大象传媒

Good morning.聽 During the eight days of Hanukah, the lights are kindled just after sunset and there is something about dusk and candlelight that I find particularly evocative.聽 Dusk is not day but it is not entirely night either. And soft candlelight illuminates while at the same time conceals, unlike harsh electricity that leaves little to the imagination.

That the Hanukah ritual is framed in this half-light says something about faith that is all too often overlooked. For many, faith and religion are about certainty in a world of uncertainty.聽 We seek clear boundaries and delineations, immutable truths and yet our experience is one of turbulence and disorientation. Some turn to religion to find bedrock. They want a world that makes sense in black and white terms and fundamentalist religion provide this over-simplification of life. But such simplification is a distortion of what real faith is about. Real faith does not seek to escape from life鈥檚 complexities by proving simple answers but rather heightens the complexity and makes demands on the adherent to navigate a moral life with nuance and sensitivity. Religion is like the soft light of candles or the natural light of dusk when day mingles with night; it holds opposites in awareness and assumes a stance of wonder and awe towards the deep mysteries of our existence without trying to reduce them to simplistic schemes.

While fundamentalists march through life, a person of true faith treads gingerly, attuned to the subtlety and complexity of life as the prophet Micah says: What does God require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Father in heaven, help us to navigate our complex reality with faith, grace and humility so that we may bring blessing wherever we go.