Faith Meets Life: Redemption awareness week

Actually, redemption and hope awareness week.

Two weeks ago I wrote on the question of why Christian communities have proliferated and remained in our part of the planet. In almost every other area of the world too, one notices that such communities spread except where political leaders, through ignorance or malice, make them illegal. I am thinking of communist and Islamic regimes, which have decreed Christianity illegal. China and Saudi Arabia come to mind as examples.

I wrote that three reasons could be put forward to explain the appeal of Christianity. I commented on the sense of belonging many experience in their church communities as a primary reason. I also wrote that I'd consider two other reasons for the spread of Christianity. They are the experience of hope and redemption.

Hope in church communities is part of the deal that keeps people involved. Believers are pretty persistent about praying in hope for good things to happen to them, and indeed, to the rest of the world. In spite of the many setbacks that enter their lives, they insist that with God there is always reason to look up. The other day I met with a senior on the same day he was scheduled to have life-threatening surgery. The sense of calm he had about things was remarkable. For him, both life and death were part of the path he was walking with God.

Christian refugees escaping the religious persecutions in southern Sudan, including the now infamous region of Darfur, have routinely told me that they pray for a better future for their country. Others, such as the late Mother Theresa, have become famous for their faith-driven work of improving the future in spite of the odds against them.

Where there is life there is hope, the saying goes. More to the point, where there is faith.

A third reason for the appeal of Christian faith is redemption. Most of us understand that some parts of our lives, maybe even most parts, have at best a mixed record of generating good and bad. We feel guilty about some things we have said and done. Other parts of our lives seem to have no “redeeming value,” as the expression goes. Sometimes life seems as pointless as that embarrassingly stupid movie you saw last month.

But Christian believers generally come to understand that God can make good things come from every situation and from every life. Even though the good that can come from very tough experiences is not always apparent, all of life can be redeemed by Him.

This seriously undermines the sense that any part of our lives needs to be written off as worthless. Though we may have chased meaningless dreams in the past, though, through wrong-headed adventures, including criminal activities, we may have caused a lot of damage, we are not beyond redemption. Ever.

God can transform the life of any person into something good, something full of light, something that shows a life-affirming path to many others.

(Btw, my friend survived his surgery.)

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.