As I stare down this long road of what I have intended The Metanoia Project to become, I am struck by the fact that I am very afraid of several things:

• I’m afraid that I will run out of things to say
• I’m afraid that what I have to say will not be found helpful.
• I’m afraid that this is a passing fad on my part, and that I will lose interest and look like a fool.
• I’m afraid that I will work very hard at this and it will never take off.
• I’m afraid that my schedule will prevent me from doing the work I need to do to be effective with this ministry.
• I’m afraid that the trolls will come and make my life hell.

The list could go on, but you know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you?

I’ll hazard a guess that there hasn’t been one of us – at one time or another – who didn’t stare down the long road we were about to walk and freeze.  The thought of taking on something important was so overwhelming that we had to, at several points, will ourselves to not turn around and run home to mommy and daddy.  We’ve all been there.  Fear is a potent reality when you have decided to affect change.  We all know what that feels like, and no one likes it.

The Fear of the Lord

In Proverbs we read that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” I have always been struck by the use of the word “fear,” and love to read, listen to, and participate in discussions about the definition of the word.  Most of the time, I find, people try to define the fear that is due the Lord in terms of the fear we experience when we are afraid of other things in our lives.  I think maybe it works better the other way around.

I want to say that all other fear we experience is a derivative, or bastardization, of the fear of the Lord.  It is right that we fear the Lord, for (as Paul Tillich taught us) God is the one who determines our existence.  It is right that we should, frankly, be afraid of this awesomeness that we call God because we believe what the scriptures say when they tell us that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God.  This god can reach across the boundaries of existence because this god is the one who determines and erects the boundaries of existence, because this god stands outside the boundaries of existence.

I mean – seriously – what has that kind of power?  Well, God does, and that should makes us stop in our big-ego pants for a lot longer than it does.  (Can I get an “amen”?)

The Fear of Other Stuff

And so, when we look at all the other things we fear, they seem kind of silly in comparison to God, don’t they?  This is the point I want us to grasp: Why do we insist on giving what someone else might say/do/think/feel the same kind of honor we give to God?

I’m not suggesting we put our heads in the sand.  I’m reminding us to place things in proper perspective.  All the other things in life, while possibly important, do not deserve to have my fear directed at them.  As I look at my list above, it makes me remember that even if the trolls come and bring me great displeasure, I should not allow the fear of that to determine my actions.  If I believe that God has called me to engage in this ministry then the problems that the trolls might cause are negligible and manageable compared to the fact that God is the one who will decide if I exist tomorrow.  It sounds silly to say it that way, but its the truth.  In fact, that’s precisely why I like to say it that way, out loud.  When I can name these fears, it helps me put them in perspective.

This practice is even more important when the thing that we would be afraid of is very big, ugly, and powerful.  In those instances, being able to name the fear is of utmost importance.  It’s like Harry Potter calling Voldemort by name when everyone else was afraid to.  Is it any wonder that he was the one who was able to stand up to the most evil wizard of all time?  It’s not that “He Who Should Not Be Named” was a merely a nuance and the magical community was trying to deny him his due.  It was that they were afraid and that fear was paralyzing.  Except for Harry, who was able to place his feelings in proper perspective and work from a place of proactivity rather than reactivity.  His ability to simply call a thing (or person) what it was is quite possibly the reason he was able to keep going in the face of great harm.

So…What are you afraid of that you shouldn’t be?  What are you allowing to hold power over you by way of offering it your fear?  What is your “Thing That Should Not Be Named”?

There is a statement that I hear way too often, and it is one that makes me sad and angry:

I am not a theologian.

Most often, I hear it when I am teaching a class of some sort, and have shared a thought that seems contrary to what someone has spent most of their life believing.  Sometimes it is said when I have shared some information that someone has never heard before.  Most often, however, it comes when I am engaged in a conversation with someone during which we are sharing what we believe, and my conversation partner ends up “stuck” as they try to describe their understanding of something.

“Well, I haven’t really thought about it as much as you have,” they say. “I have a pretty simple faith. I’m not really a theologian.”

