because they were running strongly in a direction that forced us farther onto the reef. Around noon, the tide changed, and by then we were ready to take advantage of the current, thanks to our wonderful new friends. Around 1:30 in the afternoon, we all sat down in the cockpit to rest. The boat was afloat. Two anchors held us in place against both wind and current. As our new friends departed in their dinghy, we gave thanks for their help and for our new safe location. We felt deeply blessed by the kindness of these people. The Bible tells of many situations in which angels arrive to give messages and help people, and we felt pretty sure that Bill and Barb were angels. In days to come, they followed up with radio calls to be sure we were doing well. When we overheard their response to another boat that had run aground nearby, we became convinced that they were, indeed, angels, and the crew of the other boat agreed with us.

Our situation was no longer dire, but we still did not have an engine. Because our boat is a sailboat, however, we did have the option to sail out of the anchorage if Larry were unable to repair the engine. Bill and Barb had specifically planned for that possibility when they left us anchored directly in front of the entrance to the cove. We all thought that position poised us for success if we had to sail out. When all was said and done, Larry and I gave thanks for our new friends, and we gave thanks for God’s care for us in the difficult situation. The heavy weight of fear that had seized us at the moment of grounding was lifted, and we felt genuine relief.

The next day, we were still safely at anchor, but much more uncomfortable. The weather had changed. Winds directly from the east were pushing big waves at us, and we were pummeled by the combination of the waves from the ocean and the ferocious tidal currents. We could not possibly sail out against the combined force of wind and current. Our anchors were under fearful strain, which began to produce a new problem. Our primary anchor was equipped with heavy chain all the way to its point of attachment to the boat. Our secondary, however, had only 75 feet of chain, after which the remaining rode was rope. The way we had anchored the first day put the secondary anchor in a location that gave it the primary stress on the second day, and that stress was beginning to chafe the rope rode. We scrambled to find gear to prevent the chafing, but none of our interventions was reliable for any length of time. We could not remain anchored like this, because the chafing would eventually part our rope rode, and we would lose our secondary anchor. We could not go, and we could not stay. Larry struggled with the engine problem to no avail. We prayed and watched and did what we could to alleviate the situation.

Once again, Bill from Duet stepped in to help. He saw a passing boat with huge twin outboards, and he hailed the captain with a request to help us move to a better location. After M/V Cutting Edge arrived, he helped us raise both of our anchors and then towed our boat to a location out of the current and more sheltered from wind. We felt pretty sure that he was an angel, too, and we prayed God’s blessings on him as he departed to continue his fishing trip. Again, we felt blessed and secure. Our new location was a place where we could safely remain until we either got the engine going or saw the right window to sail out, even if that were many days hence. We could not doubt for a minute that God was present with us. Once again, just when we were at the end of our abilities, God provided what we needed.

The next day was Sunday. As we prepared for our normal worship aboard, we commented to each other that we had more reason than usual to worship and praise God. So many good things had happened to us that we surely needed to give him thanks and praise more than ever. We could not focus on the bad things. They seemed trivial by comparison with our blessings. We worshiped. We prayed. We sang psalms and hymns. We celebrated God’s presence and power in our lives. We had no doubt that he was watching over us, present with us.

That afternoon, Larry went back to work on the engine. He went back to step one for analysis and trouble-shooting. He worked deliberately through all the steps, and eventually the moment came when the engine roared back to life. Again, we had something to be thankful for. The final piece of the solution was in place. We were no longer refugees looking for a way out; we were again cruisers exploring and adventuring. We shouted our thanks to God, and then we prayed together.

Throughout this experience we had the comforting presence of God in the midst of all our troubles. God did not step in and overturn the laws of nature. He did not work any magic on the boat or the engine. He did not teleport us to a diesel mechanic, or teleport a mechanic to us. He simply remained with us all the way. The solution worked out in simple steps. At each step, we felt relieved and thankful, and at each step we first thought that we ourselves would be able to manage the next step. When that proved impossible, God gave us just what we needed, no more and no sooner than we needed it. Materials managers would call it “Just in Time.” We call it God’s faithful provision and presence in our lives.

