Stepping out in faith
I wonder what image or feeling comes to mind when you hear the word “faith”. Unfortunately, for some people in our society, when they hear the word faith in a religious context, it is sometimes associated with the word rigidity or even the word intolerant. Our Headmaster here often says to the students that we need to reflect on society, not merely be a reflection of it. When it comes to “faith” this is especially true. There are, sadly, too many examples of faith being just another excuse for not supporting people who are different, or strange, or foreign.
The unknown writer of the letter to the Hebrews, however, gives us quite a different understanding of faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11: 1). The beautiful thing about this understanding of faith is that it connects faith and hope. It connects faith with things that are not seen. Perhaps even more significantly, faith is then connected by the writer in the rest of chapter 11 with action.
A quick search on Artificial Intelligence confirmed my own suspicion that the expression, “Step out in faith” does indeed come from that chapter, from the section referring to Abraham, that, “he set out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11: 8). The promised land, to which he was instructed to go, having had a religious experience looking up at the stars in the night sky, was unknown to him. Yet, he set out to this unknown place and when he got there, lived in tents, as did his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob and their families. They lived in hope, confident that God would be with them, because they had responded to God’s call.
Those of us who try to live with this sense of faith and hope would love to experience a moment of transcendence, like Peter, James and John do on the mountain with Jesus (Mark 9: 2–8). When I imagine this scene from Mark Gospel (called “The Transfiguration”) in my mind’s eye, I have some sympathy for Peter, in particular. In our tradition, John is portrayed as a young man and James, his brother, presumably not a lot older. So, I picture them matching Jesus, step-for-step, stride-for-stride, as he leads them up the side of the mountain. Maybe young John even tries to skip ahead, causing Jesus to smile and quicken the pace even more. But Peter is usually seen as a bit older – strong, certainly – but, in my imagination, built for hauling in nets full of fish, not racing up the side of mountains! So, out of breath, he reaches the top and then has an overwhelming experience of the divine. This religious experience is so powerful that he doesn’t know what to do with it, even suggesting building tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, as if physical dwellings would serve any kind of purpose in a mystical experience such as this.
Yet, despite Peter’s clumsy attempt at preserving the moment, I am envious. Wouldn’t it be great to have a powerful experience of the transcendent, of the divine! It would confirm my faith!
These moments are out there, by the way. They are the moments when we have glimpses that our faith and our hope are connected to something truly beautiful and wonderful. For me, it is when the magpies who live on our school grounds sing. I have never been swooped by a magpie here, because I’m part of the family; but they do often sing! That’s when my faith and my hope make sense. That’s when the next step towards the promised land seems like a step worth taking.
The Reverend Dr Theo McCall
School Chaplain
