On what is my faith based?

August Sunrise at Buckland Homestead, Brighton NY

"...my message and my proclamation

were not with persuasive words of wisdom,

but with a demonstration of spirit and power,

so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom

but on the power of God."  I Cor 2:5

Paul tells the community at Corinth that when he came to preach to them he didn't rely on rhetoric, logic, or any human reasoning.  Rather he only wanted to rely on "Christ, and Christ crucified."  In this way, their faith and also his would be based on the power of the Divine One and not on any human power or influence.  Of course, the Divine One can only be present to us in ways that we can detect.  In this case, the power of the divine was available to them through the person and actions of Paul.

There is no way around this conundrum.  The divine is by definition totally and completely beyond our capability to experience or sense and yet somehow the divine life is accessible or we would never come to know about it.  This is a profound mystery which I am called to live in and through.  It does no good to eliminate the problem through human reasoning and thought.  If that does work in any way, it only appears to work.  Paul understood this and tried mightily to live his life and preach his message in a way that would highlight the power of the divine rather than his own knowledge or eloquence.

I can assess my life by the way in which I am a vessel for the divine to access others.