Little Faith Ones

Extract of Herbert Boeckl’s fresco “Saint Peter’s rescue from the Lake Galilee” inside the cathedral of Maria Saal, Carinthia, Austria

Do we enter into the storms of life under the judging eyes of some untouchable creator?

So enmeshed in the separation between the our own unworthiness and his perfection

And the magnification of every misstep to the point where each trespass and violation

Is magnified to take upon the unshakeable weight of the world in our lives

Tipping the scales of justice from the possibility of salvation to certainty of damnation

Living a purgatorial existence of trying to love a creator that seems to no longer care

In a world that is anthropocentrically centered around our actions and failures

“You of little faith, how could you doubt?”

Yet, perhaps we enter the storms of life under the eyes of a God who approaches us

Who comes to us in the storms, who beckons us to come beyond the safety of the ship

And perhaps rather than pointing out to us every failure, instead in the moment of need

Reaches out the hand and grasps the hand thrashing about in fear and returns us home

To the belly of the boat where the winds can subside and the waves diminish

Tipping the scales of justice from the certainty of damnation to the possibility of healing and life

Entering the purgatories of our own lives and opening to us kingdoms of hope and peace

Where steadfast love and faithfulness meet and righteousness and peace kiss

In a world that is theologically centered upon the God who comes near uttering

Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid as I come to you in the midst of the storms of life

“My little faith ones, why do you doubt?”

Neil White, 2014

Sign of the Rose