Whatever do we mean when we speak of God? I'm not sure our words match the experience. I believe theologians have not helped us think through what we think and how we think theologically.
There are theologies that trivialize God by creating a sense of familiarity that is so casual and easy that it really doesn't describe much more than a human being with an omnipotent potential and a judging attitude. It isn't God being talked about it's our own bias applied to the situations that offend us.
There are theologies that intellectualize God to the point that what is described is inscrutable and it reduces God to an obscure concept that no one can understand.
I have thought the church was basically a theological institution. It is a place we come to learn more about God, to share our insights about what we think about God. It is a place where we can grow in our understanding of God and it is a place where we can share our experience of God.
The future of the church, I think, is dependent upon our making God relevant for the new day dawning. The next several years the mainline churches will have a challenge to try to do that. First Church is the largest main line church in Fort Collins. We have a unique task in maintaining a tradition but building on it so that the tradition doesn't take us back but moves us forward.
When you think of God what do you believe you are describing. When you experience the presence of God when do you and how do you experience it?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment