Some Thoughts on Community.... in regards to Faith... By people wiser than myself.
"But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order than it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed it that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure." From Life Together by Bonhoeffer
"Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: But when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. The rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyways. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods 'where they get off', you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of faith.
The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before our mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious readins and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?" From Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
I am incredibly blessed by the Body of Christ as I have yet experienced it.
From elementary and growing up and the family I was placed in...
From junior high and high school, and friends that I don't contact as much now, but who were a part of the journey...
From the church family at Eastside and Rose Drive, and the genuine relationships...
From friends met here at CBU, and their willingness to walk together as we search for God's heart and direction for our lives...
From the girls in my cottage this year and their random conversations but genuine desire for community and Jesus.
Just very blessed. Thank you to all of my brothers and sisters who have been and continue to be such an encouragement and challenge in this journey of faith :)
That's all for tonight.
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