In tomorrow’s Lectionary, the writer of 2 Corinthians claims (5:7), “…for we walk by faith, not by sight.” And ‘walking by faith’ is generally considered by Christians to be A Good Thing To Do. But I walk by sight. I believe what is empirical, the evidence of my own senses, and the evidence that has been gathered by other members of the community we call ‘science’. Eighteen years ago I was in Scotland when the moon passed across the face of the early morning sun, making it look like a ring of fire. It was a wonderful sight. But I saw none of it, because there was a stubborn veil of cloud in the way. I still believed in it though, because the evidence-gathering and model-making of the scientific community is an extension to my own sight.
Faith is different though: there are motivations at play that undermine the quest for truth (also true in science, but there are ways of overcoming this). Nevertheless, for some of us there comes a turning point. We say “I have seen enough: now I believe.” Doubts and uncertainty and questioning don’t go away. But the belief we learn is something that has its origins in what we have seen – whether it is an experience too personal to be described, or seeing how the love of Christ can create community amongst the most unlikely people, or receiving that love ourselves (there’s a heavy responsibility here, church people!), whether it’s considering the wonders of creation or of our response to it, or an understanding of how our hatred can begin to be healed, or how Jesus’ suffering has meaning – whatever – we come to the point where we say, “I have seen enough, now I believe.”
Anyway, a couple of days ago there was another annular eclipse of the sun, visible from parts of the planet. The partial eclipse we had in the UK was accompanied (fitfully) by just the right amount of cloud to be visible safely…
