I was talking with a young adult the other day. Someone with great talent and energy, who is in search for a life worth living.

 I listened to her story. I said, I think what you need is a good faith.

 A good faith? What do you mean? You know I just don’t believe in the gobbly gook.

 A good faith doesn’t require you to believe in anything your conscience doesn’t allow you to believe in.

 You mean, like the virgin birth? Or the Buddha being born out of the side of his mother?

 Yes, precisely. Those are simply rhetorical devices that attempt to point to the extraordinary nature of that person’s life and impact. The folks who wrote about Jesus, the people who told stories about Buddha, had some deep, incredible experience, and in talking about them, or in writing about them, there was no way that their words could match their experience. But they had such a huge experience that they had to try.

 Yes, but then why do people get so freaked out about the nature of scripture, if it is a story of an attempt to describe an experience of the holy?

 I have no idea. Maybe it is easier to fight about scripture than it is to make yourself vulnerable to a deep experience of the holy. Maybe it is one really big and effective way to stay distracted.

 Yes, perhaps. But let’s get back to your original point. So I need a good faith. How do you get one?

 Well, you might start by exploring. Look at the wisdom of the ages, in the forms of scriptures. Find which language speaks to you. Wrestle with it. Struggle with it. Fight to understand how you fit into the stories you ready. Or read the stories of other people’s religious journeys. Talk to folks you admire. Get out and visit a church that seems open and progressive and welcoming. Volunteer for a project so you can get to know some people. Get a practice: Just pray. Read a good book, like Tom Owen Towle’s Wrestling with God. Or Scott Alexander’s Everyday Spiritual Practices ( www.uua.org/bookstore). Join a Connection Circle, here at church, so that you can start talking about things that matter (for info: membership.qcuu@mchsi.com). Visit the Buddhist Zen Center at the church (Tuesdays at 7). Visit a yoga class or a shamanic journeying group (Meg Bolich, www.qcuu.org). If you find that progressive Christian symbols are of interest, contact me ( roger.butts@mchsi.com) because I am thinking about starting a chapter of the UU Christian Fellowship here. 

 Come to church. Make it a part of your discipline.

 And how will that help?

 If you find some quiet time, it might just enable you to hear the deepest part of your life speaking to you. The scripture, at the end of the day, that you need to read is the one that is your life giving birth to its meaning. The scripture that you need most is the one that reflects your life and its purpose and value and meaning. A good faith says simply, Let Your Life Speak.

 And I can find it at your church?

 That’s the only reason we’re here—to invite people to find out for themselves if this is the place of depth and passion for them.

 And a good faith can be found?

 That’s the only reason you’re here—on this planet—to find a good faith that adds life to your life!

 Happy Advent! Your life is waiting to speak!