To believe is to meet God

What does it mean to believe in God?  I once sought proof for the existence of God. At the time, I valued human reason above all other forms of knowing reality. I had to have proof before I would believe. But I discovered that reason would take me only so far in my journey to God. That journey is rather like another one I have made, this one to the Holy Isle of Iona, which lies off the west coast of Scotland. Iona, home of the 6th century St. Columba, is a favorite place of mine. It is a “thin spot,” as Celtic Christians describe places where heaven and earth meet. To get to Iona, you first have to make a commitment to the journey, because it is a demanding one. You have to take a train, bus or car; then a ferry; followed by another car or bus ride; then another ferry; and finally, once on the island, you have to walk to the medieval abbey. This journey, like the journey to God, must always begin with a commitment to make it. In the journey to (and with) God, reason will get you only part of the way, the way a train or bus or car or boat or your legs will get you only part of the way to Iona. Karen Armstrong, a scholar of religion, reflecting on what it means to believe, says that to believe means first to make a commitment to what you seek. One day, four decades ago, I finally said, “I believe in God,” and then I discovered that God was real. And still is. I experienced God at the depths of my being. And still do. It is the same for me on Iona. God is there for me in the quiet of the abbey church, in my hikes in the hills and along the rocky coast, in the sight of the gannets hovering over the blue sea. God is real to me now, wherever I am, because I believe. I commit myself to him. And I experience his loving presence. May you also believe in God and know him who is born to us on Christmas in a manger in Bethlehem.