Disoriented Beginnings
Posted on July 30, 2007
Filed Under Deeper Walk |
Today, I get to enter Relevant’s blogosphere. We’ll try this little experiment and see how it goes.
Interacting with Scripture requires alot of humility, I think. We’ll probably understand a good bit, but we’ll probably be befuddled just as often. As much as we might come to the Bible to find answers, Scripture often leads us to a whole new slew of questions.
Yesterday, in church, another pastor and I were teaching via a shared conversation and opened the discussion up to everyone. One guy stood and said that he has been reading the Old Testament and is disturbed by what he has found. ”I’m having to ask myself: Do I like God?”
Good question. If we are honest with ourselves and with the God of Scripture, most of us will have to face this same question some time or another.
So, what I hope to do in the space I’m given here is to help us ponder a few good questions. Sometimes, we might find an answer. Sometimes, we won’t. Hopefully, we will always find more of Jesus.
Inevitably, though, Jesus will disorient us. I think my friend who expressed his bewilderment on Sunday is in a healthy place. If we always uncover the God we expect to find, we ought to be concerned: self-delusion is almost certain.
“By the end of a poem,” says poet Billy Collins, ”the reader should be in a different place from where he started. I would like him to be slightly disoriented at the end, like I drove him outside of town at night and dropped him in a cornfield.”
That’s what I hope for this space, to carve out a (perhaps at times) disorienting space that will offer us the strange grace of moving us to a different spot than we where when we started. Isn’t that a good description of spiritual formation, anyway? Taking us where we are, moving us beyond ourselves, flipping us upside down, and planting us smack in the middle of grace?
I hope to post every week or so, usually on Mondays, we’ll see how it goes. I might piece together some kind of schedule; but the usual fare will be normal Deeper Walk-type reflections, a few book reviews, certainly some random thoughts. And questions - I dig questions. So, ever so often, we’ll do a little Q and A. If you have a question you’d like to throw out there for discussion, shoot it to me: winn@relevantmagazine.com.
But have grace. I’m just beginning, and I’m quite sure to be disoriented.
peace,
Winn
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8 Responses to “Disoriented Beginnings”
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I think grappling with the “making Jesus in my image” issue is probably one of the most important pieces of worldview Christians need to deal with… and especially with shepherds. Otherwise you have pastors who are replicating themselves instead of Christ. Funny how we can even make “Jesus” our idol.
dig the Thoreau quote on your site by the way
“If we always uncover the God we expect to find, we ought to be concerned: self-delusion is almost certain.”
well said. this we should all consider.
p.s. can’t wait for the new book
I’ll be excited to see where these posts go.
Being disoriented is, as you mentioned, a good place to be because it forces the pondering Christian into a chair to sit and think about relevant (and sometimes overlooked) issues. It makes one realize that there is much more to God than we thought.
In following through on this thought process, we are allowed the opportunity to become authentic. Authentic NOT meaning: we act on emotion and we are the way we are no matter what anyone else says. Authentic meaning: we were created in the image of Christ, and since we have drifted away from that, authenticity comes through the returning to our original design and following the model.
The more we avoid glazing over tough issues and dodging challenging passages, the more our spirit begins to wrestle out of the hold that we get stuck in from the inherent fear of being challenged.
Good post!
“…following the model Jesus has set before us”. Sorry that sentence got cut off.
I read your article in the latest issue of Relevant and found it to be very refreshing and thought-provoking. I’ve been thinking lately of many of the things you’ve mentioned in that article and in this blog…and I’m finding it particularly surprising to learn about Jesus and His character. I’ve been reading through the book of John and reflecting on what different parts of His character are revealed with each passage. The results have been surprising. He’s no pansy, and I dig it.
Thank you for writing, Winn. I’m thinking I’ll watch for this blog a lot.
Rachel
God-Worship editor
Mr. Collier,
Great blog. Loved your transparency. By the end of your blog, I was in a different place than when I started. Maybe you should call it a poem.