The One Verse

Over at The Washington Post/Newsweek's On Faith website, the noted authors and the like on their panel of writers is answering the question,

What passage or verse in scripture or literature best defines your own faith or beliefs? Why?

You can read their answers from a variety of faith traditions at Defining Your Faith.

The Christians in the group varied from Brian McLaren pick Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, to Anthony Stevens-Arroyo selecting Mary's song, the Magnificat, to Martin Marty who emphasized the all-encompassing nature of Colossians 1:16b-17, "For all things have been created through [Jesus Christ] and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

I'm sympathetic with Thomas Reese, editor of the Catholic magazine America who wrote,

I have never been comfortable picking just one Scripture passage to sum up my faith. I remember a Berkeley professor once trying to teach humility to a group of bright political science students: “The world is very big. The human mind is very small.” Add God to that equation and we are very small indeed. No single passage can sum up God or our relation to him.

But with that said, I do have to acknowledge that there is a verse so meaningful to me that Victoria and I have it written in large gold type on the wall of our dining room. It is the words of Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." The fuller text (which didn't fit well on the wall in large type) completes that verse and goes on to verse 6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not unto your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him
and he will direct your paths.
It doesn't sum up my faith, for which I need more texts. But it does sum up what I hope my response is and will be.

What about you? Do you have a favorite verse or passage?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor