Faithfulness

Taking up a new habit such as this (rather dramatic, if I may say) shift in my diet has only been possible so far with a daily commitment.  That is, each day I commit to eating this way, today.  I ask no more than that of myself.

In the past week, however, I have read two distinct blog posts both from faithful and wise friends who advise, conversely, to make some long-term plans that might serve as a guiding star for one's life, and to acknowledge the immediacy of each day--even each moment--in the reminder that in tomorrow, life might be entirely changed.

How to balance this tension?  How to make a commitment that is only one day long and nonetheless call it a commitment?

These questions lead me to think about the double meaning of faith and faithfulness.  On the one hand, we speak of faithfulness as a steady commitment over time.  To keep faith with someone is to endure.  To walk.  To live.  To entrust.  Faithfulness is not fleeting.  On the other hand, to live in faith is to step into the unknown moment.  To move into the realm of unseen things.  To trust.  Faith reaches toward the future, uncertain of all that lies ahead.

I often tell my students (and remind myself) that I am a person of faith.  I don't know how they understand the term, but when I say that, I mean to speak the double meaning of faith.  I am a person of commitment and consistency (overmuch, perhaps some would say) and at the same time, I endeavor to cast my lot into the unknown stretching out before me.

Of course, what I also mean to say when I announce that I am a person of faith is that I do not and cannot dwell in this faith alone.  It is a gift from God, and it is sustained by the community of faith that surrounds me.  This faith is ultimately the food that I eat.  It is the blessing of God realized in bread and wine (even, though they are dreadful in a way I had not anticipated, gluten-free wafers) that becomes my life.

Past and future.  Surrounding and within.  Received and given.

Passing up pizza for a time hardly seems like an act of faith, particularly given the real sufferings the world has to distribute among God's children, but the daily choices of what and how I eat have a way of getting my attention.  So I am grateful for the faith given to me and hope, for today, that I will live it out on behalf of others, or at least one other.

Amen.