I believe you. These are some of the most powerful, life-changing words we can say to another person.For example, how many times has this happened to you?
“Honey, I’m so freezing!” “How can you be cold, I turned the heat up already!” or “I feel so lonely these days?” “What are you talking about? You have plenty of friends.” or “He shoved me really hard. I don't know what to do.” “Oh, come on. It was probably an accident."
Believing someone is powerful and life-changing. It means… I respect you and I’m listening. It means… I hear you and your needs. It means… I trust that you know your feelings and your life better than anyone else. It means… you won't have to defend yourself against my judgements or perceptions of you and your situation.
Believing means, I am moving beyond myself and my own experience into your reality. “I believe you” is about being open to compassion for another person.
Maybe two weeks ago I received a questionnaire in my mailbox from The County. It was a form with check boxes about this and that different service. And then there were a few lines for us to fill in our response to the question that was something like: What is the best thing The County can do to improve life here? I replied, “Believe that there is deep income inequality… even if you haven’t experienced it yourself.” Believing people, especially people in need, takes us out of ourselves into spaces of trust, compassion and partnership with each other. It is partnership, friendship and allies that can make all the difference for the most vulnerable amongst us. There are so many ways the world would be a better place, if only we believed those in need. Imagine if we believed the youth center when they say they need more funds for staffing. Or if we believed local farmers when they warn that we are putting fast food restaurants over prime farmland. Or believed scientists when they beg us to address climate change. Or, as a nation, if we had believed Indigenous people when they spoke about residential school children who were missing.
Believing takes us out of ourselves into a space of trust, compassion and partnership with another. For people of faith, this is the essence of how God is calling us to live and be.
This Sunday, we will reflect on the ultimate: saying “I believe you” to God when Jesus is raised to eternal life on Easter morning. On Easter morning to say “I believe” is to say “I believe in the goodness of God's holy mystery that goes beyond what I as a human can understand and comprehend."
In many ways, belief is like a bridge…
…that links what we know, with what we don’t know
…that links our humanness with our holiness …that links the here and now, with the eternal …that links who we are right now, with a universe of possibilities in God
I can’t imagine my life without belief. I can’t imagine living only with what I can see or understand or prove. But I know that for some people belief comes very hard. I choose to believe in the beyond me and the beyond us. For me, that is who God is: the power which is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine. Today is the end of Lent, our season of self-reflection on our faith and our lives. We’ve rested and reflected through the slow pace of winter, preparing ourselves--mind, heart, soul and strength--for the new life we are about to celebrate at Easter... and the new life that is on the brink of springing forth all around us. The new life we are offered to both believe in and to experience as it happens, as it really happens, all around us and within us. Thanks be to God. I Believe by Elvis Presley. Do you know this one? I hope you love it... https://youtu.be/4ZsdD25olxg Blessings to you all, From, your student minister, Aaron p.s. To our Jewish friends celebrating Passover this week. May God bless you and yours with sweetness and joy!
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