Hope and a Questing Heart Are My Articles of Faith
February 6, 2011
I have been a member of this Fellowship for about six and a half years. I grew up in the Methodist Church and remember it as a positive childhood experience. When I was 13 years old my mother died. At the time, my young faith gave me hope that somehow things would get better. Because of that experience at a young age, I still believe today that the true essence of faith is hope. To me, the trusting faith of a child is vastly different from the questioning mind of an adult.
For many years, in terms of religion, I was nothing. Moving to the south and facing the ever-present question of “Where do you go to church?” I would answer that I was a “lapsed Methodist.” Most people heard the word “Methodist” and felt satisfied. But my belief that questions, discussion, and dialogue are a healthy and necessary part of attempting to understand the human condition is what brought me to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
To reference the photographer Edward Steichen, I believe in the Family of Man, and also the big umbrella of diversity. I believe in this Fellowship and the people here. Although the road is sometimes bumpy, our community of diverse, supportive, and intellectually curious individuals has allowed me to call Winston-Salem my home.
For me, the idea that some questions do not have answers supports my belief that time and chance happen to us all. Bad things happen, sometimes for no apparent reason, tilting our personal universe upside down. I believe that what we do with our lives, the choices we make when “stuff” happens, can define our lives.
On a more personal level, I believe in the love of family, friends, and the sometimes challenging pursuit of myself as an artist. I think the arts, whether creating or appreciating, are part of who we are. I heard the singer Roseanne Cash being interviewed on NPR about a year ago. She said she had no belief in organized religion but believed in the theology of art, music, and little children. Beautiful, I thought. That’s it for me, although I would include in that list the connection I feel when I am outdoors and in nature.
I believe in human moments that touch and connect us to one another. But I also believe in moments that include something outside myself. Eric Wilson calls them moments of grace. At this point in my life I believe in something other than myself, although I have no idea what that is. And I’m okay with that. I think I can just let that thought rest with the universe.
And since this is Super Bowl Sunday and I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, I must end this by saying that I believe in the Green Bay Packers.
