I had a priest friend, Tom, whose personal email address began with this: as4me. It aroused my curiosity but, unfortunately, I never asked him why he chose those words for his address. He is deceased now, but I think I know where he got these “words” and maybe even why he might have chosen them.
The phrase “As for me” is found numerous times in the Bible. Perhaps the most famous place is in the book of Joshua 24:15. After the death of Moses, Joshua, Israel’s new leader, gathers all the tribes of Israel together and says to them, “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.” With these words, Joshua is underscoring the power of personal choice and personal commitment when it comes to faith. He then adds these crucial words: But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” He is telling the people, regardless of which gods you choose to serve, my family and I are going to serve the Lord, the God of Isarel.
This strong phrase is found in other places in scripture–either expicitly stated, or implied if you read the words in their context.
But as for me, I will walk in integrity (Ps 26:11).
I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the Lord (Ps. 31:6).
But for me, to be near God is my good (Ps. 73:28).
But (as for me) I will call upon the Lord (Ps. 55:16).
(But as for me) I know my redeemer lives (Job 19:25).
Someone has said, we cannot merely live the faith of our ancestors, that is, the faith of our parents, grandparents, or past generations. We cannot live the faith of a particular saint we love and admire. Yes, we can learn a lot about faith from these individuals. We can even be inspired and strengthened by their example of faith. But sooner or later we must discover and live our own faith. Our faith may, in significant ways, resemble the faith of our ancestors, the saints, and other people living today, but unless we make our Christian faith personal, unless we are intimately committed to our faith, that faith will fall short. It will probably be inadequate to help us face the specific rough storms and dark times we are apt to experience along life’s road.
Our faith has to be lived in our particular times. Previous generations had their unique challenges which formed the backdrop of their faith–for example, the persecutions of the early Christians, specific heresies, plagues, slavery, industralization, colonization, scientific discoveries. Closer to our times, my parents’ generation faced overt hositility to Catholics, the Great Depression, World War II, the most destructive war in human history. Some challenges of our contemporary times would include the widening gap between the incredible wealth of “the few” and the growing poverty of the masses, consumerism, the role of technology, climate change, the vast numbers of refugees all over the world, and the ever present nuclear arms race. Our personal faith is not lived in a vacuum but in the reality of the times in which we find ourselves.
One day Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mt. 16:13). In other words, “As for other people, who do they say that I am?” The disciples gave him the results of the latest Gallup poll: “22% say John the Baptist, 18% say Elijah, 12% say Jeremiah, 19% say other prophets, and 29% are undecided.” Then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” It was easy for his disciples to answer the first question. They just had to report what others were saying. But the second question was more demanding. Each disciple had to dig deeply into his heart and soul to begin to answer that one.
Jesus’ second question is the one we keep trying to answer throughout our lives. That question takes many forms. I offer you these for your personal reflection:
As for me, who do I say Jesus is?… As for me, what do I really, really believe?… As for me, how is my faith responding to the issues of my time in history? As for me, how do I practice and live out my faith in my daily life?
PS #1: I’m working with the team that manages my blog. Here’s one tip. If you, as a subscriber, get the notice about a new reflection on my blog and click it on, you should get the new reflection. However, you probably won’t get any readers’ comments because you are accessing the reflection as it was originally posted by me. To read the version with comments, I suggest you access my blog through google or safari or another search engine to get the current reflection–with comments–, and to add your own comment if you wish. My blog is posted at 1:00 AM (ET) every Monday morning. Then my 5,000 subscribers are notified. The team has sped up that notification from 30 emails every ten minutes to 100 emails every 10 minutes. You can go directly to my blog and not wait for the notification as a subscriber. Try this and see if it works. I don’t want you to be prevented from adding a comment or to miss the other readers’ comments, because the comments are a vital part of my blog! Thank you!
PS #2: Thank you for your prayers for this past weekend’s retreat I facilitated at Villa Maria, PA. The 37 retreatants were eager, lively, prayerful, and fun. I especially appreciated their sharing and good questions. Thank you to Rebecca for inviting me to return to Villa Maria. And thank you to Dominic who served us well as hospitality coordinator.
Our video today is “As for Me and My House” by Greg and Glenda Bostock from Blastoff Music videos.
As for you, is there anything you’d like to say below?
