“ But to believe because the facts trend toward mystery, because some logic of the soul’s connection with the world whispers of eternity — to strive in hope to see what you believe despite your fear — that is the noble struggle of religion, the defiant step forward into the darkness of doubt in search of that peace that passes understanding. “. This went straight to my heart…you captured my feelings exactly. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief”…..and, it is so much more profound than sweet paintings!
I read and reread the sentence, “But to believe because the facts….that passes understanding.” It struck me as a brilliant and near perfect description of the road of faith. My brain does process certain facts and my soul indeed whispers all into an opaque landscape that I “believe” will become clear and lovely later. Thank you Andrew.
Once asked what my favorite bible verse was, I answered, "I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief!" Perhaps I was being flippant. But I realize also that it spoke more about me than anything else I could have answered. And it felt to me like a raw honesty. Faith is hard. And necessary.
I did HVAC work in someone’s house once where the whole place was filled with Thomas Kinkaids. And I looked at them and enjoyed the colors, but it felt like escapism. When I went back to work, I felt like I returned to the “sad world” like you say.
And that’s the struggle of art, to make it reach both up high and down low. And… can I be provocative? When the left calls for diversity, this is the instinct they have too. Show a God that reaches their very own sad world, or else it is banal optimism.
Your calendar problem lies in the fact that you are not Catholic. Many Cathloic churches give out calendars in the New Year illustrated by Biblical scenes. Mine in Winchester, Virginia does and each month is illustrated by a classical painting. Send me an address (not your home of course) and I will pick up one from the narthex or give you mine (I have other calendars).
Bless you for all you have written and spoken over the last ten years. Your faith and insight have deepened by faith and that of my husband.
The message of this piece to me is that even an old cynical realist, in the great grist mill called life, is being personally chipped away at and balanced out by his Creator. A real life manifestation of hope for us all! :)
Thanks Andrew, reading that was the high point of my day! “I believe, Lord, help me in my unbelief” is something I pray daily. I have ever since I returned to Faith. Through young adulthood I had been conditioned into a blind unquestioning faith in God. While I regret falling away from my belief for so many years, like so many failings, God has a way of turning them into blessings. I gained a more mature, if more flawed, hopefully more kind and merciful Faith inspired by an inability to reject Jesus as God; an unavoidable conclusion that He is the only thing worth believing in.
What Jesus sees then & now are souls in the image of Himself, derived by the creation of the Big Bang.
Billions of years in the making constructed by the mathematical beauty of that beginning. Forged in fire of light came material given Devine sacrosanct through the immaterial light, unimaginable to the beholder’s soul. Whose journey thrives on its meaning.
And on occasions we feel loss of meaning these are the deserts of that journey. , but as with the holiest among us these deserts ; these deserts of T S Elliot’s waste lands of preparation and character sharpening for future trials ahead .
I find looking up the long forgotten feast days of lesser saints & their journeys highs & lows without the solace of renascence art for inspiration.
It appears the sacrifice of the selfs ego helps one leave the deserts for the lush green verdant forests.
You certainly captured the conundrum of faith. It seems like I am most at home with God in the contemplation of His mysteries. Philosophy and theology are good, but it’s a bit the like story of St. Thomas Aquinas: all the brilliant writings of the world pale in the revelation and mystery of the divine.
Okay, I know this isn't your point but I have often thought that a great idea for a fiction novel would be about Lazarus. The idea is that because he was brought back to life by Jesus, he is STILL alive today. His eventual death is not in the Bible so...
He stays around acquaintances and friends for a few decades until people start to realize he is not getting older so he has to pull up stakes and move on. Maybe he could run into Jarius' daughter who of course hasn't died either.
There was TV shows the '60s called The Immortal, (curiously I can't find it on IMDB), but I don't think the Lazarus angel was involved.
“ But to believe because the facts trend toward mystery, because some logic of the soul’s connection with the world whispers of eternity — to strive in hope to see what you believe despite your fear — that is the noble struggle of religion, the defiant step forward into the darkness of doubt in search of that peace that passes understanding. “. This went straight to my heart…you captured my feelings exactly. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief”…..and, it is so much more profound than sweet paintings!
