CONNECT with Sheila Botelho Podcast

039: Living Jesus Faith In Polarizing Times - Q&A

December 23, 2020 Sheila Botelho
CONNECT with Sheila Botelho Podcast
039: Living Jesus Faith In Polarizing Times - Q&A
Show Notes Transcript

Episode Notes:

“How do I live my faith authentically in a world so divided?”

Since I believe my Creator designed me to co-create my life by being an active participant, I trust that I can feel safe asking big questions and stepping out of my bubble to connect with my fellow humans. 

This week’s Q&A episode talks about the ways I’m taking messy action in living out my faith and how we can all raise our level of awareness to be more compassionate and caring towards those around us.

In This Episode You Will Hear about:

  • How 2020 has impacted my faith walk
  • My core beliefs
  • How we’re all alike and how to live with more empathy
  • 3 ways you can elevate your connection with those different from you

Resources:

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“I love Sheila’s insights on The Connect Podcast.”

Hey there, welcome to the podcast.

We’re a few days away from Christmas Day. It will look a lot different for many of us from past celebrations, as have other events since this past March. You may not celebrate Christmas, or you may practice another faith, or none at all.

Either way, I want you to know that you’re welcome here. I’m sharing today about what it feels like living my Jesus faith during these polarizing times.

The way this year has gone has caused me to rely more deeply on my faith, so I guess you could say that it makes celebrating the birth of Jesus even more special. This year has also shown me how people who ascribe to the same faith system as I do, show it so differently.

So I want to clarify that my Jesus faith is centered on one thing: Love. Loving God with everything in me and loving my neighbor as myself. 

It sounds so simple, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. Because we are all so different. We so easily jump into judgement mode. We all want to be right. And now, we have many ways to share what we think with a larger audience.

This is quite a time we’re living in. With almost everyone able to share their views and ideas across the world via the many personal and network media channels, we have a lot to think about.

It can make you start to question everything you believe.

Some would think this is a bad thing, because it requires that they take their precious ideas about how to live and poke around them to see if it’s helping or hindering their impact.

I personally believe that asking questions is not only healthy, but vital for each of us. If people never questioned the words they say, the people they spent time with, and where they spent their dollars, marginalized people would only be more and more negatively impacted.

But during the last few years, this one in particular, I’ve witnessed and become a part of a group of people questioning the way they’re living. Learning about white fragility, how I can live and hopefully model for my kids how to be anti-racist, looking at events, cultures, and individual expressions through the lens of seeking to understand.

I’ve tried to do this in different ways over my lifetime, but recent years have further opened my eyes to my own inherent biases and caused me to get uncomfortable as I learn from voices very different from mine. 

Most of us have grown up in a way of thinking and being that is simply a part of us. It’s so easy to just accept “this is the way we do things.” Ultimately, accepting this statement and never questioning it, is a way of staying comfortable. It’s devoid of growth and the care for others, different from ourselves.

But what if there was a better way? 

Like I mentioned in episode 8 of this podcast, all of us operate out of the belief that our way of thinking is correct. It’s the path of least resistance. It feels foundational deep within us.

Here’s how I’ve been learning to raise my level of awareness of those around me:

Asking questions and listening. Of others, to learn their lived experience, and of God and myself, to see where I need to change. If our belief system is strong, then we shouldn’t feel threatened by asking questions and deeply listening to the experience of another. Not to judge them, but to hear their perspective and cultivate empathy.

Does asking the question and listening with kindness mean that we’ve thrown out all of our belief systems? No. It means we’re willing to show that we know we don’t have all the answers. As much as I feel supported by my faith, I’m aware of how much I don’t know. I also believe that humans were designed to live in community - caring for each other.

In my spiritual belief system, God has all the answers and came to Earth in the form of Jesus to model for us how God wants us to live. To show us what loving and caring for others looks like and dying to give us access to eternal life, leaving us the Holy Spirit as a guide and comforter, until His return. And since I believe my Creator designed me with the desire to co-create my life, I trust that I can feel safe asking big questions and stepping out of my bubble to connect with my fellow humans. 

Another way I’ve been raising my level of awareness and empathy of those around me:

Following, reading, and listening to experts around topics I most need to learn. Paying for the research and expertise of those who research, write, and speak on important topics like antiracism, equality, food systems, mental health, and environmental issues.

As I listen to and share the stories of others’ life challenges and triumphs, I get to celebrate the journey we’re all on. And I get to see how each person has a unique path of living out their purpose. Often this makes me more aware of how much alike we are and how nothing we experience is wasted. Learning from and encouraging each other is a gift that I’m grateful to receive and to give.

This Christmas may look vastly different from all the others, but I’m choosing to look at it as an opportunity to get to the heart of the matter. As a time to reconnect to its true origin and to remind me that God wants our hearts and lives to reflect more love to each other now and onwards. 

Thanks for listening. I’m sending lots of love your way.