Faith to move mountains

In the book of Hebrews, faith is described as the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

Martin Luther King said, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

Actually, I spend a lot of time thinking about faith, how it sustains us and how to nurture it. It's common for intellectuals to sneer at those who have faith and to dismiss it as a narcotic for the masses. But I don't quite understand how we can live without it. It seems to me to be as necessary as the air we breathe and as fragile as life itself.

Sometimes I wonder how people manage to get up each morning and face the day ahead, knowing the privation and pain they face. Is it survival instinct or faith that keeps them going?

And those who face disasters of epic proportions: When they lose everything they have, what exactly gives them the strength to go on? The human story is one of suffering and hope -- and faith in something much larger and more meaningful than a single life, no matter how well lived it is.

These children have faces of faith. The Muslim who carries his prayer rug, the couple who says grace in a fast-food restaurant before eating their burgers and fries, the mothers of dying children and those who walk through the darkness against odds that defy hope seem to understand the significance of faith. My own precious son who suffers from schizophrenia once told me that although he doesn't have hope, he has faith. That one remark touched me more than I can say.

Even the scientist who discovered the human genome and who had been an atheist until that time wrote that when it was complete, there were still things that science couldn't account for, and to his own surprise, it sparked faith as well as religion. The two are not the same, of course, but they often walk hand-in-hand.

So here I am at the start of the Christian advent season, hoping to come closer to the mystery, to sit in the question mark, to grow stronger in my faith journey. The words of long-ago prophets, the birth of a baby who would change the course of history, and the simple faith of those who come together to celebrate this story -- all touch my heart and encourage my own doubting mind to open like a flower. While all religions can mislead and warp their followers, people follow in a quest to put a name to the unexplained. I believe that faith is the alphabet of spiritual language.

I want the kind of faith that moves mountains, and I don't have it. So I will light my advent candle and take the first step up, even though I don't see the whole staircase.