Steps of Faith

In one of the old Indiana Jones movies the hero was rushing through a tunnel inside a mountain trying to keep ahead of an enormous ball of stone that was rolling toward him and threaten to crush him if he stopped even for a moment. He was greatly relieved when he saw some light up ahead, hoping it would give him the chance to get out of the way of this colossal threat. But he was shocked when he got to the opening, the tunnel ended in the middle of the face of a high cliff, and that there was no way he could see to leave the tunnel and make it to safety. However, he noticed a message on the wall that said, in effect, that here was an invisible bridge that would lead him to safety from the opening where he stood, but that he had to believe that it was there, and step out on it. In desperation, Indiana Jones decided to trust the message, stepped out into what appeared to be nothingness, and ran to safety on that invisible bridge.

Long before I encountered Indiana Jones, however, as a youth, I found an old, nineteenth century verse in a biography of the great pioneer missionary to China, Hudson Taylor. Ever since, it has always been in my mind. Here it is: “The steps of faith fall on the seeming void and find the rock beneath.” The book of Hebrews, defines faith as, “The substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

When you read this you may already visited or worshiped at our beautiful new sanctuary of Lord of Life Clifton. Some years ago, in a Clifton living room, a little group of believers from Lord of Life Fairfax and a group of believers from what was then Holy Spirit congregation in Clifton discovered they could see something that did not yet have a visible form. They had no message on a tunnel wall, but they did truly believe that the Holy Spirit was leading them to unify the ministry in Clifton with the ministry in Fairfax. They decided to propose steps that would best serve the gospel however their hopes would lead…both groups agreed… and Lord of Life church and Holy Spirit became, “One Congregation on Two Locations.”

For those who participated in bringing together both Fairfax and Clifton, the decision had far more to do with hopes and commitment and faith than any statistical or other considerations. The decision to unite was what had become the substance of their faith as far as the life of the churches was concerned; the evidence was the beginning of how a strengthened combined ministry would best reflect how God was leading both groups.

Faith in what ought to be as we understand our mission in Christ has always been at the heart of the Christian church. Faith leads to steps taken in the real world moved by hope and love and a hunger to bring that hope and love into the places and the sights and sounds and experiences of the senses–human reality.  

When you come to worship whether it be the place that is our sanctuary in Fairfax or our sanctuary in Clifton, may you sense what moved people like you and me to build them in the first place–to turn into historic reality places for human beings to humanly touch what cannot be seen, and to hear as best we can with the clumsy instruments of human hearing the words and music of grace and love that are so far beyond our senses that we can only throw ourselves by faith into the joy and wonder of worship and praise.

Pastor Jansen