DoRManT fAItH
I am really enjoying watching “the Crown”.
I’m in Season 3 near the end, and with the rare exception of one crazy episode, this has been an exceptional series.
A scene hit me like a ton of bricks in the episode “Bubbikins”. In this amazing scene, Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh (husband to Queen Elizabeth) encounters his estranged mother, Princess Alice (of Greece). She is now a nun; and has been for quite some time at this point. She’s a heavy smoker feeling the constant effect of her habit, and Phillip comes to apologize and confess; a kind of reconciliation with his mother for whom he’s borne decades of bitterness.
It is perhaps the most poignant, real scene to date for me. A woman who is shattered, yet fully put together. A Royal, middle-aged son who is completely refined, yet lost and in tatters and shreds. He apologizes for his faithlessness; and they converse about her past. Psychological treatment and hysteria, abandonment and solitary confinement in an asylum, and later when she ESCAPED, isolation from family in a ministry school & convent. He says he grieves that she was
alone during that time, and she responded wasn’t alone as Phillip feared. She was NEVER ALONE. Someone was with her every step of the way.
In that moment of segue, Alice replied to her son’s apology, and said,
-now Bubbikins, you mentioned faithlessness. How is your faith?
Dormant.
-What?
DORMANT.
-That’s not good.
-“Let this be a mother’s gift. Find yourself a faith. It helps, no… not just helps. It’s everything.”
It occurred to me that there’s been something I’ve observed over the kast 9 months that has become evident.
Phillip isn’t alone.
There are many who today, this month, last month; 4 months ago whose faith has grown dormant.
This is no accusation; not at all. It’s an observation. It has even been ME at points during this abysmal season of heartless tragedy and confusion. Pain and tensions of the past 9 months yield many rabbit trails upon which our faith may have wandered and become lost.
Many people have lost their way. But it’s happened gradually because that’s the way the adversary works. It hasn’t happened with fanfare or a parade, nor a sign that walked into the living room of your mind saying, “we’re here to take your faith and rob you of joy.”
And a question looms. HOW IS YOUR FAITH? Your FAITH. Not your attendance, not just your presence with saints on Sunday, not just your practice of going to work, or of social distancing, or of Bible reading, personal prayer, or devotion in solitude through walks or private purposeful reflection; but the engine that propels everything else in life.
How is your FAITH? The thing that fuels your every day of full confidence that the Lord God is still the Almighty? In Romans 4, the apostle Paul wrote a magnum opus on the value of a life lived in full faith in the great father, Abraham. The assurance that what we hope and desire shall indeed be made known in God’s good time. That the Lord Christ is indeed king; the savior, master, sustaining food for daily living, living water for every drink of refreshment. And by now, (afterwards… on THIS side looking back), Christ reigns as king.
Does your faith fuel your walk with God, deeper into holiness and discipleship? Does your faith guide you through the wandering in the wilderness of 2020? Of racial difficulties, disease, political wars, and the way of life as we all know it? Does your faith ground you? Does it guide you despite doubts and fears of the future?
Does our time produce skepticism in you? Or destroy faith? Has faith become an old wives tale to you or a primitive emotional tradition as with some people? You need a faith. By faith, we live as justified men and women. By faith, we walk as sanctified (made holy) people. By faith, we submit in waters of death and are resurrected to life; a renewed heart and mind, and a new orientation of slavery to Christ. Many people have LOST faith during COVID quarantine, and can’t seem to find it. For that I beg you to READ the book of ROMANS.
Faith is everything. It guides our behavior in the right direction. It guides right choice of words toward everyone, particularly toward those we love the most. It welcomes the Spirit of Christ to shape and form our world, rather than the chaos of what’s around us.
“Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another. Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”
Romans 12:10-21 CSB
https://www.bible.com/bible/1713/rom.12.10-21.csb
“Find yourself a faith. It helps… no; not just helps. It’s everything.”
Droo's Clues 