Faith of Our Facebook Fathers

Recently I ran across this meme on Facebook.

It doesn’t matter what the issue, people seem to be divided into camps of  Us and Them.

Gun control? Abortion? Immigration/Refugees? Gay rights? Welfare? Marijuana? Affordable Health Care? Mental Health Care? Black Lives Matter? Death Penalty? Assisted Suicide? Prayer in School? Getting “God” Back in Charge of this Country? And it seems that tragedy becomes a soapbox for people to opine and make it all about their position. But it seems that people are all talk and no action. What difference does it make what position you hold on all those issues? How does your spewed vitriol change anything?

Much of our belief system comes from what we were taught or what we lived growing up. For many years, I pretty much went along with the “Faith of our Fathers” as presented by my parents who were active in the Congregational church (UCC) in Campbell, CA. That was, and still is, a liberal Christian denomination. Back in the 1960’s the church had quite a dust up over the issue of fair housing. The drive for justice has always been a tenet of the faith. I was born on my dad’s birthday, and was always very close to my parents. In going through the piles of paper that had to be sorted upon selling my parents' home, I ran across this, a few words he wrote around 1970 to open our church men's club meeting.  He wasn't much of a writer, and in fact, had to borrow paper from me, and it happened to be orange binder paper!  Here’s an excerpt:

"What Does It All Mean?"

At some time in all our lives we come to a point where we wonder, “What is the point of us having lived?”  If we think back to our great grandparents, what do we really know of them?  Most of us would know very little… what their lives were like, what their ambitions and hopes were, but I believe one thing we could be sure of, they also had thoughts similar to ours.  What was the point for them having lived?  Their desires and ambitions are long forgotten and in most cases they are also forgotten.  But their having lived has had a profound effect on each one of us.  Their beliefs, by which they lived, and their faith, which was transferred to the next generation is the one thing that has not been forgotten.

We struggle to make sense of what we read in the Bible, a seriously flawed book, written by PEOPLE, centuries ago. I’ve often pointed out that Solomon didn’t say, “Be sure to back up your hard drive,” but it’s a real good idea! Even if we don’t believe in it, we do our best to live our lives modeled after the "faith of our fathers".  I still have my 3rd grade Bible, Revised Standard Edition…..

Psalm 89 v 1-2 :I will sing of thy steadfast love, O LORD, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations. ² For thy steadfast love was established for ever, thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.

Uh, yeah, no so much. There are a number of relatives out there praying fervently that my husband and I will find out way back to the Lord. Sorry, folks. It seems to us that religion is the root of most of the world’s strife. And the rest seems to be caused by greed and lack of compassion. We’ve gone the Humanist route… “Good without God.”  Some of my religious relatives spin my story of service in nursing homes, work as an elder advocate, Alzheimer’s and hospice volunteer as being my “ministry” and thus even though it’s not my motivation, it’s my Christian calling, so therefore I’m OK. I have no problem with that. Pray for me, think what you may, but my faith is faith in action. My slogan isn’t “Glory to God,” rather “Be kind to people and the earth.” I enjoy Deepak Chopra’s meditations. I might hug a tree. I embrace life with great energy and enthusiasm. I marvel and ponder the physics of the universe. There is so much we don’t understand. But does that really matter? I am here today, and have the choice to spend my time on this earth as I see fit.

Recently I’ve been doing genealogy research on Ancestry.com, and some of those ancestors are coming alive for me. In this age of computers, we have the ability to preserve our hopes and ambitions. I added my dad’s story of grit, how as a young man he was told that he’d never get out of a wheelchair, but he showed them! That story is now there for future generations. And so is mine. And my hope is that my descendants will carry on the faith of their fathers… and mothers J