It is well to remember what the ancient creeds of the Christian faith declare credence in.
"God of God, Light of
Light... for us and for our salvation came down from heaven... born of
the Virgin Mary... suffered... crucified... dead... buried... rose
again... sitteth on the right hand of God... shall come again, with
glory, to judge both the quick and the dead." That is not a theological
idea or a religious system. It is a series of largely flesh-and-blood
events that happened, are happening, will happen in time and space. For
better or worse, it is a story.
It is well to remember because it keeps our eyes on the central fact that the Christian faith always
has to do with flesh and blood, time and space, more specifically with
your flesh and blood and mine, with the time and space that day by day
we are all of us involved with, stub our toes on, flounder around in
trying to look as if we have good sense. In other words, the truth that
Christianity claims to be true is ultimately to be found, if it's to be
found at all, not in the Bible, or the church, or theology — the best
they can do is point to the truth — but in our own stories.
If the God you believe
in as an idea doesn't start showing up in what happens to you in your
own life, you have as much cause for concern as if the God you don't
believe in as an idea does start showing up.
It is absolutely
crucial, therefore, to keep in constant touch with what is going on in
your own life's story and to pay close attention to what is going on in
the stories of others' lives. If God is present anywhere, it is in those
stories that God is present. If God is not present in those stories,
then they are scarcely worth telling.
- Originally published in Whistling in the Dark and later in Beyond Words
No comments:
Post a Comment