OR: Faith is Personal, Religion is about Community
Luke 18 1/2:
Then Jesus and the apostles came to Selfcentria along the coast of the Dead Sea. Many in the town had heard of the great miracles performed by the Master and had sent the Rabbi to speak with him. The Rabbi spoke with the Master about a great illness that had effected the whole town and how healing them would be a great miracle and serve the purpose of God.
The Rabbi then asked Jesus a favor. "The people of the town are very afraid of the Romans. They do not wish to anger them by your presence in the town. We also know that just the touch of your robe is enough to heal. So we were hoping to place you behind a curtain in our meeting place so that all you would need to do is touch each of them with your hand and no one would ever know you were there."
So it came to pass that Jesus did as he was asked. There in the meeting place of the town he stood behind a curtain and touched each of them as they passed. And each was healed because even though they could only see and touch His hand, they knew it was him and they rejoiced.
You aren't going to read this in the Bible because although it might glorify God and Jesus, it denies one of the fundamental principles of the relationship between God and man. What it does demonstrate though is how we want our faith to be impersonal, a one way relationship of goodness from above, but anonymous on Earth. God demands a personal relationship. It demonstrates how people are here for their gift, but not for their salvation.
Faith is the most personal of relationships a person can have. It is a trust and respect based on the sense that you are not in control of your life and that is acceptable to you. The people of "Selfcentria" cannot understand this because they choose to be "in control." We talk about this in faith because the story of Christ is symbolic of that personal relationship without control. But there are no stories like this in the Bible because Christ would reject immediately the concept that faith should be anonymous, sterile, with only the "human purpose" in mind. Faith is not only about how we live on Earth, it is about an eternity of life accepted because we know we are not in control and are open to the possibilities that God presents us.
Religion is the outward witnessing to others through like-minded groups of people (the church) that we accept God's leadership in our life. It is not important that all members of the church agree with us on each and every issue. We accept each person's right to decide for themselves within their personal relationship with God. We know determining God's will for our lives is not easy and is often a process that takes time and prayer. We strive as a community to both support and encourage the believer as well as those who do not believe.
There is a Bible passage where a woman is healed by touching Jesus's robe. Jesus asks who did it because He can feel the touch. But it is the touch of a woman who believes and knows God. She is not anonymous in Jesus's eyes and we sense the relationship between them.
We believe because we trust God's leadership in our lives. We have seen both good and bad. But we know the good from the bad. Perfection is not ours by any stretch of the concept. But we try to emulate Jesus, reaching out to the world, feeding the hungry, providing help for the poor, stretching beyond ourselves as witnesses to the good God has brought to our lives.
God is not anonymous. He will not be put behind a screen to give you gifts so that the gift is more important than the giver. It is you who must pull the curtain aside and meet the Master.