Sunday, September 30, 2007

creation

Beautifully and wonderfully made. It is easy for me to believe this when I am experiencing God's creation to the fullest... diving into a cold lake with the texture of the water on my skin, the light in my eyes and the instant silence when I break the surface. But what about when my body doesn't work? As I lay on the couch with a migraine, my head throbbing, my eyes trying to shut out the light, and my stomach rolling with nausea, I have trouble remembering all of the ways that God made my body work well. When my body betrays me like that I have to look hard to find find God. I have to remind myself that God made a body that can heal, ridding itself of pain and poisons. How can something made in God's image so quickly turn against itself? Creation is complex, as are my feelings about it. The faith I bring to it must be equally complex.

For the most part, I am lucky. My body is wonderfully made. It works well for me most of the time, and when it doesn't modern medicine, or time, can usually fix the problem without much trouble. Right now I find myself faced with needing to put my faith in God's creation in a new way. My dad is recovering from a major surgery. He had a blockage in a vascular artery, most likely caused by a lifetime of smoking. He has quit smoking and is fighting hard to heal. I am far away, and cannot be there to support him. All I can do is pray, and put my faith in the strength of God's creation--that God created his body to heal. To make it past this. That the perfection of God's creation of the human body will triumph over the damage we can do to ourselves. It is beyond my understanding, and beyond anything I can do. All I can have is faith.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

dating the Bible

Okay, so I haven't dated in years... I don't really know how to do it. There is this whole process of invitation, flirting, and getting intimate that I no longer understand. I mean, I did it once, but it seems so long ago in some ways that I don't remember the how. I remember the dating, but I don't remember the how. Right about now, it would be helpful. Why?...well, I want to date the Bible. It is sad for a seminarian, I know, but I am not comfortable with it. We have not reached the point in our relationship where we are all snugly and cozy. I discovered this in the library with a friend, as I was procrastinating. I was avoiding writing my sermon by avoiding reading the text and commentaries and such.... simply because the Bible and I are still in the awkward stage. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't always been that way. It has been an on again off again relationship for years. We have been really close by choice and by circumstance, but there have been times that I have put distance between, and I am to blame. My friend pointed out that we were not snugly. I crave that kind of relationship with the Bible where we are cuddle and be fulfilled... a level of intimacy where I can recognize all the baggage I bring to the relationship, but yet leave it out of the equation. How do I get there? I am working on it but I am open to suggestions...