“Father Jonathan, can you answer me a question, and no offence: how can Fr. Martin believe so strongly when there is no evidence for what he believes?”

This question was put to me this last week and it made me think. Fr. Martin Haig is a monk who has come back to our parish where he lived and worked for a time to see his friends. I know Fr. Martin quite well, and have lived with him over a few years. To live with another is to get to know them. He is now living in the 9th decade of his life, is amazingly vigorous for his age, interested in many things, and he certainly believes in God, and loves God. I cannot speak for him but it makes me question myself. Why do I believe when I cannot see God, or feel him or touch him? Or at least that is what other people might think who do not have faith.

For me it is not quite like that. I can say that there is evidence for God in my life and in the lives of those with whom I associate. He is the “person” who really does converse with me, not in the same way that I have a conversation with another person, but in ways that are real. It is not a psychological state, but something I know and can talk about. For instance this morning during prayer it came to me about the fact that we are according to St. Paul, “in Christ”. This means that Jesus, who walked and talked in the Holy Land that I have recently been to visit, who suffered, died a cruel death, and rose from the dead by the power of God is in some way “identified” with me. Now I know that I do not deserve this gift, I know that there are times when I am not the kind of person that Jesus would like to identify with, yet, despite all that, through the union I have with God that is real, I can say that I am “in Christ” and He is in me. This made a kind of love and devotion for God well up in me, a kind of “feeling” that is not a “feeling-in-the-ordinary-sense” but somehow deeper in my being, and I felt in awe of God who loves ME so much. I repeat: it is not necessarily something I deserve, but it is true. It made my prayer real; it made God real and I told him from my heart that I want to be His and that I thank and praise and worship Him for being so good to me.

I found myself saying to another person: “the thing is that our religion is all true – it is not made up, or based on something untrue. I know it is true because all my life I have tested the teachings of our faith against my experience, and it always makes sense, even in times of personal darkness and trial. That does not mean I always live up to the way I should to be a follower of Jesus, but that does not take away from its “truth”".

The person who asked me the question about Fr. Martin went on: “I was listening to him talking and he was saying things that showed he really does believe. I am not sure if God is there or not, and I am not sure that I could make the leap of faith that must be needed”.

This “leap of faith” interests me. Is it really a “big leap?” It clearly is for somebody who is struggling to find faith of is bemused by the presence of monks in our parish community who have strong faith. I do not think however it should be a “big deal” so to speak for anyone who is really trying to be a sincere Christian. It could be though that God has given me a lot of help and support, because I know so many people with a clear belief in God who are loving, kind, at-peace kind of people. They know their place in the world; they know their need for God, and they will be “in communion” with God through prayer, through God’s Word and the sacraments daily, and who are close friends. Their lives have been transformed by God and his Love. They may still have many trials, but that does not affect their sense of purpose, their loving nature, their goodness and the peace they radiate.

The real issue for people who “cannot-make-the-leap-of-faith” may be they cannot face up to the life changing consequences of faith. Perhaps people begin to realise that faith means a change in their life-style, and they do not want to do it? I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that could be the case.