“We walk by faith and not by sight,” the popular hymn goes. For those of us of a certain age, perhaps it conjures up the Star Wars scene where the future of the Rebel Alliance suddenly depends solely on Luke Skywalker’s ability to accomplish a seemingly impossible task, aiming his weapon just so to precisely strike a tiny target to destroy the Death Star and prevent the destruction of the Rebel base.
As enemy fighters threateningly whirl around him, Luke hears the voice of his deceased mentor and guide Obi-wan Kenobi entreating him, “Use the force, Luke. Trust me.” Repeatedly in Luke’s Jedi training, he had tried to overcome his fears about trusting the Force, walking by faith and not by sight. He wanted to trust, but he kept needing the reassurance of his own capacities and senses. However, when it finally came to the ultimate test, he had undergone enough training and had mistaken the data of his own senses for the truth enough times, that something clicked. The voice was real, the spirit of Obi-wan Kenobi was present, and Luke let go. Not surprisingly, he hit the target and saved the base.
Sometimes, like Luke, we confuse the trappings of religion for what Christ intended for us: a new kind of relationship with God, one that does not depend on externals, but is centered on what we cannot see—a relationship that shapes and directs all aspects of our lives. Religion offers us training. It provides support and guidance; it offers us nourishment and accompaniment. But sometimes we mistake these things for what God seeks for us—a constant, true, and abiding communion that is its own reward.
The pandemic has separated us from much of what we have come to depend on as guides and pointers for our faith. Have we been able to hear the summons to walk in faith, bringing to others in whatever ways we can, the gift that Christ has so generously shared with us that we practice, for instance, each time we break bread at Eucharist?
Help then, O Lord, our unbelief, and may our faith abound to call on you when you are near, and seek where you are found.