simply trusting...

Simple... I used to lift my lip ever so slightly at people of simple faith. They seemed so out of touch with all the world of learning had to offer in understanding our sacred texts and the insights to be found in the world of textual criticism... not interested in the intelligent expansion of our Christian faith. These folks are not fundamentalists in the current fashion, judgmental and excluding of those who march to a different beat. They just use simple words, simple ideas for their simple faith. The language of their faith is love God, love your neighbor, be a good Samaritan when you can and leave the rest to God. These folks rarely march in support of causes or sign petitions but they show up to serve in soup kitchens, volunteer in hospitals, bring meals to those who are grieving or ill, sit with elderly neighbors, show up at their churches every week, year after year, being and doing the Word made flesh.
When Michael’s mother died, we found her Bible, marked and written in, full of little quotes cut out and placed carefully in the book she read and honored as her center point. None of the quotes came from the great minds and authors of her time. All of them reflected her desire to be simply a better Christian as she understood it. When I look through her Bible, I remember how she welcomed people of all kinds and colors into her home when it was dangerous to do so in Montgomery, Alabama. Her Saviour said love your neighbor, so she served wonderful delicious food she cooked at a Christmas party for black and white church and political leaders, in the 1960's and 1970's at a time when her husband was receiving death threats for his work with black Baptists in Alabama. Simple, really... hospitality in its saving grace extended by a woman who graduated high school, married and raised a family as a pastor’s wife, loved Southern Living recipes, and somehow transcended her time in history because of her desire to follow Jesus.
Simple... easily understood or done; plain and uncomplicated in form, nature or design; humble and unpretentious. I wonder if we try too hard, use our knowledge (necessary as it might be) to keep a distance between our heads, hearts and souls. If our head is full of precious knowledge, and it is of great value, then we can set ourselves up as judges of what really matters, what Jesus really meant in those red letter quotes. We can get so caught up in arguing and expounding and preaching that we miss the simplicity of the good news. Love God, love your neighbor as yourself, and live your life of faith plain and uncomplicated, humble and unpretentious, easily understood. Let your light so shine that all will know to whom you belong.
“Simply trusting everyday, trusting through a stormy way, even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus, that is all.” Not so simple after all...