Daily Lesson for July 3, 2019

Yesterday evening our family was driving to pick up something for dinner and the discussion turned to theology and the latest brouhaha in Fort Worth. An atheist group has made use of a city policy which allows private-paid advertising banners to be set up all over downtown to promote upcoming Fort Worth events. Since discrimination with respect to religion is explicitly outlawed by the Constitution now downtown Fort Worth is festooned with a regiment of matching banners declaring boldly, “In No God We Trust”.  And apparently nobody thought to tell the Mayor that this was coming down the pike. 

We talked about all the shocked Facebook posts. I shook my head at the kerfuffle. A tempest in a teapot. Irie, however, took the time to talk to the children about freedom of religion and the freedom we enjoy as Americans to practice religion or not. I thought that was pretty good two days before the Fourth of July. 

We parked the car; and when we were getting out our youngest Bo asked, “But is God real?”  

“Well, what do you think I think?” I asked. 

“Yes,” he said. 

“Yes,” I said, “I think God is real.”  

“But how do you know?” he asked. 

“Well,” I said, “I guess I believe in God because others believe. 

“ you know, Jesus believed in God,” I added. 

He shook his head. 

“And Desmond Tutu thinks God is real.”

“Who is Desmond Tutu,” he asked. 

“Somebody I admire,” I said. “And somebody else was Maya Angelou’s. She believed in God. And so does Aunt Opal. And Grandma Eva. And Malkhaz Songulashvili.”

“Bishop Malkhaz?” 

“Yes; Bishop Malkhaz.

“And also Amy Butler.”

I knew he wouldn’t know who Amy either, but for my own reasons I wanted to add her name. And I think my point was clear. We believe because of others. We believe because the church believes. We believe because those who’ve gone before us believed. We believe in the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Maya, Opal, Amy, and . . . 

And you add your own names . . .

In the God of our fathers and our mothers and our brothers and our sisters and our mentors we believe. And their witness is far, far more powerful than some sign somewhere downtown that either says or doesn’t say something about the existence of God.

Yes, we believe in God. And we believe because those we believe in believe. We believe and trust in them; and in their God we trust also.