Our Search for God

The Journey of Faith

The Search for God is InnateWe are born with the

need to make sense out of life – a search

for meaning.

We seek answers to the “bigger” questions –

Who am I? Why am I here?

Restlessness Lies Deep in the Heart

• Everyone has a fire or passion within • What we do with that passion = spirituality• A “holy longing” exists for transcendence,

something beyond ourselves • Everyone seeks and finds something to fill the

longing: GOD• God takes on many forms. . . .some true and

some false

The Search for God Is Recorded in All Cultures, All Disciplines

• Philosophy• Psychology• Anthropology• Ecology• Science• The Arts• Etc.

Only Religion Dares to Answer Ultimate Life Questions:

• Is there a purpose for life?

• What is the ultimate nature of reality?

• What is the meaning of suffering?

• Is there objective Truth?

• What is evil?

• Why does the unexpected happen?

• What do we make of the absurdities of life?

• What happens when we die?

• Who is God?• What is faith?

The Search for God Lasts a Life Time

• The search changes as we change• The search goes in stages• The search is developmental

“In seeking God, we have already found God.”

Fr. Louis F. Knight

So. . .The question is NOT: Is there a God?

But rather: What is your faith?

Defining Faith As. . .

A Process

• An evolving sense of relatedness to other persons.

• An evolving sense of soul or spirit

•  A dynamic, evolving pattern of the ways we find meaning in life.

A Gift of the Spirit

• A Theological Virtue

• Grounds us in relationship

• Gives meaning and coherence to our lives

Faith is Paradoxical. . . • Depends on God• Depends on Us• A “simultaneous dance of Spirit”

“Pray as though everything depends on God, work as though everything

depends on you.”St. Benedict

STAGES OF FAITH JAMES FOWLER

Primal Faith The Incorporative Self

0-2 years

Image of God:Mirrored in Parents

Shaping what is to come

Prayer of Parent

Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith

the Impulsive Self 2-6 years

Image of God:Literal, real

Baby in a Manger, Man on a Cross

Rote, Memorized Prayer; “God Bless……”

Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith The Imperial Self

7-12 years

Image of God:Parent deity who

rewards & punishes

Imaginative Prayer;Intercessory, Prayer of

ContritionBargaining

Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional

Faith The Interpersonal Self

13-20 years

Image of God:Best Friend, companion

Prayer is “Talking to God”

Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith

The Introspective Self

Adults Seriously on the Journey Image of God:

nebulous, changing Prayer: Contemplative,

Meditative, New forms, changing

Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith

The Inter-Individual Self

Adults seriously on the journey for more

than 20 years

Image of God:ever-changing

Prayer is Listening and StillnessContemplative Lifestyle

Stage 6: Universalizing Faith

The God-Grounded Self “The Saints Among Us”

Image of God:Free of images,

steeped in experience

Prayer is Unitive, MysticalDeep abiding Stillness

Where are you on the journey of faith?