This probably won’t be the last time we go aground. People who cruise in the Bahamas take that possibility as a given. If we do ground again, we have the experience, enlightened by our angelic friends from S/V Duet, to help ourselves. We are learning a variety of skills in navigation, weather and survival. All that learning and growth is good. The best thing we have learned, however, is not about us. It is about God. We have learned that God truly is with us. He never abandons us. He gives us peace when we have no idea how we will solve or survive the next problem. This peace transcends any skill level or accomplishment we might ever have.

I have not always relied on God the way I do now. I am learning more and more every day how critical his presence is. Far from making me reckless, the confidence that he is present makes me more careful. When I am frightened, it allows me to do what my mother called, “making haste slowly,” to take my time to get all the facts and move forward with care. Knowing that God is with us, we have the peace to assess the situation and make a better decision. Knowing that God is with us, we know that he won’t abandon us if our best guess is wrong.

I am glad that Matthew recorded the story of Joseph’s dream and the explanation of the name “Emmanuel.” I’m glad that Matthew’s story of Jesus repeats that theme as Jesus’ promise to all generations. The promise and the experience of God’s presence enrich my life every day. When Satan tempts me to wonder if God cares or to ask why God let this happen, I can respond with faith nurtured by experience. Faith must, by definition, act in the absence of certainty, but my certainty about past experience builds up my faith that future experiences will only reveal more about the wonderful presence of God. I don’t know what else I will learn about prayer as we travel, but I have already learned that God is not kidding when he says, “I will not leave you or forsake you.”

A lot of people have called Jesus a revolutionary, and they usually say it in support of their own political and social agendas. Socialism as a form of government and the forcible redistribution of wealth and property by legal and police power is viewed by some as the natural outgrowth of revolutionary ideas of Jesus. In fact, violent and abusive language and forcible, oppressive political action are even now in the USA being attributed to a commitment to Jesus’ revolutionary teachings. That conclusion does not make sense to me.

Jesus lived and worked in a country oppressed by the Roman Empire. Roman government was, for Romans, representative, but for conquered territories, the experience of government was the experience of very real oppression. Roman government may have been enlightened in comparison with Assyrian government, but it doesn’t look very appealing to the eyes of a citizen of the USA. The government was corrupt at every level, and nobody at any level had much interest in addressing that problem. As long as the emperor got what he wanted, he did not care what happened at the lower levels, and the same could be said of most of the officeholders at any level.

In Galilee and Judea, tax collectors and soldiers were the most visible symbols of Roman power. Tax collectors had an obligation to produce a certain amount of revenue for Rome from the people in their assigned regions, but Rome paid the tax collectors very poorly, expecting that they had the means and opportunity to take care of themselves. The reputation of tax collectors was that they collected far above the requirements and became rich by stealing from the people. Soldiers had the right to demand service from private citizens. Since soldiers were physically strong, well armed and backed by other soldiers, people could not very well refuse the orders of a soldier, even if he demanded some unauthorized service, or even if the soldier quite literally robbed them.

If Jesus had been the kind of revolutionary who wanted to cut the rich down to size by force and take their wealth and give it to the poor, he would have behaved very differently than the record shows. He certainly taught that people who had wealth and property should share it with those who had need, but he did not appoint any human being to tell people with wealth how much of their wealth they could not keep or to whom they should give it. In fact, Jesus missed a great opportunity to have named a council of wealth redistribution when he called his disciples. Jesus could have started a tax rebellion when the priests asked if he thought they should pay taxes. He missed any number of opportunities to rebuke Rome and stir the people into rebellion. If Jesus had been a political and social revolutionary, or if he had considered himself a community organizer, he would have behaved very differently. It is likely that such behavior would have led to crucifixion, but the conversation with Pilate would have proceeded along different lines.

Jesus was a revolutionary, but his revolution was in the claim that everyone was responsible to God for his or her moral choices. He taught people to live by a standard higher than mere legal compliance, growing out of obedience to God’s law, not enforcement by humans. “Judge not, …” because he knew better than anyone what was inside us. He knew that if he appointed his followers to be judges of the rest of the people, arrogance and scorn would quickly supplant love and service as the priorities of his followers. Arrogance and scorn do not grow out of love, and seizing one person’s wealth to give it to another is not an act of service. Jesus wanted people to love and serve each other, but he focused his attention on individual transformation and individual responsibility. He expected that when individuals changed their attitudes, government and society would also change.

Furthermore, Jesus taught people not to use possessions as a measure of self-worth. If we think we only have value in terms of our possessions, we quickly lose our self-respect. We easily believe that God doesn’t love us due to the fact that he did not give us much possessions. The teaching that our worth is not based on our possessions would seem to fly in the face of a call to take possessions by force from those who have them and hand them out according to a legal guideline to those who have none. Jesus never suggested either that the people should rise up and overthrow the Roman government or that the Roman government ought to hand out benefits to the people.

Contrary to the mantra we hear from those who want to appropriate Jesus for socialist purposes, Jesus would be the last person to suggest that people give more of their money to government as a way of redistributing wealth. He could see what government employees did with that kind of power. They redistributed wealth, all right, from those who had it into their own coffers. They did it in Rome. They did it in the USSR. They do it today in the USA. Government revenues only enrich government. Jesus would not have been surprised by the complete failure of government programs such as the War on Poverty. That program has spent millions, even billions, ostensibly to eradicate poverty in the USA. If poverty could be eradicated by collecting more taxes, there would be no poverty in the USA today. Yet anyone with half a brain can see that there is still a lot of poverty in this country, and the most impoverished of all are those who have received the lion’s share of the money doled out by the government. Jesus knew and taught that human beings love money more than God and more than other people, which explains why the government keeps so much of those massive revenues to pay for buildings, for agencies to administer the money, and most of all for benefits for government employees and elected officials. And it behaves this way while humiliating and oppressing the poor who need help, giving them as little as possible in the name of giving only to those who “deserve” help. Jesus would never have expected anything else.

Jesus taught that people ought not to be selfish. He did not teach this idea as a moral standard, however. He taught it as the outgrowth of a real change of heart. Everything Jesus said that might be classified as an ethical teaching is rooted in his answer to the question about the most important law:

A lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  Matthew 22:25-39

Jesus said that our highest obligation as human beings is to love God. After that we are to love our neighbor. Jesus was completely devoted to the mission of removing Self from the throne of human hearts. He was never engaged in political action. He was not engaged in social action. He was not even engaged in religious action. Jesus came for the purpose of transforming human hearts. That is why he lived, and that is why he died, and that is why he rose again.

Jesus certainly wanted honest government and a society that cared for the sick and the poor. He, however, knew people well enough to know that the power of government attracts people and perverts their values. They may enter government service fully committed to act as God’s servants for the people, but it doesn’t take long for them to be bought off. Jesus faced that kind of temptation after he was baptized:

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”   Matthew 4:8-10

This temptation was about accomplishing the goal of changing society from the top down. Satan promised to stand back and let Jesus enact his social and political agenda if Jesus would worship Satan. In fact, it was a face to face between God and Satan. Jesus was God. So Satan was saying, “You just worship me, and I will leave the people on earth alone.” Satan was tempting Jesus to build a public façade that looked like his kingdom while being rotten at the core. This temptation is laid before every human being, but especially those who are part of government.

The evidence is all around us. Politics is unabashedly called the art of compromise. Earmarks and special favors for states or other entities are the outgrowth of the compromises our politicians make in order to achieve what they claim as great social progress. Jesus did not need anyone to tell him what was in people’s hearts, because he already knew, and Jesus did not try to enact a government as the outworking of his teachings, because he knew that a government would be an endless compromise – bowing down to Satan in order to pretend to be doing God’s work.

Jesus did not embark on a campaign of social reform by government mandate, a reform from the top down. He started with the foundation, a reform from the bottom up. Instead of leaving a government to administer the kingdom, Jesus started a church. Instead of creating a power structure, Jesus put his work in the hands of powerless people. Weak, helpless, frightened people were told that it was their job to take his message to the whole world. They have been doing that job for more than two thousand years now. Their power to do that work does not come from government; it comes from the Holy Spirit. Their work is successful, not because they have taken from the rich and given the wealth of the rich to people who did not earn it, but rather, because they have shared the message of God’s love and Jesus’ sacrificial and redeeming death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit has transformed many individuals, and the result is nothing less than spectacular. The consequence of this kind of transformation is that many people who have wealth have shared it generously with those who have nothing. Likewise, people with much less have shared also. In fact, people transformed by the Holy Spirit share constantly. They haven’t yet ended poverty on earth, but where they are working against poverty, the people live with dignity and self-confidence, rather than with the bowed head and broken hearts of those who have been devalued by government “welfare.”

