Throughout the ordination process in the Presbyterian Church (USA) the candidate for ordination writes and updates her personal Statement of Faith. This one-page document is written in the style of our historic Confessions, and must profess what the candidate believes about essential tenets of faith (as an aside, a Catholic friend was once incredulous when I shared about this exercise and said to me “doesn’t the church just give this to you?!”). The candidate gets to own and proclaim what is most central to her from our rich theological tradition.
I presented my first draft to my ordination committee in 2019. One pastor shared that he noticed I used the word “bold” twice. He was surprised to see the word used twice in a relatively short document, and asked me why I’d chosen to repeat the word. To my surprise, I hadn’t noticed my lack of creative variation! Instead of owning up to my lazy editing, I crafted a theological response about how boldness of faith is a key element of the Christian life, which often makes the mainline uneasy. I kept both uses of “bold” in my Statement of Faith that I submitted for ordination and came to embrace what was surely no accident.
There is a fine line between boldness for Christ and arrogance. A boldness of faith is a confidence that the way of Jesus is a joyful and life-giving path for you, personally. An arrogance of faith is a self-righteous belief that your faith makes you better than others or more deserving of God’s love. I’ve noticed that many mainline Christians, especially the more progressive types, feel a need to be shy about their faith as to not offend or make others uncomfortable. We feel a need to apologize for the evil done in the name of Christ, and clarify that “I’m a Christian, but…” While I agree that reckoning with and atoning for the harm done by Christians throughout history is an essential act of faith, we must also live our lives with a bold and joyful spirit infused with the Good News. When people see our lives of faith they come to know that Christianity is not about violence, arrogance, judgement, or harm, but grace, mercy, love, and justice. We rise in darkness, we deal generously and lend, we will not be moved, our hearts are secure in the Lord, we distribute freely and give to the poor. We are bold in our commitment to Christ.
Psalm 112:1-9 can be our guide:
Praise the Lord!
Happy are those who fear the Lord,
who greatly delight in his commandments.
Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever.
They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright;
they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with those who deal generously and lend,
who conduct their affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved;
they will be remembered forever.
They are not afraid of evil tidings;
their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
Their hearts are steady; they will not be afraid;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
They have distributed freely; they have given to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever;
their horn is exalted in honor.
Text copyright © 2023 Grace Woodward. All rights reserved.
Grace in the Wilderness 
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