Here’s an introduction to one of the sessions in my Lent study book Spot the Difference. It sets out, what for me, are some of the essentials in faith and being a Christian.
If there’s one thing people crave in our modern world, apart perhaps from love, it’s a sense of purpose, a belief that life has some kind of meaning beyond the ups and downs of our all-too-fleeting mortal span. Are we and our universe simply here by chance? Are we destined to flicker for a moment on the stage of time, only to be extinguished for ever? Some feel precisely that, and in consequence their life is overshadowed by a profound sense of emptiness. Of course, not everyone feels the same, and it would be intensely patronising to suggest otherwise, but many yearn to fill that aching void within, to find a creed or conviction that gives substance to who and what they are.
Does Christianity provide the answer? For some, yes, the Church offering spiritual guidance and sustenance, but others are less sure. Why? Partly, I think, there’s an issue with religion per se, many seeing it as responsible for a divided world in which a fanatical few see suicide and slaughter as a sacred duty. Others are put off by heavy-handed proselytising, a foot-in-the-door approach that seeks to impose itself on others, not least when it finds them at their lowest ebb. Others again are troubled by questions, wanting to believe but unable to reconcile doubts with traditional doctrine. Still others are disenchanted by nominal Christianity, the kind of faith that is all too obviously superficial, making little if any difference to the way people live.
True faith, I believe, is different from any of these. It doesn’t claim to have all the answers. It doesn’t thrust itself on others. It doesn’t alienate and destroy, nor is it a going through the motions. Instead it is simple yet profound, resting not on doctrinal soundness but on personal experience and involving not just the mind but, above all, the heart. It has room for questions and can wrestle with doubt, yet still shine with a quiet inner light. Never the finished product, it is always in the making – growing, evolving and responding. Humble enough to admit its deficiencies, open enough to learn from others yet strong enough to face all, such faith needs no trumpet to broadcast its credentials – it speaks for itself.