A Leap of Faith

I love listening to Folk Alley, the Internet music service from Kent State University. Hardly a day goes by when some song grabs my attention. The one that got me the other day was a Guy Clark song sung by acoustic blues-master Eric Bibb. The chorus goes thus:

He's one of those who knows that life
Is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath
Always trust your cape

What a great line

life is just a leap of faith!

Truth can be made so real in such a short phrase. We may think life is supposed to be so many things- fair, just, fun, always good, centered on "me". Ah, but we learn that none of these is true. Life is less about fairness than it is about living. It is living with a "faith" that believes that something matters.

Concerns like fairness and justice are what we do with life. They are the ways we treat others. It is the building of community, rooted in our common life.

Today's Gospel lesson was Jesus telling his followers (and us) that we are branches on a bigger- greater- vine. He is that greater vine for those of us who are Jesus' followers. He is the way to be fed and nourished. But we are in it together. No single branch survives if it is disconnected.

The "leap of faith" we are called to take is simply to live in our awareness of our connections

• to each other
• to the communities we are part of
• to the Higher Power that created and feeds us
• to the power within each of us that allows us to follow.

You can define these in any way that is appropriate for your theology and spiritual outlook. The greater reality is that none of us is in this alone- and we don't need to be.

So jump into life- take that leap of faith.

Which is what the rest of the chorus tells us:

Spread your arms and hold your breath
Always trust your cape

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I debated on using Guy Clark's or Eric Bibb's version of the song. Both are wonderful. I stuck with the one that I heard that inspired this post.