Reading Bruce Epperly this morning about Martin Luther King, Jr’s crisis of faith and the author’s own experience of healing of a marriage through trusting in the power of God to be present in our lives, to give us the strength to stand upon the foundation of our faith and to be transformed in our hearts for the work we are called to do as witnesses to God’s love and power to care for the world and to change it. Epperly says:
“At the heart of any faith tradition is a constellation of affirmations that shape the believers’ actions and interpretations of reality…These affirmations shape our experience and hopes as Christians…..Although the affirmations of faith of the various religious traditions are dynamic and evolving and are being transformed as a result of interfaith dialogue and the emerging interplay of spirituality and science, the uniquely Christian affirmations of faith revolve around a vision of God’s presence in history, the nature of human existence, the relationship of spirituality and embodiment, and divine revelation that differ in content and emphasis from Buddhist, Islamic, or Hindu affirations. As Christians, we see the world in light of God’s healing and transforming presence in Jesus of Nazareth, the one we call the Christ. Because “believing is seeing,” Christians experience different possibilities for spiritual growth than Buddhists, perhaps, do and often see different perspectives on the same experience…..Although we may look “into a glass darkly,” the spectacles through which we perceive both the world and our lives are profoundly influenced by the Chrisitian affirmations of faith in God’s action in history and in the life and teaching of Jesus the Savior. In short, we see the world through the eyes of Christ.”
(Bruce Epperly, The Power of Affirmative Faith. (St Louis MO, Chalice Press, 2000) pg. 11
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