Faith in Action
A few years ago, I noticed an empty car while driving down a long, lonely stretch of road. Not odd in itself, but when I slowed down to offer help, I couldn’t see anyone inside, though the interior lights were on. Miserable rain wasn’t odd for February either, but it was thick enough to form a grey skin over my windows before being sloughed off by the windshield wipers. Unnerved, I turned on the radio and tried my best to focus on the slow, staticky rasp of the man speaking. A sour stench, like rotten teeth and tongue residue, turned my stomach.
“-was raised by a good Christian mother who read the story of Abraham and Isaac to me before bed and bragged amongst other mothers of the parish about how eagerly she too would sacrifice for God, to spill my young life atop the kitchen counter in place of an altar.”
Another empty car glowed on the road ahead of me, doors wide open. I held my breath as I passed it, trying to ignore the empty infant car seat in the back. A shining blade of lightning slashed the sky above me and a vision of blood poured through the fresh wound. I expected it to splatter across the glass, drip through the pine needles, and flood the earth. I blinked and my eyes were clear.
“Where there is fear and wailing over death, we have faith and love for the divine weapons that split the heavens and our heads with deafening cracks of holy light. What the news calls a crisis and tragedy we know to be a civilization of love.”
Empty, open cars infested the road ahead like dead beetles, buzzing peacefully with dim, yellow light. I pulled over safely and left my car running as I slowly checked the car in front of me. The same sermon played from their radio, loud enough to reach me in the heavy rain.
“You know that if you pull a worm apart in two wriggling pieces it is not dead, but do you have faith? Faith is nothing if it is not in action and in flesh.”
Then, I foresaw it at my feet. My own body bisected symmetrically, opened in two red butterfly wings and fluttering on the wet ground. I blinked. It stayed. Clutching my heart, I ran into the trees and abandoned my car with the others, leaving the lights on and doors open.
Inspired by Alton J. Pelowski’s article “Putting Faith into Action” in Columbia magazine, published Feb. 1st 2021