My Mom's faith.

My mom passed away a few months ago at age 86. Like all parents, she was far from perfect. This is a big realization for me though not a new one by any stretch. This is not the place for those thoughts. Suffice to say, I may be able to defer those issues in a healthy way.

I instead want to talk about something my mom and I shared--our faith. We really agreed eye to eye on those crucial personal, practical and doctrinal matters. Politics were another matter—we really didn’t get into much.

Disclaimer: By writing these comments, I in no way want to suggest any special influence with my mom, or invalidate any of the rest of my families’ relationships. I just want to paint a picture of what I experienced.

I am a pastor albeit part-time. My mom was very involved in her church, my home church. I serve in that same denomination.

I want to make a distinction between outward religion, and the inner simple faith. I want to talk about Christian faith, as it is applied to imperfect people.

Central to any discussion on faith is a bit of context. The beliefs of western Christians, beginning in our European heritage and now North America have undergone tremendous change over the last few centuries. This change has caused an unprecedented revolution and upheaval in religious opinions. Sadly it too has caused a lot of confusion. This change is seen in at least three ways.

It is these changes seen in popular media, including popular TV shows such as the final episode of "LOST", and other popular media stereotypes and depictions.

Basic Christian beliefs are questioned in most colleges and universities. They are questioned by the interpretation of scientific claims of the intellectual elite. Theories about our origins combined with archeology have raised questions in the minds of many about supposed contradictions with the Bible and history. These have reached crescendo pitch in the last 2-3 generations.

American church mainline denominations have followed suit now adopting very radical social and moral positions which are very different from what their own predecessors held just 50 years ago.

Philosophically it would be the impact of rationalism, humanism, naturalism, and recently a half dozen more "-isms".

They all have every right to their beliefs. My concern, and mom and I discussed this on more than one occasion, is that our beliefs are mischaracterized as trite, ignorant, or old fashioned in spite of the fact that there are entire universities, theological institutions, scholars and churches that hold to these beliefs.

Just taking the scientific claims of the intellectual elite regarding our human origins. Just this week I saw a headline reporting that now some scientists are disputing whether the humanoid "Ardi" really belongs in the human chain of "evolution". If their own scientific findings are a moving target, how can they be so certain that Biblical archeology is wrong such as Jericho, or even Noah’s Ark? Preposterous? Remember Jesus Himself and the New Testament biblical authors regarded all the Old Testament as literally true in areas where it spoke literally--and apparently even a few areas that weren't.

Well back to my mom’s faith. Subtract all of those influences. Now we are talking about the faith of my mom.

She no doubt grew in her faith over the years. One example of this would be hearing her come home from Ladies' Aid and complaining over and over about one particular lady that she really disliked. I mean she was not kind. She really dug into this woman at home. I thought this woman was evil at the time because of this. Later, I learned otherwise, and I know mom did too.

As a kid I remember being touched by a copy of her "Daily Bread" devotional open on the table next to her Bible.

At her funeral service the pastor disclosed some things he had discussed with mom. One of the things he mentioned was her concern for friends and family.

That raised a question or two afterward. Because Rachel was dearly loved by so many, What possibly could have been her concern? I believe it was a concern for the souls of those she loved.
You see I asked her on a couple of occasions about how she came to faith, and she said it was at an evangelistic crusade as a young girl. Basic biblical teaching, yes Christ Himself, teaches the necessity of repentance and belief in Him for salvation. Christ Himself taught more about hell than anyone else in the New Testament.
I believe Rachel was loved by so many because of the changes that were wrought in her heart by the Spirit of God through His Word, which she grew to love. Again, she was a work in progress as far as sanctification was concerned. But completely saved by the merits of Christ's death and resurrection, which is the old biblical teaching of justification, a big word understood well by our fathers in the faith.

All of us look through the lenses of our day with some curiosity, and perhaps doubt at these things. "Come on, Tom, really, that's outdated." says one. Another says, "You can't be so closed minded, Christianity is one of many roads..."
I'm not naive here. I've heard it all, grown up in a diverse family, went to secular colleges, worked in the private sector, as well as the church.

Grandma's, Auntie's, mother's faith stands on it's own. Imperfect, and clueless as she was at times. Her life shows the truth of the lyric, "I’m not what I want to be, I’m not what I’m going to be, but thank God I’m not what I was."
My relationship with mom was in the latter years a telephone relationship. She would call on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I'd pick it up on an extension line in the basement as I was usually in my workshop and we would visit for the better part of an hour. So we would spend a good deal of that time discussing church and our beliefs. Sadly that phone has not been used very much since February. I will miss those talks.

That's what I know, a poor-part-time country preacher.