So What?!
The fact that I am blogging two days in a row is an indication that I have been blessed with free time. A very rare thing, that's for sure!
Classes are going exceptionally well this semester. I adore my three religion classes (and those gen-eds are just gen-eds...you know). But I was thinking today in Johannine Literature that it might not really matter to me if the prologue in John was pieced together by various editors. It might not make a difference in my mind who wrote the Johannine Epistles. Maybe I don't even care about applying literary and historical criticism to John. It occurred to me that I don't really want to know all these things.
Two reasons. One, I want mystery. Don't we all? I want to know that God, the incomprehensible and "wholly other" YHWH is beyond me. I want to say to myself, "I will find out when I ask my Jesus in heaven." To come to terms with every Biblical or Theological issue would take a lot of mystery away for me. And that would also either a) lower my thoughts of God, or b) heighten my thoughts of myself. Knowledge puffs up.
That first reason might be just me. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one for number two: I'm tired of theology and knowledge that doesn't act. Doesn't change things. I'm sympathetic with liberals here. I don't want a belief system that is stale 90-year-old wrinkly grandpa ideas. Those ideas might be brilliant, and they might be true, but I don't want them if they don't mean something in terms of people. In terms of relationships. Because God doesn't exist in that static way - actually, just the opposite. All that He is (Truth, Theology, Love, what have you) has been given to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus! Who became human to get to know some humans on a face-to-face level. He came and He taught us theology, yes, but He also acted. Healed. Loved. Cried. Talked. Used sarcasm. Had dinner parties.
I want my theology to have ethics, and I want my ethics to have a face and hands and feet. I want to take my theology and go to Russia with it. Do conservative Christians even think like that anymore? Maybe it's just because I'm a student of academic religious study, but I see a lot of thought, a lot of belief, even correct belief, that does not ask, "SO WHAT?!?!"
It's a shame, because this belief of ours can change things a lot.
(The incredible theologian Karl Barth agrees with me, I found out in class today. He wrote a section on ethics after every section in his Church Dogmatics. Go Barth.)
Belmont has been doing this thing called "Living a Better Story." Essentially, almost 1,000 students were given some money - $5, $10, or $20, and asked to use it to "save many lives." To invest it for a return in the betterment of people's lives. To create a great story of God's money changing people.
I got 5 bucks. I also got to meet Donald Miller, since he's the one who kicked off the campaign, and it basically made my week. But back to my story.
I prayed about what to do with the money. I listened to awesome stories all around me about what others were doing. I wondered if I would know when God was giving me an idea versus when I was coming up with my own idea. And I was adamant about not acting until I heard from God.
Well, today was the follow up. The follow up. Like, my 5 bucks should be sustaining a small village in Ethiopia by now, or saving babies from being aborted in the state of Wyoming. I don't know. But the 5 bucks is sitting in the back of my wallet, right, and I'm just having a good time seeing Don Miller's living room in the background of Skype. Slash planning out how I will rearrange furniture when I marry him.
And sometime in the middle of this follow up session, a thought pops in my mind. What if I got a bunch of people I know here in middle Tennessee to write letters to people I know in Karachaevsk? These people don't know each other, but a boat load of my friends and family are praying for the church in Russia and would gladly send some encouragement. If everyone wrote a letter, either to the church or to specific person I know, and I sent a big box of letters to the church, how COOL would that be?? A box of encouragement. I can use my $5 as a start on the postage.
So, I promise this story relates to the beginning of my blog. Here's how: some of us are tired of believing God loves people without doing something to show it. I know I am. If you're with me, will you please consider jumping on board with this?
(Oh, and if you're fluent in Russian, I can use some translators...k thanks.)
PLEASE, PLEASE if you have heard or read me talk about this church or these people, and are stirred by God's Spirit, contact me about writing a letter. Just a short, simple, pencil-on-paper letter will do. Maybe some of you would like a specific person to write to? Let me know.
Comment on here, email me, call me, text me, facebook me...you know. And ask God for your own "SO WHAT?!?s" as you learn and grow in Him. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared in advance that we may WALK IN THEM!
