July 03, 2008
Size of Faith
In his campaign for President, Obama is now holding Values Parties. I had to laugh when I read one media ticker tape on TV that said, “Obama meeting with small faith groups.” Small faith…? Now we know that in the political arena no one really cares about someone’s size of faith, their only concern is about courting the religious-conservative vote. Jesus, on the other hand, often met people who had small faith, but His ticker tape went something like, “O you of little faith.” …followed by His observations on why their faith was so small. Actually, I’m sort of glad that faith comes in various sizes. It gives me a chance to upgrade.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I’ve been trying to upgrade the size of my faith for many years, too. It hasn’t been real upgradible. So, I trust that God is less concerned with the point of progress to which I have arrived, and more concerned with the direction of my efforts’ focus. Then I feel better. Then I think that in itself is faith.
-----And isn’t it amazing the difference a comma can make? Had the ticker tape read, “Obama meeting with small, faith groups…” it would have clearly meant the groups he was meeting with were both small in size and of faith in type. But left as it was, “small” must modify “faith“, and I strongly doubt that was the intended idea. Politicians are much too careful about nuances. Seeing the wide abuse given the comma at the end of lists*, I can very easily think it was omitted here by error, as well.
-----Then I realize how important to faith it is to get the details right. So I reassess my thoughts on how concerned God is with the point to which I have arrived. Then I get grieved because I’m only another inch down the road. Then I get joyful, because after all, an inch is further than half an inch. And I am back to thinking in terms of direction again.
Love,
Steve Corey
* “Sally, Dick, Martha, and Mary each went into a separate room,” is the usage taught in the 1960’s and meant that Sally went into a room, Dick went into a room, Martha went into a room, and Mary went into a room. But the usage mostly seen today, “Sally, Dick, Martha and Mary each went into a separate room,” introduces the ambiguity that Martha and Mary went into the same room, then presenting the conflict with the stated detail that each went into a separate room. When the list intentionally means Martha and Mary as a pair went into a separate room, then the inaccuracy of the missing comma is confessed by the necessity of, “Sally, Dick, and Martha and Mary.” Admittedly, ambiguity doesn’t usually arise over a missing comma at the end of a list, and that is probably why it has become popular to drop it.
Post a Comment