One of my favorite hymns is “Faith of Our Fathers.” The text was written by Frederick W. Faber in 1849. Faber was raised in England as a member of the Anglican Church. He eventually became a Vicar, then, shockingly to all around him, he left the Anglicans and joined the Catholic faith. About six years later, he wrote “Faith of Our Fathers.”

As I was reviewing this hymn a few Sundays ago, I started thinking, “what is the faith of our fathers?” My father was Free Methodist, my mother claimed Catholicism. I spent elementary school and part of junior high in Free Methodist and Baptist schools. I attended mass regularly for a while, even taking my first Holy Communion at the hands of a priest who is now a Cardinal. My grandparents were generally protestant, tending towards what is known as “Calvinism,” but I also come from ancestors who were Mennonite, Puritan, Pilgrim, Catholic, Quaker, Dunkers, and Reformed, just to name a few. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I have met interesting people from very different backgrounds, and various religious philosophies, or what we call “faiths.” During high school I worked at a Jewish mortuary in Los Angeles, California, and also spent time with friends in the Jesus People movement. Other friends were of the Bahai and Buddhist belief systems. Today I have a couple of friends who are Antiochian Orthodox, one of whom converted from the Mennonites.

The word “faith” has many definitions. For this discussion, I choose to use one from Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary: “the assent of the mind to the truth of a proposition advanced by another; a belief, or probable evidence of any kind.”

The first verse of the aforementioned hymn is as follows: “Faith of our fathers, living still, in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword; Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy whene’er we hear that glorious word. Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to thee till death!”

Martyrdom and persecution come to mind when I read the above stanza. A few examples that strike me are Christians burned at the stake, or otherwise abused, like William Tyndale or Jacob Hus. One of my ancestors is the Reverend Obadiah Holmes who is considered the first Baptist martyr in America. He was beaten by the Puritans for teaching a doctrine about Baptism with which they did not agree.

Another person who was persecuted is a Jewish woman I knew when I worked at the mortuary. She was a tall, slender, woman with short graying hair. She was very quiet in her temperament and always wore long sleeves, even in the southern California heat. I found out why one day when her sleeve pulled up and I saw numbers tattooed on her arm. She was an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor. Persecution and martyrdom are not selective in their choice of victims.

Verse 2 goes: “Faith of our fathers, we will strive to win all nations unto thee, And thru the truth that comes from God, mankind shall then be truly free. Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to thee till death!”

In approximately A.D. 33, Jesus Christ gave what has become known as the “Great Commission.” He said to his disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (KJV Matthew 28:19-20).

To my knowledge, all of the Christian faith traditions have tried to fulfill this Commission and fill the Earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Untold amounts of money, time, effort, and sacrifice have been expended to this end and continue to be expended, indeed, even to death itself. What an amazing accomplishment!

Verse 3: “Faith of our fathers, we will love both friend and foe in all our strife, And preach thee, too, as love knows how, by kindly words and virtuous life. Faith of our fathers, holy faith, We will be true to thee till death!”

Admittedly, some who claim Christianity as their faith haven’t lived up to the standard set by Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:1-12, a passage of scripture known as “the Beatitudes,” but more—oh so very many more!—have successfully lived those principles or died trying.

As we go about our lives as Christians, let us remember to be more humble, to comfort those that mourn, to be meek, to seek righteousness, to be merciful, to be pure in heart, to be peacemakers, and to remember that Jesus also said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (KJV Matthew 22:37-40).

This is what Jesus taught us, and this is the “Faith of Our Fathers.”

(This was originally published in the Faith column of The Frontiersman newspaper in Wasilla, Alaska: Faith of our Fathers.)