Sherry Sterling

Dear friends,

Around this Fourth of July, to prepare for and digest the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I’ve been steeping in the history of our country. I’ve been watching and reading documentaries on the history of the people who shaped our country’s early story: the founding fathers and mothers, the Native Americans and frontiers people who battled over expansion, and the slaves who built much of the early infrastructure. 

Some of my heroes are complicated characters. They may have brought about a monumental deed, but their family life was not admirable, or they didn’t live by their stated values. I imagine we all know people like that, and people for whom the opposite is true—people whose lives are full of love and service, but they may not have accomplished anything noteworthy for the history books. And there are many more in the in-between.

Aren’t most of us a combination of commendable and condemnable?

Some of that is our doing. And some is influenced by what we’re given. I’m reflecting on how much in life is truly a gift. I have enjoyed many gifts, among them:

A gift to have been born into freedom,

 A gift to do work that supports me.

A gift to have been given faith.

It’s this last one that stood out for me in one of the scripture readings for today. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

God distributing faith? I’ve thought of faith as my end of the bargain. That God supplies the “what” that I put faith in, the “place” where my faith lands. And I am to meet that with faith.

I’ve seen faith as my effort towards the ineffable. 

But what if even my attempt at faith is given by God? And what if some are given more faith than others? I read this passage as cautioning those who enjoy a certain level of certainty in God’s existence to not judge those who struggle with doubt. 

I’m now thinking about faith differently—not as something to have satisfaction in, rather something to live out.

Peace and Love,

—Sherry