Faith-Sharing in Group

Our God is a God who becomes known to us, who is manifested in the very events of our history. The people of the Old Testament knew that; their experience of salvation, of encounter with the God of life, was one which called them to faith and to a new vision of the world and history and possibilities. They gradually came to hear – and to really hear – because they were given new ears; they gradually came to see – and to really see – because they were given new eyes.

In the fullness of time – our time – it was an event of history which constituted the full manifestation of God among people. The word of self-revelation which God spoke was spoken to all persons in Jesus, the most ambiguous revelation ever to those God had chosen to be God’s own. Jesus is the Word who speaks “Abba” – who proclaims a saving and lasting Presence.

Faith sharing is doing verbally what the evangelists did in writing the Gospels, and what the prophets of the Old Testament did through their lives and words. It is the proclamation of the presence of God in the midst of God’s people. It is a sharing of the good news. It is a writing of salvation history as it continues to be lived in our day.

This is simple in theory. In practice, faith sharing is often made difficult because of attitudes and beliefs that have developed among today’s people of God. For example:

• It is difficult to believe God’s activity in the world.

• It is difficult to speak as though I were the special object of God’s concern. And besides, my faith is a private matter.

• When I think about it, my God is mostly a crisis God, and this means that when I try to share my relationship with God, I am likely to focus on what is most negative in my life. It’s too depressing a project.

• The pressure to share that is often associated with group sessions really takes the possibility of enjoyment out of faith sharing.

Perhaps, then, real faith sharing requires of us the following basic, simple beliefs:

• Belief that my God chooses self-revelation in history – my history – and that I must reflect on that history if I am to grow in discernment, i.e., if I am to find God in my life and know God’s will for me.

• Belief that I can find non-crisis situations in which the presence of God has been real to me.

• Belief that the call to share the good news is a call to the humble acceptance of the fact that I am, indeed, the special object of God’s concern – and a humble acceptance of the mission I have to share that with those around me.

• Belief that only if I can freely choose to respond to that call – and only if I lovingly grant that freedom to everyone else – can there be true faith sharing. The faith sharing experience is intended to be of help in developing those kinds of beliefs.

That a person encounters God and enters more deeply into salvation history is an event that should be recorded. It is certainly worthy of being shared. That someone comes to believe in – to see with new eyes – a new world, and a history that has direction, and a self that can be a “mover” in that history – all of this is surely a cause for rejoicing and for giving praise: Blessed be the God of Israel, who has indeed visited the people and set them free (Luke 1:68).

The faith-sharing experience is a format for such faith sharing. There is a dynamic which builds during the sessions of the faith-sharing experience allowing the participants to get to know one another at a level which is “different” from the normal, everyday exchange that is part of our lives. This experience progresses from introduction through a recounting of one’s salvation history, to an acknowledgement of the Christ-likeness of those in the group. The time invested includes personal prayer and reflection, group prayer, “formal” sharing and informal get-togethers.

The goal of the faith-sharing experience is not a discussion group, a sensitivity session, group therapy or an extended period of introspection. Its goal is in the sharing itself. The faith-sharing experience is simply a time set aside for people to come together to reflect on and to share God’s presence in their lives, to proclaim the goodness of God, to seek to know God as revealed in and through the lives of one another. The real result of this experience is a growing awareness in each person of God’s saving activity in our lives, an awareness strengthened by the witness of others.

While not part of its stated goal, however, participation in the faith-sharing experience can result in new realizations for those who share their faith in a community context. In an atmosphere of freedom and acceptance, faith sharing takes people out of the realm of ideas and into the realm of experience, and opens us up to the realization that our experiences are just as valid and good as anyone else’s: there is no need to explain or defend one’s life experiences.

The faith-sharing experience can open a whole new way of looking at life. We see God working in our lives in ways and at times we had never considered as such. Even the “negative times” can be seen as growth-producing when they are looked at as part of one’s salvation history. We begin to see with new eyes.

Finally, the faith-sharing experience can help us to become better listeners. We need not spend time trying to plan out what to say, which questions to ask and how to assert ourselves or our point of view. Instead, we can experience listening and presence as our response, our unique gifts given in thanks for the verbal sharing of others.