The world can be a scary place! We each experience disappointment, loss, and fear. All of us eventually encounter the harsh reality of death. Yesterday's devastating earthquake in Haiti reminds us how precarious life can be. And, of course, life can be wonderful as well! Relationships we foster can enrich and bless us and we experience growth, joy, and love.

Theologian Walter Wink (Engaging the Powers) reminds us that our faith in God began with our ancestors' awareness of their own mortality. Existential anxiety resulting from that awareness led them to seek some supernatural security in the form of a God who was like us only much bigger and more powerful. Our choice to believe in God is a faith response to life as we experience it.

Virtually every human being responds to life's uncertainties with faith. James Fowler (Stages of Faith) teaches us that faith consists of much more than belief in certain doctrines. Faith is trust - how and where we rest the full weight of our lives. Quite often, that faith takes the form of religion. Perhaps just as often, it takes the form of trusting in a particular life philosophy. Many of us place a lot of faith in the ability of technology and human ingenuity to transform life on earth - to save the human race. These are all faith responses.

Recently, I officiated the wedding of a woman who belonged to an Assemblies of God church and a man whose religious background was Jehovah's Witnesses. The bride's mother declined to give a verbal "blessing of the couple" at the wedding because she said there were "two religions" involved. The most she would offer was not to object to the marriage! I was struck by how much people define religion in terms of doctrine and belief. Following Jesus is a faith response to life and the particular doctrines and beliefs we espouse are far less important than the way we live and the values we practice.

Faith in God is all about "loving God and loving our neighbors." I suggest we consider all our doctrinal beliefs as fundamentally secondary. They can actually be impediments to true faith. The priority is to love our neighbor and seek her/his growth. It is to love our enemies. For Christians, this is the Way of following Jesus. Living this way fulfills all our religious traditions. But to trust that much will take a lot of faith!

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.

Jack Price

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