I have been thinking about the mystery of the faith lately. As most of our churches are still living in a hangover from the enlightenment, we are still enamored with what we can "explain", "categorize", or "systematize". Yet we don't embrace mystery. Why is this? Why do we feel uncomfortable when we don't know why? I think we need to celebrate mystery more. What did Paul say, "We see now through a glass faintly"?
5 comments:
I think holding Mystery in the center parts of our Faith requires a bit of humility, since we can not "know it all" by defination.
†Deo adjuvante, non timendum
†With the help of God, there is nothing to fear
That is what we struggle with, trying to know it all. I guess to know it all is to be secure that we can rely on ourselves, not something or someone else. Mystery continually reminds us of our need for something greater than ourselves. Humility in accepting this is the hard part. Good word!
It's worth noting that Jesus and the other NT writers did not fetishize 'mystery', as many postmodernists do. This begs the question, why do it? Why seek out mysticism when it is unsupported and unpracticed by the men in the Bible?
Thanks for your thoughts John. You are right in a sense, for mystery, or mysticism, can become the focus when it is only a part of the faith. When I am speaking of the mystery of the faith, I am not speaking of mysticism for mysticism sake. Rather, I am speaking to incessant need to "know" everything, opposed to the reality that we can't. A part of the definition of faith lived out is the acceptance of "things unseen". One cannot deny that is mysterious. Would you disagree?
On the other hand, the God we serve is not one of shadows and riddles. Rather, he is one that has revealed himself to us, being gracious enough to come in human flesh, so that we can know him. But until that connection that was present in the garden is remade here on earth,we will always see through a glass faintly.
Now I see what you mean. This desire to know all can be silly. It makes me think of those Chistians who are obsessed about refuting evolutionary theory.
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