Rev Steve Jones, rector of Littleham, Holy Trinity and Lympstone, writes for the Journal.
I understand that the Christian faith is not of relevance or interest to everyone; I respect that. Each person must follow their own path and travel their own highway as they seek answers to questions about value, meaning, and purpose.
Christianity, during the last thirty-eight years, has provided me with a guiding light in helping to process my understanding of self, why I am here, and what my place is in the world.
I first started trying to answer those questions on my way back from the Falklands War in 1982, and I am still working on some of those same questions today. Faith is certainly a journey, and it is not always a smooth one.
While you might view me as a person of faith, you might not consider yourself to be so. However, perhaps we are all people of faith, but we just have faith in different things.
In the Book of Hebrews in the Bible, the author suggests that ‘Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’
I find that thought really helpful. Faith is my sense of what I believe to be real and reliable in my future, even before I have the facts evaluated and straightened out in my mind. It is a form of intuition about reality.
Faith can give me enough trust to take a step forward, even if I am not fully in control.
When I get on an Airbus passenger jet bound for Spain, I am exercising faith that EasyJet have properly maintained the aircraft, that Air Traffic Control is on the ball, and that my pilots can safely fly me to my destination.
The moment the doors close, I am in their hands. When I go to hospital for surgery, I am putting my faith in the doctors to help me and not to harm me. When I drift off under the general anaesthetic, I am completely in their hands.
When I, as a vicar, conduct a wedding, I watch an excited couple before me putting their faith in each other that they will love one another and be faithful to the other, always.
I observe them, by faith, placing their fragile hearts into each other’s hands. Faith, I think, is something about putting your trust in something or someone that you may not always be able to touch, see, check, or completely understand.
Faith is exercised when there is an unquantifiable inner sense that trusting in that moment is the right thing to do.
But faith is not always easy. Sometimes there are a hundred questions that need to be sorted out in your own thinking before you can get to faith. During the COVID 19 pandemic you may have accrued many questions about life, the universe, and everything, and you might be keen to have a forum in which to ask those big questions.
In these next weeks, an opportunity is going to present itself to you.
The Alpha Course is a nationally recognised weekly gathering lasting ten weeks, at which Christian beliefs about God, our world, and our purpose are shared with guest attendees.
Attendees on the course are then invited to share what they believe. No question is off the table, and all views are welcomed.
This course is not about teaching Christianity, but about giving you a forum to ask your valid questions about God, and to explore important questions of faith.
The completely free course is informal, fun, and very relaxed, and you can take part from the comfort of your own home through Zoom video.
While many churches will be running the Alpha Course, our churches have a course starting on Tuesday, April 6 at 7.30pm, and I wanted to invite you.
If you may be interested in Alpha, why don’t you visit our website www.exmouthcoastalchurches.org.uk for more information, or look at the national Alpha Course website www.alpha.org.uk.
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