Have Faith

18 December 2020

Faith.  Being only five letters long, faith is a relatively small word in the English language.  Faith’s definition isn’t that complex.  Faith, according to a smart lookup in Word is, “… derived from the Latin fides, meaning confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept.” Trust is also a short word and again the smart lookup is not overly complicated, “...the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something.” Faith can also mean a religion or a series of spiritual or ethical constructs.  This of course draws from the requirement that one who adheres to a Faith trusts or relies on the constructs of the particular doctrine espoused.

 

For millennia in western civilization the drawing of fall into winter has been a heightened time of faith.  The Romans, the pagans, the Christians and others have seen the time around the winter solstice as a time for a focus on faith. Be it riotous debauchery or the quiet contemplation of a plan of spiritual salvation, the opening of the door to cold winter has been marked with rites of faith. Standing in a darkened church on December 24^thholding up a small lit wax candle singing the words, “Sleep in heavenly peace,” is one way to calm a troubled soul and heighten a sense of faith.

 

Faith seems hard to come by in the waning days of 2020.  If you are one of the 74, 000,000 people who voted for Donald Trump, and who has listened to his narrative of claimed misdeeds by the opposition, you have little faith in the integrity of the electoral process. If you are one of the members of the families of the 300,000 souls who have lost their life to Covid-19 you have lost faith in both government and medicine.  Having lost jobs and savings as a result of the varied attempts to corral the contagion you may have even lost faith in the holy or the divine if you prefer that term. Locked down and in isolation so many have lost faith in the integrity and resilience of our institutions and systems from education to food production and delivery.

 

Don’t lose faith for we need faith.  We need to trust and rely on something.  Having faith aids us in living with confidence, in living with meaning.  Living with faith can strip away unnecessary fear and hesitation in the conduct of our affairs. A strong faith can provide a balm to our anxieties. Whether you are a secular humanist or a devout Catholic a faith in something better, a faith in the possibility of a tomorrow with less pain and fewer struggles, can lift us up into a special place where hope lightens our load.

 

We do have reasons for faith.  The acts of good people in our society give us something to trust in, something to rely on.  There are clearly good people among us. We have doctors and nurses who are working around the clock to minister to the grievously ill. We have specialists in logistics who are working busily in getting the vaccines out to us as quickly and efficiently as is possible. We have neighbors who are helping coordinate grocery shopping for those in high-risk groups so that the old and the immunity compromised have as little potential exposure to the virus as possible. From the fevered work of scientists and clinicians there are at least two vaccines with 94% or better effectiveness against the coronavirus. We have mental health specialists that are ready, willing and able to assist those suffering with isolation, depression and anxiety.  We have pastors and pastoral assistants willing to aid those who need something beyond this world to believe in.

 

As winter sets in here in the northern hemisphere we have many reasons to have faith in something better coming soon. Take a moment to stop doom scrolling and look at the positive things present in the world right now.  You may have to lift you face away from the screens to look and see the actions of your neighbors and people in your community working for the betterment of all. If you are on your screens the stories showing what good there is to believe in will not be on the front page so dig deep for it. If the menorah or the cross or the garlands of holly and laurel give you a lighter heart than embrace those symbols.  Have faith my friends things will get better. Have faith my friends that we can and we will make it through this.