Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 50; Genesis 9:4-22; Matthew 19:23-30; Romans 2:12-16; Psalm 62
Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a friend. My friend was raised in a faith tradition that was much more traditional and structured than the faith community in which she now worships. Recently she had a conversation with one of her long time friends who had decided to remain within the faith tradition in which they both had been raised. Her friend remarked that it was interesting that she had become part of a progressive faith community because her impression was that progressive faith communities were simply places where anything goes. My friend responded by asking her if she believed everything that she was taught in her faith community. She replied, “No.” That conversation brought up an interesting point for me. There is such a tendency for many of us to think our faith is primarily about those things that we profess to believe – to others, or perhaps even to ourselves. That emphasis on beliefs is often referred to as orthodoxy. As long as we are associated with a tradition that says what others have told us are “the right things”, then we’re in good spiritual standing. I wonder if that’s really the way things work. Is our faith really only about what we say we believe? Today’s passage from Romans offers us a different take on what faith should be. A portion of that passage reads: “Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of time if you don’t do what God commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God” (Romans 2:13 – The Message). This emphasis on right action - rather than right belief - is known as orthopraxis. While many of the Western first world countries have developed spiritualities bases on orthodoxy (right belief), many developing countries have developed spiritualities based on orthopraxis (right action). It’s very easy for those of us in the western world whose expression of their spirituality is based upon orthopraxis rather than orthodoxy to feel a little inferior to our orthodox sisters and brothers since perhaps it isn’t always easy for those of us who are orthopraxis oriented to reduce the expression of our faith into neatly wrapped packages that fit society’s expectations. However, we can take heart knowing that we have the blessing of being able to practice our faith. Til next time…
Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a friend. My friend was raised in a faith tradition that was much more traditional and structured than the faith community in which she now worships. Recently she had a conversation with one of her long time friends who had decided to remain within the faith tradition in which they both had been raised. Her friend remarked that it was interesting that she had become part of a progressive faith community because her impression was that progressive faith communities were simply places where anything goes. My friend responded by asking her if she believed everything that she was taught in her faith community. She replied, “No.” That conversation brought up an interesting point for me. There is such a tendency for many of us to think our faith is primarily about those things that we profess to believe – to others, or perhaps even to ourselves. That emphasis on beliefs is often referred to as orthodoxy. As long as we are associated with a tradition that says what others have told us are “the right things”, then we’re in good spiritual standing. I wonder if that’s really the way things work. Is our faith really only about what we say we believe? Today’s passage from Romans offers us a different take on what faith should be. A portion of that passage reads: “Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of time if you don’t do what God commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God” (Romans 2:13 – The Message). This emphasis on right action - rather than right belief - is known as orthopraxis. While many of the Western first world countries have developed spiritualities bases on orthodoxy (right belief), many developing countries have developed spiritualities based on orthopraxis (right action). It’s very easy for those of us in the western world whose expression of their spirituality is based upon orthopraxis rather than orthodoxy to feel a little inferior to our orthodox sisters and brothers since perhaps it isn’t always easy for those of us who are orthopraxis oriented to reduce the expression of our faith into neatly wrapped packages that fit society’s expectations. However, we can take heart knowing that we have the blessing of being able to practice our faith. Til next time…
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