Sing a New Song of Simple Faith

 

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see."
Heb. 11:1-2

Faith is a well worn word, one that circulates in our language frequently and commonly and yet sometimes I wonder if we really lived into the depths of its meaning, how might our lives be different. In that single word seems to contain Heaven's most valuable spiritual guidance.

So, what does it mean to have faith - the faith of "the ancients" - as the author of Hebrews writes. The faith even to believe in the power of faith. I especially love the scripture in which St. Paul invites us to pray for an increase in faith. Who ever thought of doing that? It seems that "miracles" are clearly the product of such faith. The awesome faith an elderly woman held onto after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince buried her under rubble for one week stunned the world as CNN ran and re-ran the moment of her deliverance by rescue workers. More than 70 years old, she was pulled out alive and still singing whatever song she had sung to herself as she laid buried underneath her home near the city's cathedral, which also lay in ruins beside her.

Singing is one way of staying present in the moment, where we connect with the power of God. Eckhart Tolle calls that moment of connection as the eternal "Now." By singing hymns Christians throughout the centuries have entered into the moment of praise and rejoicing, lifting their hearts, entering into another dimension where the day's concerns are forgotten, a kind of metaphysical plain where they simply don't exist anymore, and where they reflect on - even connect with or commune with and are consequently empowered by - that what IS real, lasting and eternal. There's another story like this one from several years ago, in which a young minister was hiking in the English hills when sudden a rare snowstorm hit, buying him for also an unbelievably long time. Later, after he was finally rescued, the news asked him how he managed to survive. He replied that he had just sung all the hymns he knew.

Faith may be believing, but we must beware that "believing" is often just a head trip into the deepest recesses of our intellect, rather than our heart. If we believe, live with or through, our hearts, lifting them up and out of whatever would dissuade us from our effort to believe in something more radiant, more alive, more beautiful, of a higher calling, then we will have to apply some real inner spiritual muscle to the intention. It is far too easy to become overwhelmed, which tosses our hearts down, rather than lifts them up.

I once knew a wonderfully inspiring woman back in New York State. She was my next door neighbor in Hamburg, NY. She was stunningly beautiful, 65 years old, married to a State Supreme Court Judge who was a former town supervisor. Over the years, she had graciously entertained many civic leaders. She had raised six children, all of whom had grown up and moved on to doing wonderful things wth their lives. One summer afternoon, as we were talking, she shared her thoughts about how someone begins an overwhelming task, something that just looms before and over you like a mountain, foreboding, blocking you. You all must know situations like that - how do you lose 150 lbs. - or in my case - even just 10 would be nice. How do you overhaul an old house or begin a whole new career, how do you heal from cancer? She said, after her big sporty sons had filled her basement with skis, boots, books, and all the clutter and things of their childhoods now out of sight, abandoned in her basement, she was overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the task of cleaning it.

"I just took a shoebox and cleaned it one shoe box at a time," she said.

By filling that one shoebox and focusing on just that one small space at a time, she managed to stay present and consequently that sense of being overwhelmed left and in no time her basement was cleaned.

Is that faith, cleaning a basement? I don't know. But, how she cleaned it, the kind of "mind" that was tapped to clean it, is the same mind that we can tap into to do great things. There was a scene on the news of a group of Haitian fathers whose small children had died at their school when the earthquake hit. The young childrens' bodies laid buried under the rubble of their school. These heart-broken fathers were working together, painstakingly one-by-one pulling pieces of cement off the mountain of debris which had entombed their little ones. It was a huge monumental task, and yet they were doing it, remaining almost religiously vigilant, prayerfully present, as they did the somber task. Perhaps mountains are moved, one rock at a time, as one stays focused on the rock, rather than the mountain, or the largeness of the task before them. Also, when in that kind of present minded, mindfulness (to tap some Zen lingo), time seems to stand still - moments fly into hours - and when you you've finished, you feel you've been gone for only a few minutes, but it had been a couple hours.

The entire network of railroads that were built across the continental United States in the 1880s were built by men, who "sang as they worked."As the Haitian woman and the English hiker, and my neighbor, they disconnected from present circumstances and entered into another mindset, one of praise and present-mindedness. Perhaps, that moved them through a kind of spiritual time-space dimension while empowering them to survive as they waited.

All I know is that singing is one way we can enter into a state of mind in which our faith can be activated, catalyzing into our lives things so much more than survival or accomplishing insignificant household chores. Through singing, dancing and loving (making love is certainly one way of staying in the present!) and praising - thinking good thoughts, imagining what you really want, visualizing your dream - while remaining intentionally in that present-minded state of joy, energy is released into us which opens portals upon portals within our hearts, ascending up and away from whatever was holding us back and somehow, mysteriously, even miraculously, bringing into our lives that which we had hoped for.

Just a last thought, as you stay aware of what you're thinking about, remember you can (as in, you have the power to) take control of that thought, choose to shift it by singing, dancing, praising , painting - anything that you know will take you out of the grip of that thought - and then visualize what it is you want - if its to survive an earthquake or buy a new home, or sell your current one or heal your body, whatever it is.

You can do this. Just imagine, if we all did this one-by-one, we would regain control of our minds, our lives and our world. Even if you just did it, starting today, your day would at least change and if you could remember to do it tomorrow, your week could change, and if you could make it a habit, your life would change. And, then, imagine how many lives impact yours. Don't we all touch each other all around the world? Visualize peace and peace will come.