Youtube: Common Sense Faith
Audio (talk only): Common Sense Faith
One of the points I made last week involved the importance of admitting there is a problem before we can actually work with it. With this coronavirus pandemic (two words I had difficulty speaking aloud in the beginning), we have a situation that is touching every one of us. Normally, you could ask ten people to describe their most pressing challenge and you’d get ten different answers. Now the chances are good that those same ten people will give this flu and all its repercussions as their main concern.
So, we’ve identified a common concern. Now what? We wash hands, maintain social distancing, spend most of our time at home, stop hoarding and become vigilant about helping others who are unable to help themselves. We do these basic things with the intention of making the situation better for ourselves and for everyone around us. It may sound like a simple platitude to say that we’re going to get through this thing. And yet, this is exactly what we need to say.
There are people in absolute panic right now. Do you know what panic is? Panic is an expression of faith. Faith in what? Faith that something horrible is about to happen. We have to confront this burning fire of panic so we can put it out. We are going to make it though this. Let’s start entertaining this very basic notion. This thing we’re in now is our life. No one wants a pandemic to deal with, but here it is. To say it’s not real is to put ourselves and others at risk. This is a body-based problem that we must solve.
How do we deal with a pandemic from a spiritual perspective? This is a key question, one of the most important we can ask ourselves. Do I really believe in these spiritual principles I profess, or do I just profess them because doing so makes me feel good? How can I use the power of my faith to change the way I think and feel, to change the quality of my experience? As a minister, it’s not my job to answer this question for you. It’s my job to raise the question. It’s the job of every individual, including myself, to answer it.