I have blogged for five years as Saved By Words, but wanted to start a blog where I was more obviously writing about my faith life. After asking several blogging friends whether I should handle this desire by sections on my original blog or by adding a new blog, I am following their advice. Many of my present readers are not particularly interested in my explicitly Christian thoughts, so I am adding Living With Faith to my sites.
While I eventually hope to comment on specific readings for the Catholic liturgical years, I will start out by chronicling my spiritual journey. Far from an ordinary straight trajectory, it winds around many different bends. Too often faith seems to be presented as a “fait accompli” which I think is off putting to many.
But first I relate an experience some years back with my literature students at the art college where I spent my professional life. My students were openly anti-Christian and assumed that everyone else was too. I did not discuss my own beliefs, preferring to live them out instead. One day I inadvertently mentioned something about my Sunday School class. My students were confused. Why did I go to a Sunday School class? I told them I was a Christian and it was part of my ongoing study.
They were truly taken aback. One said “you can’t be a Christian.” I told them I was and asked why they were questioning me. I looked around at my usual motley crew of art students–pierced, tattooed, gender non-conforming, wearing occult decorative jewelry and clothing. They said “you accept us all.” I said of course I did, not mentioning that I also loved them all. Then I told them that the Gospel message was clear that we are to love, no exceptions. That is what I mean when I say I am a Christian. I also told them that if they had heard any other message they had not heard the true Gospel.
We went back to a discussion of the text on hand.
Living With Faith 