"Please, Lord, not me."
Bible College Education: Check.
Seminary Education: Check[ing].
Desire to be a perpectual thinker and learner? That's me.
Desire for others to be thinkers and learners? Yup!
Desire for others to be thinkers and learners even if they are "just laymen"? Why, certainly.
Desire to be the punk seminarian who thinks he's got it all down while his congregants "just don't know enough" and would all be better off if they would just let me get away with my highly technical language and swallow my deeply profound theological principles because, while I know more than they do, they still ought to know all that I know? Please, Lord, not me.
--- --- ---
I never want to be that kind of thinker - the one who knows it all; the one who refuses to translate; the one who can't get past his own abilities to theorize in the stratosphere; the one who thinks his people are just a bunch of dumb sheep who are going to eat this doggone giraffe food whether they like it or not, at least, so far as I'm concerned.
Please, Lord, not me.
Now, let me clarify... Think, we must. Think, I must. Think, my people must. But, #1, I don't have all of the answers, though I do, surely, have some. And, #2, I must be willing to translate if I ever hope to be even a smidgen of what it means to be all things to all men. #3, I myself don't even live in the stratosphere - and neither do most of us who think of ourselves as intellectually-minded - so, let's get over our pretenses; they're anything but endearing. And finally, according to Jesus, I myself am a sheep, and I'm not to hip on admitting stupidity to myself; plus, I myself like steaks, burgers, chicken saltimbocca, and the likes - what's all this jibber-jabber about giraffe food?
Again... Think, I must. But never do I want to be that loser who crams his seminariness down the throats of people who, quite frankly, couldn't care less.
Surely, more posting concerning this is on the horizon. But, for now, this was just a rant.
Seminary Education: Check[ing].
Desire to be a perpectual thinker and learner? That's me.
Desire for others to be thinkers and learners? Yup!
Desire for others to be thinkers and learners even if they are "just laymen"? Why, certainly.
Desire to be the punk seminarian who thinks he's got it all down while his congregants "just don't know enough" and would all be better off if they would just let me get away with my highly technical language and swallow my deeply profound theological principles because, while I know more than they do, they still ought to know all that I know? Please, Lord, not me.
--- --- ---
I never want to be that kind of thinker - the one who knows it all; the one who refuses to translate; the one who can't get past his own abilities to theorize in the stratosphere; the one who thinks his people are just a bunch of dumb sheep who are going to eat this doggone giraffe food whether they like it or not, at least, so far as I'm concerned.
Please, Lord, not me.
Now, let me clarify... Think, we must. Think, I must. Think, my people must. But, #1, I don't have all of the answers, though I do, surely, have some. And, #2, I must be willing to translate if I ever hope to be even a smidgen of what it means to be all things to all men. #3, I myself don't even live in the stratosphere - and neither do most of us who think of ourselves as intellectually-minded - so, let's get over our pretenses; they're anything but endearing. And finally, according to Jesus, I myself am a sheep, and I'm not to hip on admitting stupidity to myself; plus, I myself like steaks, burgers, chicken saltimbocca, and the likes - what's all this jibber-jabber about giraffe food?
Again... Think, I must. But never do I want to be that loser who crams his seminariness down the throats of people who, quite frankly, couldn't care less.
Surely, more posting concerning this is on the horizon. But, for now, this was just a rant.
posted by Adam Godbold | 10:08 AM
1 Comments:
Adam,
Good rant. It is something that I think about daily. I love high church and thinking theologically and philosophically about the beautiful world that God has placed us in. However, the guy who works fifty hours a week doesn't really care about all that. He is just trying to work and make it in life and live for Jesus best he can. He does enough to read his bible daily and pray to God and intercede for those he loves.
This is where love meets people and thoughts are worked out on the anvil of experience with people. It isn't what we want always (not what I want). But it must be done because we are compelled to love those Jesus loves.
Good post. I have the same heart. That is why you need to move up here and do what you know you need to do here...
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