This is the revolution Jesus wanted. He was completely about engaging in the battle we all lose when we fight it alone. None of us can dethrone Self when Satan keeps propping Self up. Only the indwelling Holy Spirit can dethrone Self and sit on the throne of the human heart against all the pressure Satan can bring to bear. Jesus came for the purpose of transforming human hearts one by one. He knew that trying to build a kingdom on the weak material of human will to do the right thing would be a complete failure. The only material strong enough to push back evil in the world is a human heart transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit, living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

God created people to be free. He did not create government in the beginning. He resisted the imposition of government when people wanted it, because he knew that government would be oppressive, not liberating, and that government would impoverish, not enrich, the people. He entered into government via people like Zaccheus, who were transformed by the Holy Spirit and whose honorable behavior transformed the way government was administered. This is still the way Jesus works.

The Bible makes it clear that the role of government is to keep violence at bay, not to force social change by legal theft. It is the role of people as individuals and people as private groups to assure that the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed and the sick are healed. These wonderful accomplishments are achieved as acts of loving service, not via government mandate, not as the outgrowth of class warfare against the rich. Jesus was a revolutionary, all right. He fomented a revolution in the hearts of human beings.

As I prepare to teach a class in the subject area of faith practices, I am well aware that many people of faith profess to have neither the time nor the inclination for any “practices.” They say that they believe in God, and they leave it at that. I respect their freedom to choose that plan, but I have learned that I need practice my faith. I pray that those who choose never to practice need never perform their faith.

A story is told about the great violinist Paganini. Someone invited him to a social gathering in the middle of the afternoon, and Paganini declined. His friend pressed him, but Paganini simply said that he needed to practice.

“Oh, surely you are joking,” his friend said. “The great Paganini? You are the master. You don’t need to practice.”

Paganini replied, “If I miss even one day of practice, I notice. If I miss two days of practice, the conductor notices. If I miss three days of practice, the whole world notices.”

Practicing our faith is much the same. Faith practices build our relationship with Christ in a manner analogous to the way music rehearsals build musical comprehension and artistry. Practice isn’t simply about doing the same thing over and over; it is about the growth in understanding that informs your practice and makes the performance more powerful.

We might take instruction from the behavior of the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus prayed. Jesus invited Peter, James and John to go apart from the other disciples and pray with him. Even Jesus wanted prayer partners as he prayed about the horror that faced him. He prayed so fervently that his sweat was like drops of blood. Jesus, completely human even as he was completely God, truly did not want to endure crucifixion. He prayed in the hope that there might be some other way to save humankind. He wanted the men he had named “friends” during supper to care enough to pray with him.

The friends, however, did not have the stamina to persevere in prayer with Jesus. He prayed for hours, and every time he went back to talk with them, they were asleep. He needed their fellowship in prayer, he needed their companionship, but they were not ready. They could not keep up. They needed more practice. Their faith was not yet up to strength for the work they had to do.

The same thing can happen to any of us. We are cruising along in the highway of life, believing in God without question, when along comes cancer, or the death of a child, or layoff, or divorce. We discover that we are living in a battleground, and we don’t know what weapons are available or how to use them. We need practice.

This is why I am teaching a class on faith practices. The practices of prayer, study, worship, invitation, encouragement, service and giving are not magic bullets against disaster. Skill and finesse in performance of the practices will not magically defuse the crises of human life. The value of practice is not the activity; the value is the way a practice builds relationship with our living Lord.  When football players run through a field of tires day after day, the coach does not reward them with a medal in tire-running. They get the reward in competition when they are able to make plays requiring agility and speed. So it is with us. We ask why it matters that we trust in the living Christ. We wonder why we need to know him better. We dispute the value of prayer or the meaning of stewardship. The practices are not about theology; they are about relationship.

