Faith That Isn't Simple

I have been going through my old CDs and ripping the music to my computer (that is what it is called....I hate that though, sounds terrible!) and then getting rid of a lot of them just to cut down on clutter and so forth. This morning on my way out the door I grabbed one from the top of the pile I have yet to go through and stuck it in my CD player in the car. It was a Christian band I was obsessed with back in the day (I couldn't even tell you which day...at some point in my past though) that almost no one else ever heard of. They were called The Normals. I loved them before I discovered this fact, but one of the things I really liked about them, was that their name is due to them being from the town of Normal Illinois. That is near where my grandparents live and I have been through it many times and somehow that made me feel connected to them. Like I said....I was a bit obsessed.

So this morning as the music filled my car I was astonished to find I still remembered almost all the lyrics! I could sing along and barely missed a beat. It was fun. Very nostalgic and moving. I found my eyes brimming, almost to tears at a song I had particularly been partial to in the past. But I was also astonished at how SIMPLE all the lyrics were. I remember being so moved and touched by this music. How it helped me to have faith....what? Well...I guess I could just say another one bites the dust of being a religion major. It is hard to find much substance in "I leave a tip like I think Jesus would" (to be fair they have some MUCH deeper lyrics than that but that is the one that hit me this morning) after studying Biblical and historical and systematic theology for 7 years. It just is.

But then I got to thinking about a conversation I had earlier this week with a friend of mine about faith and grace and what we believe about those things. Why we believe what we believe about those things, and why those things are so hard to believe. The thing is...they are hard. Faith is not simple. Grace is not simple. I mean I know we want to say yes it is, you just accept it and there it is. But come on, it is not. There are so many things that make it hard.

Individualism makes it hard. Logic and reasoning make it hard. Other world cultures and belief systems and realities make it hard. So many things make it hard. Sometimes I miss those days when I could listen to simple songs about what Jesus would do and find faith so easily. But...the truth is I am glad I don't find it easy. I do not want it to be simple. I don't think it should be simple. I think if there is something worth having faith in it should be hard. It should be complex and we should struggle with it and fight with it, and it with us. Sometimes I am not sure who wins in that kind of battle. But then I realize that maybe that is not the kind of fight that it is.