There's More to Belief Than Believing!

Count on it. Like clock-work. As sure as April Fool's Day is on this year's calendar, so the mid-term congressional campaigns - especially in the south and west - will bring out the “god-squad.” These are persons whose belief in believing is deep-seated. They say they're dead-certain that every word of Scripture is both fact and truth - making the Living Word of God's Bible a dead-letter.

They're quick to scream about “deadly sins” in the bedroom, and much hushed about death-dealing boardrooms. They're quick to shout down gangsta rap, but deadly silent about predatory lending. With a dead-pan face they denounce a bishop, not because he's divorced and “remarried,” one of Jesus' only two sexual / genital no-no's, but because he's gay. They're dead-sure that prayer will revitalize public schools, as long as the prayer isn't the Hebrew / Jewish Shema - the prayer Jesus likely prayed every morning and evening.

They're dead-reckoning about who God is and what God wants leads them to believe in RELIGION. And woe (now and for eternity) to any sinner or outcast who won't yield, pay homage, and bear-up under its dead-weight.

There's more to belief than believing, especially if by believing you mean belief in the God of the Hebrew / Christian Bible. If you listen closely to the “god squad,” and that's not always easy to do, you'll likely discover that they rarely speak for this Bible's God, and only occasionally speak about this Bible's God.

What they rant and rave about is belief in a certain brand of RELIGION. That word's origins were neutral enough. Borrowed from medicine, it refers to a suture / ligature / stitch used to close a wound. Theologically, religion refers to those customs, codes, rituals and BELIEFS that believers “tie” themselves to in order to nurture their relationship with God. (Of course, these include those which we believe God has given / commanded us - for our freedom to maintain a life-giving relationship and a home-bringing encounter with God.) Sutures tied too loosely leave a wound open to infection, or severe scarring. Likewise, those tied too tightly can cause necrosis - the death of living tissue.

Religion's current bad rap, and believing's all over the map, should neither frighten us nor weary us. Someone once referred to the God we believe in and relate to as a “dear and glorious physician,” the Healer of our every woe - no matter if they come from our too loosening or our too tightening. This God's overriding characteristic is constancy in coming FOR us - never AT us - a God with plenty good room. The Messiah's religious ancestors call this steadfast-love. Our religious ancestors call this grace.

This God's coming is invitational, welcoming, and nurturing. Venturing forward in response to this God's call is discipling together as saints and sinners, not as screaming squadrons. That's why we rejoice so boldly in Whom we believe. Sometimes we call that relationship belief. Other times we call it religion. When we bank on this God's Word, trust this God's promises, feed at this God's table, break ourselves open and pour ourselves out in the name of this God, our believing - north, south, east and west - is rightly called Sharin' Plenty Good News!

by Pastor Jeff Iacobazzi