We are always asking the tough questions in contemporary society. What is the meaning of life? How did we get here? Just how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? In our contemporary Christian culture, we are no different. We look at Scripture as a book of answers to our burning questions about justification, salvation, forgiveness, reconciliation, etc. Despite our best efforts to discontinue our navel gazing, we first see our own personal or cultural experiences and then find God’s answers in the good book. We ask ourselves, how is God meaningful to our contemporary experience? If our theological endeavors begin with human experiences and end with anthropological "human centered" understanding of the Christian faith, are we left with a religious belief that is meaningless without our human experience? Furthermore, where is Christ in this understanding of Christianity? Have we reduced the unsubstitutable, particular Jesus Christ to an antidote for our ailments and an answer to our burning questions? What is more meaningful than the radical, transforming message of Jesus Christ?
I wonder about this because even in my own life and ministry I find myself in a place again where I put myself and my problems and my life first. Its all about me... my questions... my limited understanding... my spiritual life... But really... it is not about us. When we talk about faith we have become a culture that believes faith is about us... when really faith is entirely about God. We can sing all the hymns that we want about it being "all about you... Jesus" but when we study our bible or sit down to pray... all to often it ends up being all about us.
This story about the one and only Jesus of Nazareth, is the greatest love story ever told. When we look to the scripture as a manual to life or a dictionary of moral behavior, we miss the point. Salvation is not a recipe in this book... We are not the hero in the story... our role in this book is to listen. Instead of coming to scripture with our questions about our experiences in our lives... we must begin to let the scripture and this love story of a creator for His creation shape our questions about our experiences in our lives.
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What an easy thing to write/understand and a near impossible thing to do...
I struggle with this all the time...
One of the things that I encounter in doing drama...ego is right on display...so easy to get caught up in the fact that it is me on stage delivering lines, performing, and lose sight of why I am doing it, and where my ability to reach people and deliver a message is coming from. It is natural to want to feel exalted and praised afterwards, and isn't it great to hear how people responded and how "great you are"
It is tough, because, at some level there is a lot of personal work and preparation that has to go into it, both individually and as a team, but our hands are all over what we put on...how can you not tend to feel proud about it, like you have accomplished something great?? and, sure, we have, but not alone...
And doing it in church, as worship, is tricky too, because, there is not a lot more intoxicating than have an audience of a couple hundred people hanging on your words, following you, laughing when you want them too...empowering and exhilarating...but in worship, it's not a typical "audience" is it? But you need the same connection to get your message (God's message) across...
And that is just one of my struggles with this, because a lot of life is how you use what God gives you, which is part of the beauty of personal freedom, but it's not personal indepenence...I know that I have been blessed far beyond anything that I deserve...and I see it every day, and that helps...but, boy howdy! How to present your gifts, to be confident in who you are but not arrogant and lose humility over it...crazy...but, having felt God work through me, and what can be done through me...that sure does help
KZ
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