As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. God of Love, God of Judgment. God of grace, God of righteousness. We seek to understand your nature, and as we do we find contrasts. Help us to accept you, even though we will never fully comprehend you. Open our ears, our hearts and our minds so that we may hear your still soft voice. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

As you hopefully know, we are in the middle of the series that has been named “Stewarding the Tradition.” Two weeks ago, I talked about why the Protestant tradition is so important, not only for us, but in my opinion, for the good of society. Maybe that is overreaching, maybe not. Last week, we opened up two of the theological points we have traditionally held and been known for, that is, Christ is extremely importance, but not the only being in the trinity, and the second, that God’s grace trumps our religious determinism. This week, we look at a couple of points that show about how we experience the divine, and they are semi-related at that.

I met a PhD doctoral candidate in theology a few years back. He and his family were visiting from Oxford in Great Brittan. He was working on his PhD dissertation, and had been doing so for so many years, that it had gone from full time work, and had become an obsession. Turns out, he had been working on his dissertation for 10 years, the average time folks take is around 3. I asked why so long. He looked down at his daughter and said this. “Sweetheart, can you tell them what mommy does for a living.” And his 5 year old replied, “She works at the law office. She wears a suit, and her hair is always brushed.” “Right, and what about Daddy. What does daddy do?” “He works on Romans 7. He wears sweatpants, and his hands are always in his hair.”

Good old Romans 7. Scholars have been pulling their hair out for years trying to decide what it means. And after many more years than 10, they can’t agree on what it does mean. Is Paul writing about the struggles of his former life, before he knew Christ? Or is Paul writing about the constant struggle that the Christian has, now that she or he does know Christ and the call to do good? And how does that tie in with the law vs the gift of grace, which is clearly prevalent here and throughout Paul’s writings? It is very problematical here. And the manner in which it relates to us as we look at the Dialectical Character of Theology and Faith seeking Understanding is this; its complicated, and its supposed to be. It isn’t simple and easy.

A couple of months ago, I was having lunch with a Pastor friend of mine. One of the members of her church spotted us in the restaurant, and came over to say hi. After polite introductions, the member began to talk about life. I guess when you are in the presence of two pastors, that seems only natural. I would think the natural response to being in the presence of two pastors is to run…fast. But what do I know. And this man actually had his Bible with him. Talk about fortunate. It would be like running into your personal trainer with a health shake in your hands. Anyway, this man was talking about life, and held up his Bible and said something like this, “Wouldn’t it be easier if there was a short 75 page version of this. It could just quickly and easily tell us what to do.” The Cliff Notes version of the Bible. Number one bestseller guaranteed. But the answer to the question, which he didn’t exactly ask; would it be better (he said easier), but would it be better if the Bible were simple and easy is an easy answer. No. Not in any way. Life isn’t simple and easy. If the Bible were to be simple and easy, it wouldn’t connect with us or with the life we are called to by God.

When we talk about theology, we’re talking about the study of God’s relationship with humanity and the universe. You can’t get all that covered in the Cliff Notes version. How could God’s relationship with humanity and the universe ever be boiled down to something simple? Anyone who would tell you that theology is simple is lying to you. They may not know they are lying, but they are. In fact, simple theology never connects with the whole soul. If it does, then maybe that says something about the soul that it connects with. Life isn’t simple. Theology can’t be.

This isn’t supposed to be easy. If it were, everyone would do it well.

Part of good theology is understanding that there are tensions and contradictions. I’d like to give you the words of Ned Flanders, who is Homer and Marge Simpson’s neighbor on the surprisingly theologically charged television show, “The Simpsons.” Ned Flanders is Joe Church, there every Sunday, devout at home. At one point, Ned gets frustrated with God. And so he begins with open and honest prayer. Which is a great witness to what we should do. He doesn’t sugar coat it, he says to God, “I’m angry.” Imagine the freedom to be open like that with God. Anyway, he says this to God. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked, even kept Kosher just to be on the safe side. I’ve done everything in the Bible, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff.”

If you really read the Bible, and do real theology, you will know that living in the tension is part of the point. Living with the contradictions is the difficult goal. How else can you explain a God who has the power to make everything work out, and yet allows for human freedom, and therefore inevitably human error? How else do you explain a God who is apart from death, yet dies for us? How do you explain a God who is so vulnerable to what happens to us, as to choose death for the Son as the better option than letting us get what we deserve? Explaining theology in a one sentence statement would be like explaining love in one word. It can’t be comprehensively done that way, and it demands to be done comprehensively.

If we were truly blessed, we would find that theology is too hard, and we should just let go of it all. We should just look for the easy answers, and be happy. Ignorance is bliss, you know. Why can’t we just sell out our soul and take the easy answers, the easy way out? But you know, while ignorance may be bliss, its still ignorance. Faithfulness, good faithfulness, honest faithfulness, seeks an understanding that at the same point realizes the mystery. By faith seeking understanding, I’m not saying that we need to sit down and figure this all out. We don’t need to turn to rationalism, or a sense of, “This is what I can understand, so it must be true.” At some point, people need to realize that God is bigger than that. Didn’t God create you, and your mind? Didn’t God create all minds? Is it not possible, therefore, that God is smarter than the minds created?

Its not only possible, but inevitable.

Believing that humans can fully figure out God is a way to express rationalism, but is actually irrationalism. Humans can never fully capture God. To think we can do so is not only irrational, its actually breaking the first commandment.

But that doesn’t mean we get to give up. We must maintain vigilance as we go deeper in our understanding, to keep the mystery and search for theology. You will find that the more you know about God, the more you realize you don’t know.

I was reading an article a few years back in a backpacker magazine. In the article, a couple of spelunkers, which is the fun sounding term for cave explorers, or cavers, wrote about the best cave they had explored. They were the first to explore this cave, as far as anyone knew. At one point, they had to repel to a lower level. They couldn’t see the walls of the shaft, just the bottom and the mouth where they were to travel…

Our day is marked by folks who want easy answers. People get rich by peddling an easy answer. Get rich quick and easy solutions sell like you wouldn’t believe. Get perfect abs in 7 minutes. Loose 30 pounds in 30 days. Become a millionaire within half a year. And people buy easy theology too. Do this, and get heaven. Don’t do that, and receive blessings from God. God said it, I believe it, that settles it. Heck, I’ve seen, if you send me money, I’ll pray for you and you will receive at least $20,000. And people do it. Maybe I’m in the wrong denomination. Or maybe I’m in the right one.