I am stuck on the mystery of the faith. Not systematic theology, or doctrine, or dogma, but the mystery. What I don't know, and what we will never know.
It could very easily be thought now that I am a deconstructionist; that I take all formal doctrines of the church, and in good postmodern style, deconstruct them so that there is nothing to "know" for sure,(which is a question in and of itself, "what does it mean to "know" something?") and all we are left with is uncertainty. But this is not true. I believe there are things that we can "know" with certainty. However, I also understand our inability to "know" other things. And maybe I am beginning to realize that our inability to "know" is larger than our ability to "know". This is where mystery comes in. Yet, we are not certain about mystery, because it is so "mysterious". And we like to know stuff.
I am picturing the people of Israel at the bottom of the mountain. Moses has been gone for some time now, and there they are, in the wilderness, wondering and wandering. Is it any surprise they asked Aaron to give them something to "know" for certain? Isn't that what they were really asking. I wonder if we would have been any different? We would have asked for Aaron to please give us a sermon on the tenants of faith that we are to follow, which would have been followed by a formal committee to edit this doctrine, as well as add to it, and then it would have been put into some sort of list of membership requirements so as to be able to "know" what it meant to be a part of the group, and a follower of God. It wouldn't have been golden, but it still would have been an idle. But we would have felt more secure, for we had something to "know" for certain; something to hold on to; something void of mystery.
But where is the faith when it is all explained? Where is the humility when we have it all figured out? Where is the dependence on God when we colored his picture in our theology books?
There I go again, sounding like a deconstructionist. I am not. As I write this, I have a shelf full of theology books behind me. I am a pastor of a church with membership requirements. And, I went to seminary to "know" as much stuff as I can. I am not against learning and knowing. I am just beginning to celebrate what I will never know. The Mystery of an Amazing and Unexplainable God.
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1 comment:
Stuck on mystery eh?
Here's a quote you might like:
"Mystery as a summons to pilgrimage; where we sense beyond and beneath the realities of every day a Reality no less real because it can only be hinted at in myths and rituals; where we glimpse a destination that we can never fully know until we reach it." --Frederick Buechner
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