Brainwaves

My brain has seemingly been in a state of numbness since this past weekend, Maybe I’m just getting too old for this or they tell me those winds that blew through a few weeks ago, knocking down trees, stirred up a lot of pollution that is making people sick. I do not feel sick, just unable to get satisfied with putting my thoughts down on paper. How well I have succeeded is questionable, but at least I can perhaps move on from here. Sorry for no more than another of my musings on “the state of the Ark”……

My favorite dictionary defines “theology” as (a) the study and interpretation of religious faith, practice, and experience; esp thought about God and His relation to the world; and (b) a course of professional religious training. Both explanations would indicate someone needs either a seminary degree or at least serious perusal of the Book in order to possess such item; but the word’s Greek roots merely translate to “supreme being” and “rational utterance”. As far as the first part of that division, who among us doesn’t believe in something, even if it is to believe in nothing? We all have an opinion of some kind on the matter. It’s the latter portion that gives me pause. After all, when the foundation for what we, as Christians, profess to be truth begins with the claim that a man was crucified, laid to rest in a tomb, and then somehow rose from the dead, how can any further discussion be considered rational? We can point to the universe, and again to nature, and note enough evidence of intelligent design to warrant our declaration of a Creator; but when it comes to giving testimony of a risen Savior, as a Church we want to quote a couple of ancient ecclesiastical credos, “talk by faith”, and expect the world to swallow our story because it’s “in the Book”…..

Whether we rest on historical induction oaths or new-fangled teaching equating “the Holy Ghost in me” to a reality we command, though, the journey, itself, will prove, in the long run, the strength of our commitment. What we possess will either atrophy into religion, or He who possesses us will continue to breathe life into our salvation. What we, ourselves, build will meet the test of time and be shaken. What he establishes within us may well be a day-by-day struggle to achieve, but it will survive. Jesus, Himself, said that the most important commandment was to love God “with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength”, indicating to me, not only that this relationship shared would require some work”, but also that our thought process is as much a piece of the puzzle as anything else. The problem isn’t in mentally sorting out the whole affair, but in thinking ourselves so smart as to hold God in a box…..