The Ways Faith Comes to Us

Faith comes first by sight.  We believe in what we see and in what we come to understand about what we have seen.  We connect what we’ve seen to what we are taught.  God is real because, as a children’s song goes, “God made the sun and God made the tree, God made the mountains and God made me.”  We believe in God because of the rainbows which remind us of God’s promises.

The first believers at Easter (they became the first Christians, but weren’t called that until later) believed that Jesus was alive because they SAW him: as he stood before Mary, as he pointed out his wounds to Thomas, as he ate a piece of broiled fish before the Eleven and several other disciples.  Seeing was believing.  Their eyes were opened and they recognized him (in the breaking of the bread.)

When we were young, we learned the faith from what we saw the people we loved doing.  Our grandparents delivered meals on wheels to those who were ill and “shut-in.”  Our mother baked pies for the church bake sale.  Our father got up early to shovel the walks so people could get to church.  We saw people making sacrifices for others – offering the gifts of their time, talent and treasure to others so that the other would “see the Lord” as well.  And people do see the Lord today.  Only now, people “see the Lord” in the acts of service of their neighbor.

That is where we are today.  “Easter People” volunteer in the food pantries, thrift shops and soup kitchens.  Disciples of Christ serve meals to the bereaved after funerals.  Today’s believers in Jesus visit the sick and the lonely.  God’s chosen teach the children who are come to hear the stories of Jesus and his love in Vacation Bible School and church camp.

Every Sunday in May during worship at First Christian Church of Trenton (MO) we will celebrate some of the people we admire for what they have accomplished.  We will recognize our graduating seniors on May 6^th, honor our mothers, and those who have been like a mother to us, on May 13^th and remember our servicemen and women and our veterans on May 20^th, the Sunday after “Armed Forces Day.”  And then, on May 27^th, we will remember and celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised would come to believers, as we mark “Pentecost!”

Come and see what the Lord has done for us!  I look forward to greeting you at the church door or in the many places where we see the risen Christ at work in us!