Regarding Formulas

A few excerpts to think about from Chapter 10 of "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller. . .

Perhaps the reason Scripture includes so much poetry in and outside the narrative, so many parables and stories, so many visions and emotional letters, is because it is attempting to describe a relational break man tragically experienced with God and a disturbed relational history man has had since then and, furthermore a relational dymanic man must embrace in order to have relational intimacy with God once again. . .perhaps our formulas and bullet points and steps steal the sincerity with which we might engage God.

When the church began to doubt its own integrity after the Darwinian attack on Genesis 1 and 2, we began to answer science, not by appealing to something greater - the realm of beauty and art and spirituality - but by attempting to traslate spiritual realities through scientific equations. . .terms such as "abolute truth" and "inherency" became a battle cry, even though the laws of absolute truth must, by their nature, exclude ideas such as "Jesus is the Word, He is both God and Man, the Trinity is both three and One, we are united with Him in His death," because these are mystrious ideas, not scientfic ideas. . .The poetry of Scripture, especially in the case of Moses, began to be interpreted literally and mathematically, and whole books such as the Song of Songs were completely and totally ingnored because they weren't scientific. You coudln't break them down into bulletpoints.

And so when times get hard, when reality knocks us on our butts, mathematical propositions (formulas) are unable to comfort our failing hearts. How many people have walked away from faith because their systematic theology proved unable to answer the deep longings and questions of the soul?

This is a book that Sean and I have both read individually, and are now reading together. It is a book that has been both affirming and challenging at the same time. . .

Lately I've been pondering the fact that so much of what we believed when we were younger has changed so dramatically. It's hard to know where we're headed from here and, I think that's OK. The ways in which we have come to deal with and live in life may even seem contradictory to some. And, I think that's OK too. More important than any of that, at least from my standpoint, is that I think I'm finally learning to love more and hate less. That, at least, can't be a bad thing.

Churchin' Tunes

I thought I would post a link of a recording from last week's worship service at Common Ground. This was my first opportunity to play for worship. Thanks, Andrew and William. It was a pleasure.

Take a LISTEN