Sharks in the Pool
An Alternate View of Faith
Me with Siblings circa 1992
Good Morning,
Are you a swimmer? I come from a family of swimmers - leaping and diving and flopping into water like their second home. While I can swim reasonably well, and enjoy water, I don’t come to it naturally. I’m the only one of my siblings who still struggles to keep water out of my nose (notice I’m the only one holding my nose as I jump in!). My ears don’t equalize under any depth and I just never feel totally comfortable.
Since I can remember, I was terrified of sharks. (I may have been permitted to watch a few too many shark documentaries.) I was convinced they would come up through the drain in the deep end of my grandma’s pool. I can’t tell you which came first, my anxiety about sharks, or my lack of swimming skills. Maybe they’re combined, or maybe they’re just inextricably linked.
My dad is a great swimmer and he was always so calm with me. He would stand at the edge, encouraging me to jump to him so he could catch me. He’d hold me above the water as I got the feeling of doggy paddling; patiently helping me learn to swim.
What is faith? Faith has often been described as a blind leap into the dark. “You must put aside reason and just believe,” perhaps you’ve heard. Really? Where did we get that impression? Certainly not from the Bible.
The story there is very different. It is the result of a long look at why we can trust God. I think that’s part of what begins to change when we see the Bible as a story about God, instead of a story about us. We continue to fail, continue to goober up the relationship and usually take the most complicated, painful route forward. God on the other hand, is always there. He’s constant, and steady, and regardless of our behavior he promises to love us. And he does. We see it over and over, despite our unworthiness, or our readiness.
How does my son know he’s safe with me and Husband? How does he know when something bad happens he can come and tell us? That we’ll soothe and comfort him? Why do my kisses soothe his wounded knees? Because, just like toddler Sierra and her dad, Son knows he can trust us. We have built a relationship. It’s formed from every moment over the last years. It’s the result of all the cumulative conversations, hugs and kisses; all the times he was hungry and we fed him, when he was cold and we snuggled him. He feels safe because he trusts us. He has faith that we’ll be there tomorrow, and the next day, and every future day his small mind can imagine.
We’ve sometimes been lead to believe the story of Christianity is like so many other religions - that we need to be good enough to reach a god(s) who is/are far away. But actually it’s shockingly different. This is the story of a god who presses close to us, who remains trustworthy, regardless of our own lack of trustworthiness.
Faith is built on that bedrock.
As I look at the lives of every saint, patriarch, matriarch and believer who’s gone before me even in just the last two thousand years, I am overcome with gratitude. As we celebrate All Saint’s Week, let us consider that the very reason you’re here, reading this email, about Christianity, is because so many people went before us. We stand on so many shoulders. They were human, and messy and made mistakes, and yet…..The story of faith isn’t really the story of us or even them. It’s the story of God, and the people who also knew he could be trusted, despite their foibles and flaws.
We can run to God when we are afraid of the sharks in the pool, we can trust that he will patiently stand and catch us, and if the sharks come he’ll poke them in the eyeballs (or actually, because he’s God, he’d make friends with them). Because He’s never NOT caught us before. And he has stood and caught every generation - perhaps not in the way they wanted, or expected but in the long story we see a thread continue that moves us forward.
Has faith been presented to you as contrary to reason? Do you think there could be room to try it or consider in a new way?
I’d love to hear!
With Love,
Sierra
I was taught that faith was to be unquestioned. Lack of critical thinking was equated with "strong" or "unwavering" (i.e., unquestioned) faith. Though it may have never been said, it was implied that anyone questioning their faith was on the "outside" or "not one of us." And therefore it was our responsibility to shame/cajole/ostracize them back into the "fold." (Less in an overt, confrontational way, and more in an insidious, bullying, passive aggressive way).
The faith that was handed to me was handed to me as the "old-fashioned" and true faith. (Even though, my tradition is mostly out of the 1940-50s). The faith is equated with the "good old days" of American post-war certainty and economic plenty. A premium was put on how one looked and acted within the social norms of the community. Anything differing from the 'old' faith--meaning the way it was literally interpreted from the Bible by the "man of God"--was equated with humanism, liberalism and the decline of America and Christ's imminent, vengeful (yet righteous) return to punish and slaughter the outsiders (like democrats, Russians and Chinese--and all anti-Americans).
My perspective is jaded and a bit hyperbolic, but not much. The more that I question and use my God-given reason to assess the "faith" that was handed to me, the more I see it smacks of McCarthyism and Christian nationalism than true faith in Jesus Christ or his teachings.
"The story of faith isn’t really the story of us or even them. It’s the story of God..." This is the faith that I was handed to me...a story not of God's work in the lives of his people, but a story of us (the true believers) versus them (anyone not "us").
Sadly, I see the same faith blatantly peddled and foisted on society as "real American" Christianity. (Ex: national politicians pushing the United States even more toward a bastardized "theocracy," claiming that the Bible and its literal interpretation be used as an unquestioned guide for political public policy--when Jesus literally taught the opposite).
to realign with a God-given relationship which offers unconditional love and trust in a world of divisive options and judgement, offering a security and comfort that allows us to learn and grow through questions and doubts, this is the relationship I pray we all seek to have with God who first loved us.