-J
Classes are going exceptionally well this semester. I adore my three religion classes (and those gen-eds are just gen-eds...you know). But I was thinking today in Johannine Literature that it might not really matter to me if the prologue in John was pieced together by various editors. It might not make a difference in my mind who wrote the Johannine Epistles. Maybe I don't even care about applying literary and historical criticism to John. It occurred to me that I don't really want to know all these things.
Two reasons. One, I want mystery. Don't we all? I want to know that God, the incomprehensible and "wholly other" YHWH is beyond me. I want to say to myself, "I will find out when I ask my Jesus in heaven." To come to terms with every Biblical or Theological issue would take a lot of mystery away for me. And that would also either a) lower my thoughts of God, or b) heighten my thoughts of myself. Knowledge puffs up.
That first reason might be just me. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one for number two: I'm tired of theology and knowledge that doesn't act. Doesn't change things. I'm sympathetic with liberals here. I don't want a belief system that is stale 90-year-old wrinkly grandpa ideas. Those ideas might be brilliant, and they might be true, but I don't want them if they don't mean something in terms of people. In terms of relationships. Because God doesn't exist in that static way - actually, just the opposite. All that He is (Truth, Theology, Love, what have you) has been given to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus! Who became human to get to know some humans on a face-to-face level. He came and He taught us theology, yes, but He also acted. Healed. Loved. Cried. Talked. Used sarcasm. Had dinner parties.
I want my theology to have ethics, and I want my ethics to have a face and hands and feet. I want to take my theology and go to Russia with it. Do conservative Christians even think like that anymore? Maybe it's just because I'm a student of academic religious study, but I see a lot of thought, a lot of belief, even correct belief, that does not ask, "SO WHAT?!?!"
It's a shame, because this belief of ours can change things a lot.
(The incredible theologian Karl Barth agrees with me, I found out in class today. He wrote a section on ethics after every section in his Church Dogmatics. Go Barth.)
Belmont has been doing this thing called "Living a Better Story." Essentially, almost 1,000 students were given some money - $5, $10, or $20, and asked to use it to "save many lives." To invest it for a return in the betterment of people's lives. To create a great story of God's money changing people.
I got 5 bucks. I also got to meet Donald Miller, since he's the one who kicked off the campaign, and it basically made my week. But back to my story.
I prayed about what to do with the money. I listened to awesome stories all around me about what others were doing. I wondered if I would know when God was giving me an idea versus when I was coming up with my own idea. And I was adamant about not acting until I heard from God.
Well, today was the follow up. The follow up. Like, my 5 bucks should be sustaining a small village in Ethiopia by now, or saving babies from being aborted in the state of Wyoming. I don't know. But the 5 bucks is sitting in the back of my wallet, right, and I'm just having a good time seeing Don Miller's living room in the background of Skype. Slash planning out how I will rearrange furniture when I marry him.
And sometime in the middle of this follow up session, a thought pops in my mind. What if I got a bunch of people I know here in middle Tennessee to write letters to people I know in Karachaevsk? These people don't know each other, but a boat load of my friends and family are praying for the church in Russia and would gladly send some encouragement. If everyone wrote a letter, either to the church or to specific person I know, and I sent a big box of letters to the church, how COOL would that be?? A box of encouragement. I can use my $5 as a start on the postage.
So, I promise this story relates to the beginning of my blog. Here's how: some of us are tired of believing God loves people without doing something to show it. I know I am. If you're with me, will you please consider jumping on board with this?
(Oh, and if you're fluent in Russian, I can use some translators...k thanks.)
PLEASE, PLEASE if you have heard or read me talk about this church or these people, and are stirred by God's Spirit, contact me about writing a letter. Just a short, simple, pencil-on-paper letter will do. Maybe some of you would like a specific person to write to? Let me know.
Comment on here, email me, call me, text me, facebook me...you know. And ask God for your own "SO WHAT?!?s" as you learn and grow in Him. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared in advance that we may WALK IN THEM!
-J
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