When I was a child, the highway construction season meant that I seldom saw my father. He often left for work before I got up in the morning. It wasn’t uncommon for him to get home after the rest of us had eaten supper. One busy summer, he left so early and returned so late every day that I didn’t see him at all for several weeks. I didn’t notice it happening, but over the summer instead of wishing he would come home I began to fear that he would come home. When he did show up for supper, I didn’t know how to talk to him. We were not practicing the father/daughter relationship, and I, at least, didn’t know how to fix the situation. Fortunately, the season came to an end, and I was able to spend time daily with my father again. My relationship with my father was a cherished part of my life until his death in 1996.

The same thing happens when we fail to spend time with our heavenly father. It isn’t God’s fault. His schedule doesn’t change. He is always near, as David said, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:17 NRSV) We are the ones who wander. If we want to feel at home with God when trouble strikes, we need to spend time with him before the crisis. That is what faith practices are all about.

“Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire. “ – Thomas Merton

Cosmology is a fascinating field of study. We all want to know how the universe came to be, and we want to know how we humans fit into the big picture. Currently in the US, this topic has become an important issue for education. Everyone wants children to learn about the universe, but the questions about its origin and purpose have so many different answers that it has become a major problem in the content of science textbooks.

Positions on this contentious topic fall generally into three categories: 1 – those who believe that the universe was created by God, 2 – those who believe the universe must have been designed by someone greater than us, and 3 – those who believe the universe exists by chance, subject to laws we are only beginning to discover.

There is a deep gulf between a conviction that we are created by God Almighty who loves us and a contention that something greater than ourselves designed the universe. I honor people who research the universe and conclude that it did not happen by chance. They demonstrate honesty in their work that is refreshing. I actually do not expect science to discover God, only his work.

There is an even deeper gulf between a belief that the universe was created by God and a belief that the universe occurred by chance as the outcome of natural law. Many, but not all, who prefer to believe that natural law explains everything, doubt or actively reject the concept of God. It is very difficult for people who believe there is a God who created everything to talk with people who reject the existence of any god at all.

Quite naturally, people who believe in God prefer that their children not be taught that the universe exists by chance. Just as naturally, people who do not believe in God prefer that their children not be taught what they consider to be a fairytale. When this conversation is stirred into a political stew flavored with differences over the meaning of the term “separation of church and state” the resulting discourse becomes extremely heated.

I am grateful to live in a country where this conversation in all its variations can take place. In China, the state determines what is taught in the schools, and the state registers the religions that are considered legal. The state prints the school textbooks, and the state prints the religious books. In China, scientists research what the state allows and publish what the state approves. In the USA, we have a maelstrom of ideas and opinions and discussions and arguments.

I have a position on this subject. I believe that God created the universe and everything in it. I believe that he created me, as he created all other human beings. I believe that God wants to live in relationship with human beings, including me. I don’t believe that God wound up the universe and left it to run unattended; rather, I believe he is actively involved in all that happens.

I do, however, differ with many of my fellow Christians when it comes to my concerns about the science textbooks in schools. I am not as worried about the content of those textbooks as some are, because I am the product of a science education that never suggested for a minute that God acted in the universe or that people were created by God. Despite this fact, I have never doubted that God created the cosmos or me.

My Christian faith was nurtured and instructed at the direction of my parents. They believed that God created the world, and when I went to church, that is what I was taught. My faith was not shaken by the fact that the school did not teach me about God, because I learned at home that there are many people who do not believe.

Here is the important point: the public schools are not responsible for teaching our children what to believe about God; that supremely important job is the responsibility of parents. As a Christian, I feel obligated to do what I can do to participate in the redemption of society. As a citizen and a Christian I want to speak and act to assure that civic law embodies a high moral standard. Likewise, I want our schools to deliver the best possible education to our children. However, I will never abdicate the responsibility for my children’s growth in Christian faith. That is my job. The schools may teach the latest scientific discovery about the behavior of particles in the picoseconds after the Big Bang, but that teaching does not negate or invalidate faith that God created the universe.

Parents ought to care what their children learn in school, but they need not fear it. Parents who exercise their responsibility to bring up their own children in the faith will be able to address any issues that originate in the schools. We parents have a huge responsibility to our children and to our God. If we ourselves live out our faith in the God who created all things, our children are not likely to grow up believing anything else.

For more information about me, or about Christian faith, visit www.katherineharms.com.