Faith in Three Dimensions

In a recent post on a Facebook page for Lutheran clergy, someone asked a question that basically boiled down to, "Is there anything that Christians across the board can agree with?"  A few early attempts to find something that might be seen as Christian common ground were quickly met with comments that there was someone, somewhere who disagreed and then related that group's beliefs.  Those comments were often met with highly technical, scholarly responses (often quoting the Augsburg Confessions or Luther's Works complete with reference and page number) that looked to prove why the other group was wrong in their thinking.  What happened on that page is something I think happens not just in Lutheran circles but across the board in our Western culture.  When we start talking (and especially when we start arguing) about faith, we often fall back to the refuge of our brains.  

Certainly when we talk about faith there is a dimension of that discussion that needs to be centered in our brains.  But all too often that is the only dimension we consider and as a consequence we end up missing out on the considerably richer remainder of what it means to be faithful.  

"Head faith" creates check lists, doctrines and ideas to which we are challenged to endorse or condemn.  While head faith creates a firmer language for discussing challenging concepts, it often falls short when it comes to making a visible difference in the way we live our lives.  That doesn't make head faith "bad" it simply points out that it isn't all there is when it comes to faith.  

"Heart faith", while not big on precision language, instead focuses on relational aspects of faith and metaphor rather than precise "factual" data.  When Scripture talks about God as our Rock or as a Mighty Fortress it is calling us to a faith that is not an agreement with a concept but rather a radical trust in God; that we will be taken care of, both in the short term and in the long term.  Just as a child who feels secure in their home is more likely to be a happier child, the Christian who has a radical trust in God's care for them will also be a better person in the world.  Heart faith also has an aspect that calls us to a loyalty which shows itself in the world when we live our lives in the Jesus way.  When Scripture talks about adultery it isn't most often talking about sex, it is talking about living a life in a way different than the way God calls us to live.  

The last dimension of faith that often gets lost in our culture is a "hand faith" which shows itself in the way we physically interact with the world around us.  When we see the world as Jesus did; as generous, loving and full of grace we naturally live for more than meeting our own needs. We live first for the other, confident that we are recipients of God's unconditional love and grace. On the other hand when we view the world as hostile or out to get us we tend to circle the wagons and care only for ourselves, seeing others in the world as a threat instead of as part of God's generous gift to our lives.  

As our world changes around us fewer people are finding the head-only kind of faith compelling enough to get them to attend worship.  The battles over doctrine seem to repel more than they attract.  Perhaps by rediscovering the other dimensions of faith we can both partake in a richer faith for ourselves and show a richer faith to the world around us.