Faith of the Faithless

The thoughts that follow are inspired by two ministers, Jen and Katie, for whom I have much respect. They are quoted with their permission, of course.



I am certain that we, as people of faith, will never fully understand what God meant in sending his Son to the earth. I am certain that we will never fully understand the Scriptures. I am equally certain that anyone who believes that they have their faith entirely worked out has their head in the clouds.

Faith is a dynamic as opposed to static. I have the responsibility to examine, at every turn, what I know to be true and what I have known to be true in the past. I must hold those things up and scrutinize them and mull them over and, with the Holy Spirit's guidance, reshape them as needed. My recent mullings over have focused on communal faith.

What is communal faith to you? I've often thought it meant that Christians will assemble periodically (on Sundays) to share our faith and edify one another. The individual faiths that we walk with Mon-Sat become communal on Sundays (or whatever the appointed time). We will bear one another's burdens and strengthen one another. But everyone will bring some kind of faith. It's an understood rule. In order to share, both parties must bring something.

What if someone doesn't bring faith with them? What if their faith is fatigued? What if they use to have faith but, because of life, let that faith go? What if they never had faith at all?

Consider this:


"...I think even atheism can be a mode of faith in this way. I know some people who’ve lost it, just can’t see how the God they grew up believing can be reconciled with the reality of the world they see. I don’t see this as a fault. I see it as an honest response, the outcome of a real struggle. For myself, I have faith that God too might see it this way; that God would prefer someone to give up the pretense of faith rather than deny the reality of evils. And my response to these friends is not to press my faith that all will be well upon them, but to view my task as carrying faith for them. An intercessory faith, if you will."

I will. The communal faith Jen refers to goes beyond sharing. It doesn't require that I bring some faith to the table and you bring some of your own and we will thusly commune. It states that I will carry faith for you when you cannot carry yours. Those who have faith will collectively carry the faith for others who do not. The faith of the faithless.


Katie goes on to say "I think this is a critical point for we who have been blessed with belief — that not everybody is. Elie Wiesel, for example, writes painstakingly about how impossible it is for him to believe (and how he prays right through that unbelief with his very life). And what else could the Apostle have meant when he said in 1 Corinthians 12 that among the varied gifts of the Spirit is the gift of… faith? “To another, the gift of faith.” Meaning, perhaps, that just as all are not blessed with the gift of, say, 'healing' (next in Paul’s list), faith may come really hard or not at all for some of God’s children."


Wow. How many times have I read over that scripture and missed what Paul was getting at? Faith is a requirement, surely. Tongues, wisdom, prophecy...those are spiritual gifts, no doubt. We all agree that some have them and others are gifted in other ways. But faith as a gift? I'm moved.

It's refreshing and at the same time unnerving when my understanding of Scripture changes even slightly. I guess that's the feeling of being stretched and having the Holy Spirit at work. It's not supposed to be comfortable. I'm grateful to Jen and Katie for their wisdom, insight, and capacity to teach. I'm equally grateful for their boldness to speak what is at times, I'm sure, not easy.