Reflections – Steps of Faith Submitted by Jon Milazzo

As of this writing, we seem to be headed to the conclusion of our journey in finding a settled pastor for our beloved church.  So now it’s time to settle in and to shift from the interim focus of assessing the church, to now, with a peripheral eye on the community, connecting with the community in a deeper way. 

We need to become an even stronger spiritual community. Community is one of the greatest gifts churches can offer.  RCC is a place where people of different generations can connect with each other…and we must build upon this.  Our vision now should be "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors".  We must be committed to practicing community together.

Furthermore, from this journey of hope, love and faith that we have been on in our search for a settled pastor, we can draw three important conclusions about the nature of faith.

A. Faith is not a feeling but a conscious choice to believe what God has said.
We will never progress in the spiritual life as long as we stay on the plane of our feelings. If Noah had waited until he “felt like” building an ark, he might never have laid the first piece of gopher wood. Feelings are important but they are not the basis of true faith. Faith chooses, then acts, and then the feelings follow.

B. Faith acts even in the face of doubt and opposition.
If we wait until all the circumstances are in our favor, we’ll probably wait forever. David didn’t wait for Goliath to go blind. He trusted God and walked down into the valley to face the giant. If we wait for our doubts to disappear, we’ll have to wait a long time. Someone said that faith is “belief plus unbelief and acting on the belief part.” Sooner or later, we all have to “act on the belief part.”

C. Faith sees what others do not see.
Philip Yancey said, “Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” So many things in this life make no sense to us. It would be wrong to say that faith provides all the answers. It doesn’t. By faith we see things that are invisible to others and by faith we believe in advance those things that right now make no sense but one day will make perfect sense because we will view them in reverse.

The world says, “Seeing is believing.” God says, “Believing is seeing.” We believe, therefore we see. Biblical faith is never faith in faith, as if we were believing in our own powers of logic or self-persuasion. Faith can never be stronger than the object on which it rests. Since our faith rests on the Lord Jesus Christ, the essence of faith is following him wherever he leads.

Finally, each person's life is a journey with a beginning point and a final destination. In this journey of life, the questions where am I going and how am I going to get there are the most important!  Believe that God has called us to build a church body of people who will walk together with others on our present and future journey; and introduce them and yourself to living faith in Jesus Christ, the ultimate destination.

With Blessings for a Joyful Summer!

Our Mission:                                   
The mission of the Richmond Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, is to encourage the spiritual growth, personal peace, and well being of all who seek relationship with God through the Christian faith by providing a safe, open, non-judgmental and nurturing atmosphere. We will provide community and mutual support through Christian fellowship and be instruments of peace and justice by reaching out to those in need and by being good stewards of the world through action and example.

 If you would like a visit from the pastor, or to receive the church newsletter, please call the church office at 434-2053 or e-mail us at church@rccucc.org  (see "contact us" link above)