About two months ago, I came across the highlight of the final volleyball match between Brazil and Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics. After a heated altercation among the players, the wise DJ played “Imagine.” The entire crowd began singing along, and those in the midst of the conflict softened, smiles spreading across their faces.
When I reflect on Christian hymns, I often find that while they are rich in doctrinal confessions, they sometimes lack the imaginative actions that could lead to peace. Could “Imagine” be sung in church? Am I pushing the boundary too far? Perhaps. But what if we added lines like these?: “Imagine if we don’t take advantage of one another.” “Imagine if people don’t take one another for granted but make it a daily practice to appreciate who we are and who we become to one another.” These ideas may seem ordinary, as they reflect wisdom we already know but often fail to put into practice. Yet, they can guide us in committing to our relationships and cultivating the virtue of faithfulness. This virtue is essential in all kinds of relationships, including marriage. For Jesus, adultery represents a breach of the faithfulness promised to each other, a self-deception that one can truly commit to someone else. This lack of faithfulness isn't just about respecting others; it's about respecting oneself and maintaining one's dignity. Ultimately, it harms not only others but also oneself. Relationships can become tragic when one person tries harder than the other. How often do we witness or experience this unfortunate outcome? We may not have a way to fix it, but we can “imagine” (yes, imagine until we make it!) creating a community built on a faithfulness that is not just our own, but God’s. Our all-time favorite hymn might be “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” My favorite line comes from the third verse: “Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth / Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide / Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” I interpret these lines as “another opportunity to learn from mistakes and amend, bringing peace / God’s presence within to help me carry on / strength for today as I breathe in, and hope for tomorrow as I breathe out.” How about you? This virtue of faithfulness can often be found in children. While not always, it’s present in actions that are pure and innocent. To become like a child doesn’t mean being childish, but childlike. Children naturally exhibit deep trust in their parents or caregivers. This trust is an expression of both childlikeness—due to their inherent dependency and innocence—and faithfulness, as they remain loyal and confident in the care they receive. At this point, you might expect me to say the usual: “Be faithful to God as God is faithful to us.” This is indeed the correct approach to developing the virtue of faithfulness, but we already know this in our minds. I’d like us to try something else: Let us be faithful to God’s presence within as we attune our attention to our breath until we realize it’s the breath of God sustaining our very life. I’ve said it countless times—let the Breath of God breathe us—because this is how we embody God’s presence within. God’s presence isn’t an abstraction in our heads; it’s biologically and physiologically in our bodies. This is how we allow God to work in and through us in the world. The God we believe in isn’t confined to the Bible or the words of theologians, priests, or bishops. God is in our breath, in our body, in our mind—faithfully animating us, hoping for us, and imagining the peace embodied in the world. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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