Forward in Faith

Hasn’t it been a busy week?! But the good kind of busy. Holy week, from Palm Sunday to Easter, is one of the busiest times in the life of a church. There are extra worship services, visitors, programs, and people to manage. A pastor friend of mine on facebook posted a picture of himself taking a well-earned, but too-short nap!

There is also this strange phenomenon after a busy season, especially one with spiritual emphasis, where we feel a bit of a let-down once it is over, we feel a bit deflated. Do you feel like that?

It makes me wonder if the disciples of Jesus felt anything like that in those weeks following the resurrection. Talk about your emotional roller coaster! They went from Palm Sunday when the crowds were hailing Jesus as the possible Messiah, to the serious talk around the Passover table, to a surprise arrest and hurry-up trial, and a gruesome execution that must have flung his friends and family into the depths of despair. A few days later, rumors started flying that Jesus was alive. Could it really be? Then came the unbelievable moment when Jesus himself appeared among them, and they knew it was true. Wow! How do you recover from a week like that?

Just a short reflection on the experience of the disciples makes me wonder how that same thing works out in the lives of each one of us. Where do we go from here? How do we go forward after a week like that? For that matter, what does it mean to go forward? What is it we are supposed to be doing in the Christian life?

I had a very interesting conversation this week with someone who was struggling with growing in their faith. She wanted to know which church, which pastor, or which book would help her grow. I took the viewpoint that each of us is responsible, at some level, for our own spiritual growth.

If we expected our doctor to be responsible for our physical health, we would most likely be disappointed. Our doctor can make suggestions, prescribe medication, but it is up to us to follow through. We are the ones who have to eat right. We are the ones who have to exercise and lose weight. We are the ones who have to take the proper medication at the proper time. I hear all the time that we have to take control of our own health care.

I think it’s also true, at least to a certain extent, that we have to take responsibility for our own spiritual health. A pastor or Sunday School teacher can point us to good books, helpful Scripture passages, and insights on prayer, but it is up to us to actually do the things we are encouraged to do. It’s a little blunt, but I sometimes refer to this as “Nike spirituality” based on their advertising campaign, “Just do it.” Sometimes in our spiritual lives, we need to “Just do it.”

At the same time, I am reminded of the passage in 1 Corinthians where Paul talks about his own experience with encouraging the Corinthian Christians in their faith. He tells them that even though he planted the seed of faith, and another pastor, named Apollos, watered that seed, it was God who caused the growth.

We can put ourselves in a position to grow. We can learn, we can pray, we can share, but it is ultimately God who brings the growth. God is always responsible for the miracle.

In the Easter story, Jesus didn’t raise himself from the dead, the Bible consistently says that God raised him from the dead. So when we need raising, or when we need encouragement, we need to look to God, who is “the author and perfecter of our faith.”