I read and reread the sentence, “But to believe because the facts….that passes understanding.” It struck me as a brilliant and near perfect description of the road of faith. My brain does process certain facts and my soul indeed whispers all into an opaque landscape that I “believe” will become clear and lovely later. Thank you Andrew.
In 2001, when my father died, a friend of his spoke these words of comfort to me: He's awake now.
Once asked what my favorite bible verse was, I answered, "I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief!" Perhaps I was being flippant. But I realize also that it spoke more about me than anything else I could have answered. And it felt to me like a raw honesty. Faith is hard. And necessary.
"You’d think you’d be able to get a Bible calendar decorated with great paintings from the Renaissance or something, but no......"
Addicted to Mediocrity: Contemporary Christians and the Arts
Frank Schaeffer, Kurt Mitchell (Illustrator)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/339369.Addicted_to_Mediocrity
I did HVAC work in someone’s house once where the whole place was filled with Thomas Kinkaids. And I looked at them and enjoyed the colors, but it felt like escapism. When I went back to work, I felt like I returned to the “sad world” like you say.
And that’s the struggle of art, to make it reach both up high and down low. And… can I be provocative? When the left calls for diversity, this is the instinct they have too. Show a God that reaches their very own sad world, or else it is banal optimism.
PS One of our priests--retired and part-time--ends each homily with, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief."
Dear Andrew,
Your calendar problem lies in the fact that you are not Catholic. Many Cathloic churches give out calendars in the New Year illustrated by Biblical scenes. Mine in Winchester, Virginia does and each month is illustrated by a classical painting. Send me an address (not your home of course) and I will pick up one from the narthex or give you mine (I have other calendars).
Bless you for all you have written and spoken over the last ten years. Your faith and insight have deepened by faith and that of my husband.
The message of this piece to me is that even an old cynical realist, in the great grist mill called life, is being personally chipped away at and balanced out by his Creator. A real life manifestation of hope for us all! :)
Magnificent.
Thanks Andrew, reading that was the high point of my day! “I believe, Lord, help me in my unbelief” is something I pray daily. I have ever since I returned to Faith. Through young adulthood I had been conditioned into a blind unquestioning faith in God. While I regret falling away from my belief for so many years, like so many failings, God has a way of turning them into blessings. I gained a more mature, if more flawed, hopefully more kind and merciful Faith inspired by an inability to reject Jesus as God; an unavoidable conclusion that He is the only thing worth believing in.
What Jesus sees then & now are souls in the image of Himself, derived by the creation of the Big Bang.
Billions of years in the making constructed by the mathematical beauty of that beginning. Forged in fire of light came material given Devine sacrosanct through the immaterial light, unimaginable to the beholder’s soul. Whose journey thrives on its meaning.
And on occasions we feel loss of meaning these are the deserts of that journey. , but as with the holiest among us these deserts ; these deserts of T S Elliot’s waste lands of preparation and character sharpening for future trials ahead .
I find looking up the long forgotten feast days of lesser saints & their journeys highs & lows without the solace of renascence art for inspiration.
It appears the sacrifice of the selfs ego helps one leave the deserts for the lush green verdant forests.
🌳
You certainly captured the conundrum of faith. It seems like I am most at home with God in the contemplation of His mysteries. Philosophy and theology are good, but it’s a bit the like story of St. Thomas Aquinas: all the brilliant writings of the world pale in the revelation and mystery of the divine.
"The resurrected would someday die."
Okay, I know this isn't your point but I have often thought that a great idea for a fiction novel would be about Lazarus. The idea is that because he was brought back to life by Jesus, he is STILL alive today. His eventual death is not in the Bible so...
He stays around acquaintances and friends for a few decades until people start to realize he is not getting older so he has to pull up stakes and move on. Maybe he could run into Jarius' daughter who of course hasn't died either.
There was TV shows the '60s called The Immortal, (curiously I can't find it on IMDB), but I don't think the Lazarus angel was involved.
Amen.