I hate that, and I try to never put someone who is earnestly trying to talk about God in that kind of place.  I would like to ask you to never say anything like that, ever again in your life.  I want you to remember something very important: We are all theologians. While it is true that some of us are more formally trained in theology (to greater and lesser degrees), this group of people are not the only ones who can claim to be “theologians.”  That title belongs to everyone, and we need to begin reclaiming it.

To be a theologian simply means that you “talk about God.”  That’s what the word theology means: (from the Greek) theos = god; logos = words or speech.  To be a theologian means that you try to put your ideas about God into words.  More specifically, because of what our scriptures say, we can say that the task of theology is our attempt to describe what we understand about God, what we understand about creation, and what we understand about the relationship between that two.  You can, honestly, have any kind of theology that you want.  There is no one, right way to think about something (despite what many so-called theologians might say).

Theologies are not created equal, however.  Some do a better job of describing God (at least according to other people), and they are instructive to the rest of us whose theological understanding might be lack in comparison.  There are many of these “better” theologies and they all have a few things in common.

They are consistent with the Bible. Any good Christian theology has its origin in the Bible.  The logic is sort of circular, but Christians believe that God was revealed to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ and that the Bible is the best witness we have to who Jesus was and what he did.  You’re theology does not have to be considered a “Biblical Theology,” but the themes of a Christian theology does have to be consistent with the themes of the scripture.

They are Good News. When it comes to theology, the opposite of Good News is not Bad News.  It’s Irrelevant News – news that is nice, but doesn’t mean anything important.

Imagine that you have just pulled into your driveway after being fired. You’re struggling with how to tell your spouse, and I run up to you and tell you that you daughter is at a friend’s house playing. That would be interesting news to hear, but, in the context of the moment, irrelevant.

Now imagine that you’ve just pulled into your driveway and your house is on fire.  You’re very scared and worried about your family, and I run up to you and tell you that your daughter is at a friend’s house playing.  In that moment, knowing where your daughter is constitutes good news.

Too often our theologies are full of interesting things that are true, but they are irrelevant to people’s’ lives.  They don’t address the situations in which people are living.  They don’t offer answers to questions people are asking.

They are humble. One of my favorite stories from the history of my religious tradition is of the writing of the Westminster Confession of Faith.  This document is notoriously staid and unrelenting in its perspective, and, likewise, those who love it are vigilant about it superiority.  The story goes, however, that the gentleman who moderated the meetings during which this document was written would begin each session by saying to those assembled: “Remember, gentlemen, we could be wrong.”

A good theology will be one which says the best thing it knows how to say at the time, and, yet, leaves room for growth in our understanding of God.  There are things about God which I believe are eternally true, but I also believe that I don’t know what those are and that my ability to grasp what God is up to (hopefully) grows as I live my life.

If I have the same theology today as I did yesterday, then I need to take a hard look at some things.

They produce good ethics. One reality which I find very amusing is when I have people tearing me down for having what they deem as “incorrect theology.”  To them, anything I might say is an affront to the glory of God and I must be stopped at all costs.  I’m actually fine with them up to this point.  They are welcome to their opinion.  It’s the way they do it that I find wrong.

Jesus, himself, said that he came to do some things (give sight to the blind, set captives free, etc.).  Theology produces action, and if it is a faithful theology it produces good actions.  To my point above: if our theology allows us to treat one another badly, then we need another theology.

They are bold. No one ever came to understand the saving power of Christ because of an unassuming theological viewpoint.  Good theology shouts the Good News from the mountaintops.

We should never be afraid of messing up as we try to describe the great things God has done.  How is it wrong to try to tell the world all the marvelous things you’ve experienced?  Sure, we always try to be more clear and consistent tomorrow than we were yesterday.  But that should never stop us from speaking.  We’re not going to do God any harm be giving it our best as we proclaim Christ’s Grace and Peace.

Theology is actually something we all do, and something we all need to do. No one of us has a monopoly on thoughts and ideas about God.  Please share yours with each other so that, together, we might better share it with the world.

So…What do you believe about God, creation, and the relationship between the two?