Faith In Action

Right now I am writing a workshop for High School teens called "Faith In Action." As with all things in faith I so often think I know where to go and what needs to be said and then God swoops in and lets me know other wise.

Today I continued doing some research on some aspects and tenets that change service into Christian service (or faith in action). I have looked at key pieces like love, solidarity, and justice. I have quotes from many famous leaders from Mother Teresa to Gandhi about these aspects. Today I started reading more of Henri Nouwen and it opened my eyes.

The perspective I had going into this was how do we "do" faith in action. What do we need to have as apart of it. Nouwen writes in "In the Name of Jesus," a book about Christian leadership, about allowing God to heal us. He is referencing the loneliness and despair that come in ministry, but the principle rings true.

The first step, that I was missing, is not that we have love, vision, great ideals, but a humbled heart ready to be served. If I am not ready to be served and loved then how am I supposed to show others? This first step becomes acknowledging the needs, spiritually dry spots, and desperate cries in our own life. When we deny this we are trying to stay in control. We are faking who we are and denying our desperate need for God.

If we can not open up our own needs and cries to God then how are we to obey. The only one we are willing to obey there is ourselves and that keeps us in Service and away from Christian service. When we serve ourselves and our own needs there is no Christ in what we do.

Faith in and of itself is taking a leap to where we have no proof, we go beyond the easily observable and trust. It is that open trust that is necessary when serving so that we do not end up serving our self. I have been with teens that have articulated that they serve because it gives them fuzzy feelings. The service is not about God and a response to Christs love and sacrifice, but an altar to our own ego. When we take the Holy Spirit into our lives we start to give up our own control is when we can finally put our faith into action.

Thank you God for helping me remember that for my faith to be in action I must first trust and obey your Spirit's leading in my life.