Running head: WALK OF FAITH 1

Walk of Faith

Brooke Daly

Arizona State University

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Abstract

This is a personal narrative for English 101 at Arizona State University. This paper explores the

rituals and practices that a Christian follows. The paper discusses how Brooke Daly became a

Christian and presently follows this religion. In addition, this narrative describes the ways in

which Christianity can define someone.

Keywords:​ sermon, Christian, prayer, worship

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Walk of Faith

“Can you take me to Sunday school?” I pleaded my dad one bright, Sunday morning. My

family and I attended church for this first time last week for Easter service. I loved it, in Sunday

school I learned the story of how Jesus resurrected from the grave, and I made new friends. My

parents enjoyed the service but did not intend to go again the next week. My dad tells me to this

day that although he didn’t want to go again, he says “How could I say no to a five- year- old?”

As my dad and I continuously went week after week, we developed a love for Jesus and this

religion. My little brother and mom eventually starting coming with us, and going to church

every Sunday morning became a tradition for all of us. My family and I strive to live by how

God teaches his people to live. When people ask my dad how we became Christian, my dad

always tells this story of his five -year- old daughter asking to go to church. He tells me, “You

saved our family”.

There are many rituals and traditions that I follow as a Christian. I attend church every

Sunday with my family. Going to church brings an abundance of joy to me after a long week of

school. In church, I feel as though I am

free of my stress and troubles, and am

able to focus on God. The bright lights

and cool air in the congregation room

lead me to find peace. I find peace in

church because I feel like it is a place

Figure 1.​ Roosevelt Community Church.

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where I can escape from the world, and I can have one on one time with the Lord. Part of my

ritual of going to church is dressing semi- formally and bringing my Bible. One of my favorite

parts about going to church is the worship. The loud, soulful music fills the entire room that I

stand in. Singing along with the music played by the band is a way for me to rejoice in my love

for Jesus. I love to learn to sing and play the piano chords I hear in church at home. In addition,

every week during the sermons, I follow along in my Bible and take notes. I look back at those

notes throughout my week to apply and actualize the teachings to my life. Lasly, in church I

always take communion. The bread represents Jesus’ body that he sacrificed and the grape juice

represents his blood. I take this time in communion to reflect upon my week and have a

conversation with God about how I can strengthen my faith.

My favorite time to go to church with my family is Christmas Eve service. The whole

church is decked out with Christmas lights and ornaments, and the essence of pine needles and

hot chocolate fills the air. Every year, this service entails a message about the birth of Jesus and

includes great worship music. My favorite part about this service is the very end: candle lighting.

One large candle burns throughout the course of the sermon and each candle gets lit from that

single candle. As your candle gets lit by the person next to you, you pass it on to the next person.

As all of the candles burn, we all softly sing ‘Silent Night’ in harmony. It is quite the sight to see

a pitch black room suddenly become illuminated. This represents how the ‘light’ or goodness of

God can take over darkness or ‘evil’. To me, passing on the light of the candle represents

spreading Christianity to others. This is my favorite part because it is quite a sight and also

represents spreading love to the world.

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A new tradition that I have started since attending college is

being apart of the Christian youth group, Cru. One day I was

walking to class and someone asked me, “Do you want a

snow cone?” I looked a the stand and realized it was for a

youth group on campus and that got me interested. I attended

the first meeting and loved it. At Cru, I got the chance to

make new friends, and do Bible studies with them. The

practices that I follow in this group are participating in

discussions and journaling. I enjoy being a part of this

Figure 2.​ Me and my friend, Jessica,

that I met from Cru.

group because am I centered around others that have the same beliefs that I do, which are

following the teachings of Jesus. My youth group leader, Christine, guides me on how to grow in

my faith throughout college. Once a week, this group meets on the Tempe Campus, and this

enriches my friendships with other Christ followers and gives me a new perspective and setting.

My favorite practice that I follow as a Christian is watching babies and young kids in

Sunday school. The babies are very fun to play with, at times some babies don’t want to leave

their parents so it can be difficult. I love when I can calm them down and show them how much

fun they can have while their parents are in the main sermon. I will sometimes read books with

them and make them snacks. I remember that there was a little boy, named Preston, who balled

his eyes out when his mom left him. I picked him up, used toy cars, and played hide and seek

with him. After a while of playing with me, he was giggling and having the time of his life.
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Making kids find happiness, in turn, makes me very happy. Following this ritual of spending a

lot of time with kids gives me an idea of what I want to do with my future career. I would

perhaps like to work in the hospital with babies or young kids. I think my passion for helping

kids identifies who I am.

Other traditions I follow outside of church is doing devotionals. Devotionals are mini-

studies and readings about how to actualize stories and information from the Bible to your life. I

like to do these before bed a few times a week. I also like

to pray after doing these. Things I pray about are my

struggles, things I am happy and proud of, and requests

that I ask of God. In addition, I like to volunteer to serve

with friends from church. We like to do Feed My

Starving Children, and help teach little kids in Sunday

school.

​ y friend, Courtney and I

Figure 3. M
volunteering to help babies at church.

There are numerous notions about Christianity, many of which are untrue. There is a

misconception that all Christians do not like non -Christians. This is not true for all followers of

Christ, including me. My ideology is that I am not perfect in any way, therefore I shouldn’t judge

anyone for their choices or wishes. A practice that I follow is reaching out to my friends that do

not believe in God to go to church or to my youth group. Another misconception is that being a

Christian means you live a restricted, boring life. I think this isn’t true, I believe that God doesn’t
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care about specific, materialistic things you do in the world. I feel that he cares more about one’s

morality and values that they carry in their heart.

So how does Christianity define who I am? In high school, I was known as someone who

was always smiling. A line from my senior speech that my teacher said was, “There’s Brooke,

always smiling”. I remember one of my friends asking me, “How are you always so happy all of

the time?” I responded “I’m definitely not always happy. I just think having a relationship with

God helped me have an overall positive outlook throughout life”. Christianity defines who I am

because it gives me the basis on how to live my life the way God instructs his people in the

Bible. Doing all of the ‘rituals’ that I follow in this religion help me understand Jesus and his

teachings to a greater extent. I try to act in ways that the Bible teaches people to do so. Coming

to college this year was a new experience; it was a struggle at first to leave my family and past

life. College is unlike anything I have ever done before, but having Christianity outlining my

foundations helped me stay true to who I am in this new endeavor. I believe anyone going

through a similar transition to a new place would find it easier if they had Christ in their life.

Even through struggles I face in life, I know that I have Jesus that I can always turn to.
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References

Daly, S, B. (2018, September 8). ​Figure 3- Me and my Friend, Jessica that I met at Cru.

[Photograph]. By Christine Otaluka.